Afghanistan: The Soviet Union's Last War

257 Pages·1995·4.445 MB·English

by  Mark Galeotti

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