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Afghanistan the Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower

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Afghanistan the Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower (Paperback)

by Mohammed Yousaf (Author), Mark Adkin (Author, Editor)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd; New edition edition (April 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0850528607
ISBN-13: 978-0850528602
Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 2.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 342,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories:
#65 in Books > History > Military History > Armed Forces > Guerrillas
#81 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > Central Asia > Afghanistan

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Product Description

Synopsis

After recent events and the massive surge of interest in Afghanistan, The Bear Trap is being re-printed for the first time in paperback after the last hew copies of the hardback were snapped up recently by US military Intelligence. This is the story of the defeat of Soviet Russia's forces by a guerrilla force known as the Mujahideen, heavily backed by Pakistan and the USA. The Mujahideen paved the way for the current regime, the Taliban, to exist having all but defeated the Russian Army in the Late 80's. The Author, Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf was head of the Afghan Bureau of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (Akin to the CIA) and as such was effectively the Mujahideen's commander-inchief. He controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms across Pakistan and into its occupied neighbour, arms that were bought with CIA and Saudia Arabian funds from the USA. One of the Mujahideen's close allies was none other than Osama Bin Laden.

This compelling book was put together with great skill the by Military Historian, mark Adkin in conjunction with Brigaduer Mohammad Yousaf and is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth behind the Afghanistan War which led to the conditions that exist there today. It describes in detail the terrain over which the war was fought, the training that was needed and how Mujahideen carried out ambushes, assassinations, raids and rocket attacks deep into Afghanistan Territory.

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Read with caution, 10 Feb 2006

By A Customer

Yousaf's book is one of the very few to give an insight from the Pakistani ISI (Pakistani equivalent of the CIA) perspective into the funding of the mujahidin during the 1980s war in Afghanistan. As such, it has intrinsic interest, and the data on the amount of material supplied and tactics employed will be of particular interest to students of that war. However the book also gives perhaps unintended insight into some of the ISI's more unpleasant characteristics, notably the deliberate targeting of schoolteachers in Afghanistan (apparently considered a legitimate target by Yousaf)and Yousaf's own rampant sexism, notably his response to being lectured by a female CIA officer. His criticisms of the CIA are pertinent and give some interesting insights, but he is also defensive about ISI's own record particularly as regards the fundamentalists like Hekmatyar, and what he writes here needs to be complemented by study of other books as well, such as Hussain's 'Pakistan and the Emergence of Islamic Militancy in Afghanistan.'

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of The Best Insightful and True Elaboration, 2 Feb 2007

By	Herald (USA) - See all my reviews

I found this book very much useful in removing my misperceptions about the Taliban and fundamentalism. I infered that there might be some cons on the part of Taliban and so called Mujahideens but I think they were much better than what we Western People are brainwashed about.

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