Afghanistan: The Bear Trap by Mohammad Yousaf (Hardcover)

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.