The Soviet invasion of its neighbour Afghanistan in December 1979 sparked a bloody nine-year conflict in that country until Soviet forces withdrew in 1988-89, dooming the communist Afghanistan government to defeat at the hands of the Mujahideen, the Afghan popular resistance backed by the USA and other powers. The Soviet invasion had enormous implications on the global stage; it prompted the US Senate to refuse to ratify the hard-won SALT II arms-limitation treaty, and the USA and 64 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For Afghanistan, the invasion served to prolong the interminable civil war that pitted central government against the regions and faction against faction. The country remains locked in conflict over 30 years later, with no end in sight. Featuring specially drawn mapping and drawing upon a wide range of sources, this succinct account explains the origins, history and consequences of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, thereby shedding new light on the more recent history - and prospects - of that troubled country.

Author Biography

Gregory Fremont-Barnes holds a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford and serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Dividing his time between teaching cadets on-site and commissioned officers of the British Army posted to garrisons throughout the UK and abroad, his wider work for the Ministry of Defence has taken him to Iraq, Afghanistan, Albania, Ethiopia and both republics of the Congo. Dr Fremont-Barnes has lived and worked for many years in the United States, Japan and Britain and has written and edited extensively, with books on the Anglo-Afghan wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy in the age of sail, the Falklands War, and a host of other military and naval subjects spanning the 18th to the 20th centuries.