Read The Hidden War A Russian Journalist Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan Artyom Borovik 9780871135216 Books

Product details Paperback 8 pages Publisher Atlantic Monthly Pr; Reprint edition (April 1, 1992) Language English ISBN-10 0871135213

The Hidden War A Russian Journalist Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan Artyom Borovik 9780871135216 Books Reviews

• As a Vietnam combat veteran I found Artyom Borovik's book, THE HIDDEN WAR, to ring so clear, true and familiar that I didn't mind the puzzle-like story pieces that made up this remarkable and historic account. As a journalist Borovik covered many aspects of the Soviet War in Afghanistan during the years and accurately and vividly reported what he found. From the lowly infantryman, the elite airborne soldiers, helicopter and MiG pilots, field and political officers, and various mid and high level commanders we get more pieces of the puzzle to slowly put into place as we read. And too there were the rebel dukhi, the 'Black Tulip' casualty flights, the deserters and traitors who fled or fought against their own, the ever present dust and harsh cold of the mountain campaigns, the criticism or resentment the war veterans received at home afterwards, and so many other interesting bits that by the end of the book a better overall picture of the war emerged to contemplate.
  I have new respect for the Soviet veterans of Afghanistan and salute their service, sacrifice, and courage in their hidden war. Is Borovik's book the definitive history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan? No. But it is nonetheless a remarkable achievement.
• If you are looking for a historical account of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, this is not it. This book was written by a Soviet journalist and recounts many of the experiences of the Soviet army in the last couple of years of the war. He also interviews some Soviet troops that either defected to the Mujaheddin or were captured and later went to the US to live.
  
  Anyone even remotely familiar with the US experience in Afghanistan will get a feeling of Deja-vu. The experience really is no different than how it is now for our guys. You really feel bad for the Soviet soldiers as they not only have to deal with the enemy, but with corrupt and incompetent officers, a home front that either doesn't care about them anymore or is even hostile, and the inability to get even the most basic of comforts and supplies.
  
  It is not quite certain what the strategic aims of the invasion were as most of the top leaders of the time are dead and the documents still state secrets, but one of the biggest apparent reasons was to keep the up and coming Muslim extremism from boiling over into Soviet southern republics. Sound familiar?
• This book has the taste and smell of war in it. You see the Kishlaks passed by at night, raging gunfire spewing forth through the day, you taste the axel grease, bake in the heat of the desert. Artyom Borovik captures the experience and the personality of the Afghanistan War that the Soviets unwillfully got bogged down in through the 80's.
  Though there are several things this book is, there are also things it is not. It is not a higher level capturing of the causes of the Afghan war. It doesn't analyze the history. It is not linear. Instead it takes a broader look at what it did to the psyche of the soldiers that fought there. It spans the globe to follow those that escaped the war to America and yet yearn to return to the rodina. Borovik's writing reads like a novel and you'll find yourself caught up in the details of military operations and wonder how he got out of there alive with a soul intact.
  The Afghanistan War closely resembles our Vietnam and strangely enough doesn't mirror the current war waged on terrorism, but there are lessons to be drawn from here. Outside superpower influence in countries to topple governments and sponsor leaders almost always seems to turn out poorly. The real lesson learned is to go after Bin Laden like a tribal warlord in a land where there are many factions, the terrain is unforgiving, the people strong and willful. One gets the sense that war is eternal in this country and that the people pay the price. So if we don't get diverted from our initial objectives, keep those objectives clear, we can avoid the pitfalls Borovik tells of when superpowers become involved in Afghanistan.
  Don't hesitate to go get this book and internalize it. Knowledge will pull us through these times.
• There are actually 2 books combined in "Hidden War". The first is a few years in to the war when the writer a journalist, who has been to the USA several time and knows a bit about the west, writes as a adventure, propaganda piece. He includes the feeling of the soldiers and commanders at the time. Several years pass and the writer has been back to the USA and interviewed several soldiers who have surrendered to the mujahadin and been expatriated to the west. Also Glasnost or Openness is in full force in the USSR. The army is pulling out after 8 years of a war that produced nothing. The change in tone of the second book is sharp when compared to the hope of doing their duty in the first book.
  
  Mistakes are made by people attempting to draw parallels between America's wars in Vietnam or Iraq. This would be a mistake and reading 'Hidden War' would prove this. The United States is not the Soviet Union, decayed and on the brink of collapse. No is the media as tightly controlled as in the first part of this book (the book was written after the Soviet Union imploded, it could not have been published before then). There are no conscripts in the American Army as there is in the Soviet or Russian armies.
  
  This is a good book about a war many in the west have forgotten due to the current war in Afghanistan.
• Borovik's work is hard to follow but with the situation that he found himself his brief encounters with some soldiers represent the confusing, muddled situation the Soviet Union found itself in during their military action in Afghanistan. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in Soviet-Russian history, military history or anyone wanting to better understand the conflict.