Afghanistan Cave Complexes 1979-2004; Mountain Strongholds of the Mujahideen, Taliban & Al Qaeda

A very interesting book, very well illustrated with diagrams and photographs. Not a definitive work by any means but considering that it's only 64 pages (including bibliography and index) it provides good information on the type of warfare encountered by the Soviets and early on by the U.S. I consider it a necessary addition to my GWOT collection.

The preceding reviews on this book seem to straddle the line between the unnecessarily harsh and undeserved devotion. This book, as I understand it, is more of a guide for historians and scale modelers than a critical military analysis or historical record. I appreciate the work that author Mir Bahmanyar has both written and compiled. The renderings by Ian Palmer deserve credit for aiding in the basic visual understanding of complexes found in the region. I would never expect any book with less than 70 pages to provide the material some reviewers seem to demand. Additionally, this book should not be considered a substitute for military manuals, to do so would starve operational personnel in the theater of volumes of additional classified information. Good book, great information in BRIEF, valuable pictures and supplemental research material. Review every book you read, Authors deserve your opinions!

This book gives a good deal of information on the history of Afghanistan and a very good bibliography. It also has an informative section on some of the weapons employed by our troops. There are plenty of photographs and nice 3-d paintings to make this boo invaluable to anyone interested in the current war in that country.

Contrary to another review posted here, this is an excellent work for describing the role and use of cave complexes in Afghanistan. The previous reviewer seems to feel that being critical of Rumsfeld's policy detracts from the content. The author is only presenting the situation as we know it today, including some of the misguided policies of the Sec of War. Although we may learn much more about what these cave complexes are like after the war, we will have a good view of what we thought and knew during the war when we look back at this book years from now. Some may be disappointed in how crude and unsophisticated these positions are after the media built them up before US troops went in.

This book gives you one of the only printed looks into this highly dangerous form of warfare. Some of the underground "sanctuaries" covered are primitive caves (Natural and man-made), water irrigation systems/wells (Karez), hides, caches and on to highly complex underground dwellings like Zawhar Kili, located three miles from the Pakistan border, which are underground villages, complete with repair shops, public relations office, garage and hotel for visiting journalists. This book goes into detailed tactics employed by the U.S. military ground forces, much of it very remnant of what the Tunnel Rats used against the Viet Cong and looks back at what the Russians failed to do 25 years ago: flush out, hunt and kill the enemy. The book also goes into detail on many of the modern weapons being employed currently to reduce the Taliban and al Qaeda's hideouts to rubble. The book is highly illustrated with diagrams, maps and photos, although the photo quality at times are not that good and very grainy. This book is highly recommended for any Grunt heading over to Afghanistan for a crash course in tunnel warfare. Over all it many not be a great book but again there is no other title out their on the subject. Bottom line, this book will make any old NAM Tunnel Rat out their proud to see their heritage continue!