Why did the USSR linger so long in Afghanistan? What makes this account of the Soviet-Afghan conflict both timely and important is its focus on the factors that prevented the Soviet leadership from ending a demoralizing and costly war and on the long-term consequences for the Soviet Union and the re...

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Beteilige Person:	Kalinovsky, Artemy M. (VerfasserIn)
Format:	Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:	Englisch
Veröffentlicht:	Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard University Press 2011
Schlagwörter:	Geschichte 1979-1989 Disengagement (Military science) / Case studies HISTORY / Asia / Central Asia HISTORY / Asia / General HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century Geschichte Asiens Afghanistan-Konflikt > 1979-1989 Rückzug Asien Afghanistan Sowjetunion Fallstudiensammlung
Links:	https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040 https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061040
Zusammenfassung:	Why did the USSR linger so long in Afghanistan? What makes this account of the Soviet-Afghan conflict both timely and important is its focus on the factors that prevented the Soviet leadership from ending a demoralizing and costly war and on the long-term consequences for the Soviet Union and the region The conflict in Afghanistan looms large in the collective consciousness of Americans. What has the United States achieved, and how will it withdraw without sacrificing those gains? The Soviet Union confronted these same questions in the 1980s, and Artemy Kalinovsky’s history of the USSR’s nine-year struggle to extricate itself from Afghanistan and bring its troops home provides a sobering perspective on exit options in the region.What makes Kalinovsky’s intense account both timely and important is its focus not on motives for initiating the conflict but on the factors that prevented the Soviet leadership from ending a demoralizing war. Why did the USSR linger for so long, given that key elites recognized the blunder of the mission shortly after the initial deployment?Newly available archival material, supplemented by interviews with major actors, allows Kalinovsky to reconstruct the fierce debates among Soviet diplomats, KGB officials, the Red Army, and top Politburo figures. The fear that withdrawal would diminish the USSR’s status as leader of the Third World is palpable in these disagreements, as are the competing interests of Afghan factions and the Soviet Union’s superpower rival in the West. This book challenges many widely held views about the actual costs of the conflict to the Soviet leadership, and its findings illuminate the Cold War context of a military engagement that went very wrong, for much too long
Umfang:	1 Online-Ressource (304 Seiten) Illustrationen, Karten
ISBN:	9780674061040
DOI:	10.4159/harvard.9780674061040