Panjshir Valley 1980-86: The Lion Tames the Bear in Afghanistan

The Lion of Panjshir, Ahmad Shah Massoud, fought the Soviet forces for control of the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan, shaping the subsequent Afghan civil wars and military thinking. This book features striking colour artwork and detailed maps of the fighting.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 96 pages
Publication date: 21 October 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, believing that if they took the cities, the country would follow. However, they were wrong. The Red Army found itself in a bloody stalemate in the Afghan mountains, in the strategically vital Panjshir Valley, where they faced the most able and charismatic of the rebel commanders: Ahmad Shah Massoud, the 'Lion of Panjshir. Time and again, the Soviets and their Afghan counterparts sought to take control of the Panjshir, and time and again, the rebels either rebuffed their clumsy attempts or ambushed and evaded them, only to retake the valley as soon as Moscow's attention was elsewhere. Over time, the rebels acquired new weapons and developed their own tactics – as did the Soviets. The Panjshir was not just a pivotal battlefield, it also shaped the subsequent Afghan civil wars that followed Soviet withdrawal, and the military thinking that is still informing the new Russian military. Featuring striking color artwork, battle scenes, and detailed maps of the fighting, this is a compelling study of one of the hardest-fought struggles of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.

Weight: 312g
Dimension: 184 x 249 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472844736