Afghanistan: The Soviet Union's Last War PDF
Preview Afghanistan: The Soviet Union's Last War
AFGHANISTAN Mark Galeotti AFGHANISTAN: The Soviet Union's Last War AFGHANISTAN The Soviet Union's Last War MARK GALEOTTI University of Keele FRANK CASS LONDON First published in 1995 in Great Britain by FRANK CASS & CO. LTD. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and in the United States of America by FRANKCASS do ISBS 270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016 Reprinted in 2001 Transferred to Digital Printing 2005 Copyright© 1995 Mark Galeotti British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Galeotti, Mark Afghanistan:Soviet Union's Last War I. Title 958.1044 ISBN 0-7146-4567-2 (cloth) ISBN 0-7146-8242X (paper) Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Galeotti, Mark. Afghanistan, the Soviet Union's last war I Mark Galeotti. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7146-4567-2 1. Afghanistan--History--Soviet occupation, 1979-1989. I. Title. DS371.2.G3447 1995 958.104'5--dc20 94-25068 CIP All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Frank Cass and Company Limited. Typeset by Photoprint, Torquay, Devon Contents List of Maps and Tables Vll Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations viii Preface Xl 1 Introduction: Invasion 1 PART ONE: THE VETERANS 2 The Experience of War 25 3 Coming Home: Children of the War 45 PART TWO: THE VICTIMS OF THE WAR 4 Broken Bodies, Broken Minds 67 5 Parents, Workmates, Neighbours, Lovers 84 PART THREE: THE WAR AND SOCIETY 6 Veteran Society 103 7 Afgantsy and Politics 120 8 The War and Politics: Impact 139 9 The War and Politics: Consequences 155 PART FOUR: THE WAR AND THE PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS 10 The Afghan Brotherhood 171 11 The Art of War 190 12 Russia's Next Wars 207 vi CONCLUSIONS 13 Anatomy of a Small War 223 Select Bibliography 234 Index 239 List of Maps and Tables Map 1 Afghanistan 5 Map2 Invasion 14 Map 3 Successor States of the former Soviet Union 212 Table 1.1 Afghan requests for military assistance, 1979 8 Table 2.1 Casualties by nationality {February 1990 figures) 28 Table 3.1 Komsomol'skaya pravda poll on Soviet involvement in Afghanistan 47 Table 4.1 The wounded and the invalids 68 Table 4.2 Afgantsy imprisoned for crimes committed while on military service 72 Table 4.3 Main benefits for injured veterans 75 Table 4.4 Constituent members of the Leningrad Fund for invalids and families of soldiers killed in the Republic of Afghanistan 81 Table 5.1 SAAOR findings on sources of information on Afghanistan 89 Table 5.2 Missing in action, as at the end of the war 95 Table 5.3 Peacetime deaths: estimated numbers 97 Peacetime deaths: causes 97 Table 6.1 Afganets group survey results 110 Table 6.2 Afganets groups in Leningrad within LAV V A 114 Table 7.1 Supreme Soviet committee for soldier- internationalists' affairs, 1990 123 Table 7.2 Serving soldier-afgantsy elected as USSR Peoples' Deputies, 1989 126 Table 9.1 Countries where Soviet 'internationalists' were involved in combat, 1921-91 156 Table 10.1 The invasion team 174 Table 10.2 Commanders of the 40th Army 175 Table 10.3 Afgantsy in the highest military posts, 1979-91 177 Table 10.4 Soviet military operations, 1979-91 188 Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations afganets Veteran of the Afghan war (plural: afgantsy) blat influence, favours BMP Infantry Combat Vehicle BTR Armoured Personnel Carrier CARB Combined Arms Reinforced Battalion CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union dis bat disciplinary battalion DOSAAF Society for the Support of the Army, Airforce and Navy (military-sports association) DPKR Democratic Party of Communists of Russia DRA Democratic Republic of Afghanistan DShV Assault-Landing Troops (helicopter-borne)- also DShB, for Assault-Landing Brigade DVO Far Eastern Military District GRU Main Intelligence Directorate (military intelligence) GUVD Main Internal Affairs Directorate (city police command) HSU Hero of the Soviet Union IMEMO Institute for International Economic Relations ISKAN US and Canada Institute KhAD Afghan secret police (later renamed WAD when upgraded to a full ministry) LAVVA Leningrad Association of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan LenVO Leningrad Military District MRD Motor-rifle division MVD Ministry of Internal Affairs MZhK Youth Housing Complex OKSV Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces (in Afghanistan) OMON Special Designation Police Unit ('Black Berets') OMSN Specialised Designation Police Unit (anti-terrorist commando) Opnaz Operational Designation Interior Troops ix PDPA People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan PTU Technical-Vocational School Spetsnaz 'Special Designation' special forces Starshina Sergeant Major SVA Union of Veterans of Afghanistan svo Central Asian Military District TurkVO Turkestan Military District VDV Air Assault Forces (paratroops) VLKSM Young Communist League, Komsomol vo Military District Voenizdat Military Publishing House voenruk school VPV representative voentorg military trading services ('PX') VPV Military-patriotic education vv Interior Troops vuz Institutes of higher education WAD Afghan secret police (formerly KhAD) zampolit deputy commander for political affairs ZhSK House-building cooperative
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