Afghan Guerilla Warfare: In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters

Interesting view of the war against the inflexible Soviet war machine. The present day Taliban will find NATO forces extremely more flexible and lethal.

This book is not a great casual read. However, for service members preparing to deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom this book is a must read. There is not a better book out there that provides input on how the mujahedeen prepared, planned, and executed their insurgency against the Russians. The series of short vignettes in the book provide the reader with informative and to the point after action reviews that help the reader visualize the concept of each mujahedeen operation. The chapter on ambushes is particularly informative for those service members who will be preparing to conduct convoy operations in support of OEF. Again, a must read for all junior non-commissioned officers and above preparing for deployment.

Before deploying to Afghanistan last year with a Special Forces battalion, I read this book (along with "Afghanstan's Endless War" - Goodson, "The Hidden War" - Borovik, and "The Soviet-Afghan War" - Grau & Gress, eds.) to prepare for battle. While a rough read that could stand better organization, it had very accurate, pertinent information that was useful for a warrior. I personnal went to about ten of the battle locations (some of them were hard to avoid) and was able to follow the battle on the ground by the descriptions in the book. Additionally, on the road to Gardez, was able to discuss some of the battles with locals, who concurred with details. Valuable to me.

This book delivers exactly what the title indicates. US Officer Lester Grau interviews many Afghan Mujahideen who fought the Soviet Aggressors during the early 80's. Out of those interviews Grau wrote three books, This one being the second (with Ahmed Jalali.) The book is broken into chapters like Raids, Ambushes, Defense etc... Each chapter has many individual "stories" or debriefings of the mission/situation. The Muj go into detail on what happened, who got shot and who didn't. As you progress through the 200 odd missions, you start reading a definite character to the overall war... All in all, as a non-military person, I found the book fascinating, entertaining, and above all educational. The diagrams for each mission are very helpful allowing the reader to visualize what happens in each battle. Overall, If you are interested in Guerilla or Afghan warfare tactics, I would recommend this book.