The Other Side of the Mountain

by Ali Ahmad Jalali

This book tells the story of the Soviet-Afghan war in the words of the Mujahideen guerrillas themselves. For ten years the Mujahideen fought a military superpower that had invaded their homeland. Outnumbered and outgunned, they used classic guerrilla tactics to gradually wear down and finally defeat the Soviet army. The authors interviewed Mujahideen commanders and fighters, who describe over 100 guerrilla actions, including ambushes, urban combat, hit-and-run raids, rocket attacks, strongpoint sieges, fighting off heliborne assaults, and last-ditch defenses of their hidden mountain bases. Each vignette includes an after-action analysis by the authors, pointing out where each side succeeded or failed in its mission. A final chapter analyzes how a decentralized foot-mobile insurgent force could defeat a modern fully-mechanized army that had overwhelming artillery and air support. There are 89 tactical battle maps, and a glossary of Mujahideen and Soviet Army terminology and map symbols.