Adamec, Ludwig
1996Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press Inc. Pp. xvii, 364; illustrations, maps, war figures, table of chronology. ISBN # 0-8108-3232-1

Adamec has complied a fairly concise and to-the-point dictionary covering the affairs of Afghanistan from 1501 until around April of 1994. The book begins with a sweeping twenty-seven-page introduction to the "martial" history of Afghanistan. The introduction begins briefly with the rule of the Savids, but quickly moves on to a more in-depth history of Ahmad Kahn in the mid 1700's. In the introduction, Adamec covers a broad history of Afghanistan very effectively, and ends the introduction with Afghanistan being in a state of civil war. The introduction provides each period of Afghani history with a reference point in the dictionary itself. "In the introduction and dictionary there is also useful background material on how the war got started, and why, and how they were concluded" (p. ix). It is in the dictionary where Adamec goes into more in-depth information pertaining to certain Afghani events, rulers, weapons, and wars.
The dictionary provides fairly comprehensive information on all subjects discussed in it. This section also does a wonderful job of providing pictures, maps, and statistics on the subject matter discussed in their respective sections. The dictionary provides over two hundred entries, the most comprehensive ones dealing with Afghan foreign affairs and the Anglo-Afghan wars. "There are entries on the wars and campaigns, on the generals and sometimes diplomats, on tactics and logistics, and on weapons" (p. ix).
The last two sections of the book deal with chronology of events in Afghanistan and an extensive bibliography that can provide readers with additional books covering subject matter that they may be interested in. The chronology section begins in 1747 Ahmad Shah being crowned king, and ends in 1996 with Hekmatayar's anti-Taliban treaty with Rabbani. This section provides a great deal of information in a broad sweeping manner. The bibliography contains over 150 sources that one can use to research other topics on Afghani history. Overall, the dictionary does a tremendous job in providing a quick, and handy reference guide to anyone that has questions concerning Afghanistan. It makes accessing particular aspects of Afghani history extremely easy and informative.
Bryon Wait

This beautifully written book covers three heroes from the period before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The author uses these heroes to explore the cultural roots of the violence and turbulence in Afghanistan today.

Though the book was written before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., it sheds light on the culture of Afghanistan and gave me lots of ideas about why the Taliban continues to shelter Osama bin Laden. Also, the "moral incoherence" that the author finds in Afghanistan is important--U.S. aid and withdrawal are important aspects of why Afghanistan is in the state it is in now, but by no means the only source.

This book is great, it provided me with the enormous amount of information needed to help me research about Afghanistan and learn more about my country.

This catalogue provides a useful and comprehensive overview of jital coinage. The catalogue layout is very easy to use and the line drawings are invaluable to attributions. Well made and highly recommended to all serious numismatists.

A fast and entertaining read--perfect book to tuck in your "hand-carry". If you travel and/or like to see or read about out of the way places, you will enjoy "Letters from Afghanistan". It is a well written view of the place and people, as experienced by a young American couple. Not just a travelog--this young couple went through real danger, illness, harsh living conditions--you name it. Try it--you'll like it!

With all the turmoil in the Afghanistan and that area did you ever wonder what it was like before all the unrest? Eloise Hanner has put together a collection of letter to her mother that takes you on a journey and shows you life pre-Taliban.

Over the 170 plus pages you get a new insight into the people, the land, the culture and the world. Hanner walks you through the streets and you get to meet and talk with the people.

While the book is short in pages, it is full in details and it makes a great read. It is too bad that photos weren't included top put faces and places with the stories and letters. Overall a delight to read and pass on to others.

Freya Stark had an opportunity to visit this remote archaeological site when it was still possible to travel there. This book is the zenith of her prodigious work in that Afghanistan has always been associated with a remoteness that is difficult to describe. The difficulty of her travel to Ghor Province is a story that she could recount in last years.

Wow! novelist Anne Hart does it again with a great adventure! Terrific, fantastic. I love the humor and satire in the adventure as well as the suspense, intrigue, and mystery. This is another one of the best books from the popular novelist.

An old woman encounters an eagle for the first time, and decides to change its unsightly appearance to suit her own ideas of what a bird should look like. The old woman gets her way; but the eagle is saddened by his new pigeon-like appearance, until a sympathetic comrade decides to help out. A fine story of how not to change others, The Old Woman And The Eagle is a very highly recommended picturebook story.

This is an incredibly interesting way to see Afghanistan. So much of what we all know of the country is through a biased, multimedia eye. The author takes us on journey through a much misunderstood, often maligned way of life. To make it even more enthralling, he takes us there through the eyes of one of its own.
I can't wait for the sequel.

Reviewed by LUBOMIR REHAK in International Relations,Volume XIII, No 2, August 1996 -

This is probably the most comprehensive volume written about the events which might be considered a landmark in contemporary history. Diego Cordovez, who served as Under Secretary-General for special Political Affairs of the United Nations from 1981 to 1988, recounts the negotiating process that eventually brought about the peace settlement and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. He is doing it as an insider. It was his mission which, in the end, brought about a solution to a crisis defined by Mikhail Gorbachev as a 'bleeding wound'. Mr. Cordovez' narrative, based wholly on his personal notes and on earlier unpublished documentary sources, is therefore mostly reliable and accurate and is extremely useful for researchers and practitioners of international relations.
As well as being a professional diplomat par excellence, Diego Cordovez is also a fine writer. His co-author, Zelig Harrison, is a professional journalist - for many years he was foreign correspondent for the Washington Post specializing in Asian affairs. He introduces a valuable outside viewpoint. Harrison, however, is not a complete outsider since his analysis of events is based on personal interviews with virtually all the key political actors. He also acquaints the readers with some earlier unknown documents (in particular, from the so-called 'secret file' of the Soviet Communist Party's Politburo) which shed light on the motives of policy formulation that lay behind the decisions taken in Kabul, Islamabad, Moscow and Washington. The authors' account stretches beyond the chronological framework of the actual negotiations which started in 1982 and ended with the signing of the Geneva accords on 14 April 1988. This approach would seem to be justified since it is events in Afghanistan and in the USSR leading up to the Soviet military intervention in December 1979 which account for at least some of the subsequent peculiarities of Soviet and Afghan behaviour at the negotiating table. The authors convincingly dispel the notion that the purpose of the Soviet invasion was to seize control of the Persian gulf using Afghanistan as a spring-board. That was the belief of an influential part of the US political establishment at that time (in particular, of President Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinsky). In reality the main reason for the invasion was simpler and more traditional. As a result of authoritative accounts from competent witnesses and judging from recently disclosed documents, the Russians were greatly and justifiably afraid that the then Afghan communist leader Hafizullah Amin would betray them and become an American-supported Afghan Tito on their borders. They therefore acted consistently with their age-old fear of hostile encirclement. This partly explains why the Soviets began sending signals of their desire for a negotiated settlement as early as the first months of their stay in Afghanistan.
The book is full of surprises. The authors clearly demonstrate that there existed a real chance to secure a peaceful settlement in 1983-84, under Yuri Andropov's tenure as the Soviet Communist Party's General Secretary. This chance they believe to have been undermined by hawks in the Reagan administration, firstly by CIA Director William Casey. With his single-minded focus on building up weapons aid to the Afghan resistance, Casey looked on the UN negotiations as a Soviet propaganda ploy. The unease in relations between the Soviet and Afghan leaderships, especially at crucial moments in the negotiations, is another surprise of the book. Stereotypical media accounts led us to think of Babrak Karmal as no more than a Soviet puppet. However the authors refer to a number of instances bearing witness to the fact that Karmal, and his successor Najibullah, not infrequently demonstrated a high degree of independence from Moscow. They effectively managed to impede the negotiating process and, later, to block the formation of a broad coalition government which was in principle endorsed by Moscow. Another widespread assumption - that it was the introduction of Stinger missiles which eventually forced Moscow to agree to the sign peace accords - is convincingly rebuffed by both authors. In fact the Red Army was securely entrenched when the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw. American weaponry certainly raised the ante for Moscow but it was not a crucial factor. Gorbachev's determination to end the Soviet Union's military involvement, and six years of skilful diplomacy were the primary factors which gave the Soviets a face-saving way out.
The chapters which Diego Cordovez devotes to dramatic episodes in the eleven rounds of proximity talks in Geneva between the Afghan and Pakistani Foreign Ministers, the accounts of his innumerable shuttles between Moscow, Kabul, Islamabad, New York and Geneva, as well as commuting to the different areas of Geneva where the Afghans and the Pakistanis lived, and even walking through the different rooms of Palais des Nations, are fascinating. Each step forward, however small, demanded months of hard labour on the part of Mr. Cordovez and his team. It also required the utmost patience, knowledge and understanding of their interlocutors' affairs, of their own and of their superiors' intentions, and even of their psychology, tastes and habits. The brilliance of Mr. Cordovez's diplomatic performance is indisputable and brings to mind one of François de Callières remarks that: 'It is one of the greatest secrets of the art of negotiating, to know how to distill, as it were drop by drop, into the minds of those with whom we negotiate, the things which it is our interest they should believe'. Mr. Cordovez demonstrated an outstanding ability to distill into the minds of both the Afghans and Pakistanis, and the Russians and Americans, the idea of the profitability of peace despite the unfavourable circumstances with which he was confronted at virtually every stage of the negotiations.
The situation was desperate even on the eve of the final ceremony in Geneva when the documents had been finalized and were ready for signing and the consent of all parties involved had been received. At this stage the problem of symmetry concerning the termination of Soviet aid to Afghanistan and US aid to Pakistan and the Afghan resistance, not adequately reflected in the draft text, unexpectedly became the sticking point that could ruin the settlement. Basically, Moscow agreed to withdraw its forces in exchange for a simultaneous cut-off of US aid but did not consider it had any obligation to terminate its aid to Kabul. This caused strong dissatisfaction in Washington. The inventiveness of Diego Cordovez, his good contacts with both Russians and Americans as well as a sufficient degree of mutual confidence in relations between Moscow and Washington at the time luckily allowed the formulation of a joint position acceptable to both superpowers, though this was not formally included in the documents. In his final statement, after the signing of the Geneva accords on 14 April 1988, the US Secretary of State George Schultz spoke publicly about the compromise which had been reached. He pointed out that 'the obligations undertaken by the guarantors are symmetrical'. 'In this regard', he added, 'the United States has advised the Soviet Union that the US retains the right, consistent with its obligations as a Guarantor, to provide military assistance to parties in Afghanistan. Should the Soviet Union exercise restraint in providing military assistance to parties in Afghanistan, the US similarly will exercise restraint.'
This book covers the wide range of factors which contributed to the Geneva accords and the withdrawal of Soviet troops which was one of the crucial events leading to the ending of the Cold War. The authors give due credit to Gorbachev and his colleagues in the Soviet leadership who carefully and skilfully prepared the ground for disengagement and endorsed UN peace efforts in the face of strong and agg