title: The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan
author:  Gregory Feifer 
description: &#8220;This is a provocative and important book, telling us what the Soviet military was thinking and feeling as it lost its war in Afghanistan. Gregory Feifer vividly shows that their campaigns there amounted to a manual of how not to do it.&#8221; (Thomas Ricks, author of Fiasco and The Gamble)<br /><br />&#8220;Feifer&#8217;s thoughtful, deliberative use of eyewitness testimony gives an intensely close-up sense of what the war was like for those who fought it.&#8221; (Kirkus Reviews)<br /><br />&#8220;Feifer brings to life in spirited detail the bloody, eight-year struggle that killed a million Afghans and tens of thousands of Russians and broke the back of the Soviet Union, which disappeared within two years of the war&#8217;s end. You think it can&#8217;t happen to us? Read Feifer.&#8221; (Thomas Powers, author of Heisenberg&#8217;s War)<br /><br />&#8220;Tracing the arc of the Soviets&#8217; military disillusionment in Afghanistan, Feifer, who is an NPR reporter in Moscow, provides essential historical background to the present war in Afghanistan.&#8221; (Booklist)
zlib_text: THE SOVIET WAR 
  IN AFGHANISTAN
  GREGORY FEIFER
  THE
  GAMBLE
  GREAT
  
  F o r  m y  f a t h e r,  P B
  
  C O N T E N T S
   
  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
  1 
  Invasion Considered: . . . . . . . . . . . . 9  
   
  A Short, Victorious War
  2 
  Storm- 333: The Invasion . . . . . . . . 55
  3 
  The Soviets Dig In . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
  4 
  The Mujahideen Fight Back . . . . . 120
  5 
  The Soviets Seek Victory . . . . . . . 152
  6 
  The Tide Turns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
  7 
  Endgame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
  8 
  Aftermath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
   
  Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
   
  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
   
  Glossary of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
   
  Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
   
  Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
   
  Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
  About the Author
  Credits
  Cover
  Copyright
  About the Publisher
  
  I N T R O D U C T I O N
  I
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