The Soviet experience in and leaving Afghanistan

[Stan]

The Moscow Times quotes a BBC report, "An underground prison dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan has been found on the northern outskirts of Kabul."

"This is a big mass grave from the Russian days," said General Ali Shah Paktiwal, a senior police official, the BBC reported.

The Defense Ministry could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. But retired general Makhmud Gareyev, who served as senior military adviser to the Afghan government from 1989 to 1992, told Interfax on Friday that the BBC report was "disinformation."

"Maintaining underground prisons is a tradition of the mujahedeen," Gareyev told Interfax.

Paktiwal, the Afghan police official, told the BBC that the prison was located at a base that had belonged to the country's communist-era defense ministry.

"There are at least 15 rooms full of dead bodies," he said, adding that more rooms could still be discovered underground, the BBC reported.

In 2006, NATO-led forces found a mass grave in Afghanistan that was also believed to contain victims of the country's communist government. Some 2,000 bodies were found near the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison east of Kabul.

[kaur]

Moderator's note: I have today 16th Jan '09 consolidated several threads on the Soviet experience in Afghanistan. In January 2013 several, small thread located and merged here - mainly on intelligence aspects..In January 2015 several old posts (held elsewhere were released here).

Breaking Contact Without Leaving Chaos: The Soviet Withdrawal From Afghanistan, By Mr. Les Grau, FMSO-JRIC Analyst. This article was previously published in The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, April-June 2007, Volume 20 Number 2.

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/doc...Withdrawal.pdf

[Rex Brynen]

"3-D Soviet Style: A Presentation on Lessons Learned from the Soviet Experience in Afghanistan" by Anton Minkov and Gregory Smolynec, Defence R&D Canada, October, 2007.

This is a surprisingly informative (but neverthless limited) document, given both its brevity and especially since it was originally in .ppt form.

Actually, the authors are offering a presentation of this in Ottawa shortly:

The Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Centre for Security and Defence at Carleton University cordially invite you to a talk on

3-D Soviet Style: Lessons Learned from the Soviet Experience in Afghanistan

Presented by Anton Minkov and Gregory Smolynec

The presentation is based on research conducted by Gregory Smolynec and Anton Minkov on the Soviet experience in Afghanistan. The project was undertaken in 2007 for the purpose of determining whether this history offered any lessons to be learned for the Canadian Forces (CF) participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

3-D Soviet Style examines the history of the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan and the evolution of Soviet strategy from the initial invasion through several stages to the withdrawal of Soviet combat forces in 1989. The presentation pays special attention to the problems the Red Army encountered in securing their lines of communication and to the efforts the Soviets made in building Afghan security forces. It includes information on the Soviet counter-insurgency in Afghanistan, and it provides information on the adjustments the Soviets made to their force structure and equipment in response to the exigencies of the operational situations they faced. 3-D Soviet Style outlines the state-building efforts the Soviets undertook in Afghanistan and their social and economic policies. The presentation also examines the policy of “National Reconciliation” adopted by the pro-Soviet government of Afghanistan to stabilize the country through internal and external diplomacy.


About the presenters

Dr. Gregory Smolynec and Dr. Anton Minkov are Strategic Analysts with the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis (CORA), part of Defence Research & Development Canada (DRDC). Currently, Anton is assigned to the Directorate of Strategic Analysis and Gregory is with the Strategic Joint Staff, Department of National Defence. Anton has a PhD in Islamic History (McGill University). His book Conversion to Islam in the Balkans was published in 2004 by Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden). Gregory Smolynec has a PhD in History (Duke University) and a Master of Arts in Russian and East European Studies (Carleton University).


Wednesday, 30 January 2008
3:00 pm, Room 1304 Dunton Tower
Carleton University

For more information please contact:
Professor Piotr Dutkiewicz at piotr_dutkiewicz@carleton.ca or
Ginette Lafleur at ginette_lafleur@carleton.ca

[Norfolk]

Very interesting Rex, thanks for posting this info.^

[davidbfpo]

Red Rat,

Just noticed IISS, London on 27th May 2009, held a seminar 'The Soviet Experience in Afghanistan and its implications for NATO strategy', perhaps two names to add to the speaker list: http://www.iiss.org/events-calendar/...nato-strategy/

Sir Rodric holds - sometimes - very different views than the FCO "line", notably on intelligence. The academic, Artemy Kalinovsky, has a CV on: http://afghanistan-analyst.org/Docum...inovsky_CV.pdf

I was there for the Kilcullen talk the next day!

davidbfpo

[Surferbeetle]

I do wonder has anyone applied the principles to advising in Afghanistan - which is different from Iraq. Secondly have any coalition members who've done advising written so well?

I was chasing AAR's of Soviet Agricultural Advisers the other day and noted these references on the blog Ghosts of Alexander

Louis Dupree. 1973 Afghanistan Princeton University Press

Eden, Naby. "The ethnic factor in Soviet-Afghan Relations" Asian Survey, Vol XX, No. 3, March 1980

[SWJ Blog]

Soviet Experience in Afghanistan: Book Review Twofer

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