Afghanistan The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower (Hardcover)

by Mohammed Yousaf (Author), Mark Adkin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
How did the horrendous situation in Afghanistan, with all its implications for recent events and the present time, come to pass? What was the role of the CIA and Pakistani intelligence in the creation of what became the Taliban? What are the implications for the future and lessons from the past for American forces today?

This highly controversial book reveals one of the greatest military, political and financial secrets of recent times. It is nothing less than the true, if fantastic, account of how Pakistan and the USA covertly controlled the largest guerrilla war of the 20th Century, dealing to the Soviet Russian presence in Afghanistan a military defeat that has come to be called 'Russia's Vietnam'.

From 1983 to 1987 the author, Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, was the head of the Afghan Bureau of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI-akin to the CIA), and as such was effectively the Mujahideen's commander-in-chief; he is. in fact, as the book demonstrates, the only general since the Second World War to have directed troops in action within the Soviet Union's own borders. He controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms across Pakistan and into its occupied neighbor, arms bought with CIA and Saudi Arabian funds from the USA, Britain, China, Egypt and Turkey, amongst others. He organized and directed the training of the Mujahideen in secret camps within his own country, and covertly sent Pakistan Army teams inside Afghanistan to assist the guerrilla's in their campaign of ambushes, assassinations, raids and rocket attacks, a campaign that forced the Soviets to realize that they could never win. He saw that the Mujahideen were fed, cared for, and supplied with every necessity; he organized recruiting from among the thousands of refugees; he negotiated with the leaders of various guerrilla groups (a task requiring the skills, patience, and strength of character of several saints); and he coordinated the ultra-secret Mujahideen raids deep inside what was then still the USSR.

There are many in authority in the USA and Pakistan who would still prefer that Brigadier Yousaf's revelations were not made public, and not least his confirmation that American and Pakistani authorities deliberately blocked any serious investigation into the-murder of Pakistan's leader, General Zia, the US Ambassador, and Yousaf's superior, the head of ISI, in an airplane crash in August 1988. Never published in the USA, the last remaining copies of the original 1992 UK hardcover edition were snapped up by US intelligence in the last week of September.

This compelling book, put together with great skill by the military author, Mark Adkin, is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth behind the Soviets' Vietnam, and the reasons why, to this day, the war in Afghanistan still drags on despite the victory that the Mujahideen were denied when the Soviets withdrew.

The Lessons in The Bear Trap have never been more relevant after the President declared "war against world terrorism". It is mandatory reading for military planners and will fascinate all with a close interest and concern in events triggered by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Casemate (November 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971170924
• ISBN-13: 978-0971170926
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #652,710 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pay no attention to that Man behind the Curtain, January 12, 2002

By	D. Chapman (Northern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one hell of a book. It goes into a lot
more detail than most people want regarding
covert operations against the Soviets during
the Afghanistan war. The descriptions of the
CIA's efforts to obtain deniable armaments is
tragedy mixed with comedy. Checkbook war-fighting
doesn't work very well.

The most interesting thing I found in the book was
the description of the failures of the SAM-7 and
blowpipe missiles to bring down Soviet helicopters,
followed by the success of the Stingers. In the
book, Stingers are described as having IFF, which
makes them incapable of shooting down American
military aircraft. Perhaps this is true. If it's
not true, why would a book published 10 years ago
make an offhand claim like that?

The story of how the war ended is disturbingly
familiar to those who watched the end of the Gulf War.
Because we preferred anarchy over a fundamentalist
government, the US betrayed the mujahadeen as soon
as the Soviets left the country. After five more
years of civil war, the fundamentalists took over, anyway.

There are lots of other tidbits, and the overall
effect is to bring things into focus. It's not a
pretty picture. You can see why the various governments
involved didn't really want this book published.

After September 11, it is more relevant than ever.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and flawed, September 16, 2002

By	John A. Horner "squadleader" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The most interesting aspect of this work is the real nuts and bolts of the war in Afghanistan, and the Pakistani contribution to the war effort. The logistical nightmare of providing arms to the Mujahideen are only one facet of this massive supply operation, and I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about this aspect of the war from a real insider.

I do find flaws in this work, however, and they basically arise from the real difference of opinion about the US role in that conflict. Yes, the United States was interested in supplying the rebels for the sake of Great Power Politics. A defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan surely would be a great victory for the West, and that is why the arms were supplied. Lets get real here. The author seems to take exception with the fact that after the Soviets pulled out, the US did not seem very interested in defeating the puppet government. Why would they care? The weapons were not supplied out of any desire to assist in the Jihad, nor were they provided out of a hope for a better future Afghanistan. Afghan politics was (and is) made up of rivalries, warlords and open conflict. The US had little interest in getting involved before the Soviet occupation, so why would they after? Any interperetation to the contrary is to miss the point. Standard realist politics, pure and simple.

The author also believes that the US removed support from the Mujahideen so that they could not defeat the communist government and create a fundamentalist regeime. The recent events in Afghanistan showed exactly why this was of such great concern to the US. Hindsight is certainly 20-20, and this book was written and published well before the 9/11 attacks on the US. But I feel that the author's concern about the lack of US support for the defeat of the puppet government has been conclusivly shown to be the correct policy choice. The fundamentalist Taliban government allowed Al Qaida to flourish, and we all know how that turned out. I don't beleive too many people who will read this book will feel sorry for the failure (at that time) of a fundamentalist take-over of Afghanistan. Too bad they eventually did so. Maybe the US should have done even more to prevent it.

Also, the author seems to find reason to blame the US for pretty much everything that went wrong with the war. Even when he had no proof, he did not hesitate to show how the US could have done the bad deed. I found very little thanks to a country that sent millions and millions of dollars to help fight the war, even if it was for reasons of self-interest. (Realist politics again.) I continually found it difficult to read where the US was selfish for only wanting to help defeat the USSR, and that the CIA should somehow have been interested in Jihad or helping the historically conflict-ridden political parties within Afghanistan. Even during this war with the USSR, the warlords (according to the author) would sell arms they were given, fight with each other, and pretty much do what they wanted. It was only by using the carrot of more arms and heavier weapons could any control be established over these groups. Why would the US want to get invloved in that???

The subject of the Stinger missiles is covered in great detail, and the introduction of these weapons really changed the whole nature of the conflict. It is claimed (correctly) that the CIA did not want to give this weapon to the Mujahideen for fear it would find it's way to terrorists and unfriendly countries. It was pointed out many times in the book how "if we had the stinger" and this defeat was because they didn't have it, the author himself admits that several weapons DID find their way into Iran. So the US was right all along to be concerned. All air travelers should be concerned that these weapons are still floating around somewhere. Pretty scarey, and the CIA was right to be worried. But that did not seem to be of interest to the author.

So all in all, it is a very good work for the inside scoop on the war from the Pakistani point of view, and it should be read as such. But, the attitude against the US was pretty hard to fathom, and it got to be an annoying part of this book. I'm hardly a flag waver, but give credit where credit is due. The major reason the Soviets left Afghanistan was because of the massive US aid effort. Perhaps that should have been pointed out more in this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Birds Eye View, January 10, 2006

By	Munawar Ali (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Afghan/Soviet War books can be broken up into a finite set of subjects. Personal/First Person Journalist account, War tactics or High level political/war analysis.

This book is squarely in the last category. A view of the war as described by the Pakistani ISI Brigadier General who ran it.

Regardless of the fact that the book is one sided, I found the book invaluable as a reference on how the Pakistani's ran the war. From Supply chain, US politics, right to on-the-ground tactics; the General goes over everything. At some points admitting Government secrets (That had probably be unclassified by print time).

An excellent book, well written, and interesting. The book even reviews at a tactical level, many battles you can read in "The Other Side of the Mountain".

This book won't cover the entire war, but is a great high level view of the Pakistani operational framework.