The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: A Study in the Use of Force in Soviet Foreign Policy

This book goes further than any so far published in probing Soviet policies in relation to Afghanistan. At this point, six years or so after the key decisions (on the coup of April 1978 and the military action of December 1979, for example), the author is in a good position to assess Soviet motives and conduct, to give a critique of the interpretations of others-both of the "grand design" and the "defensive reaction" schools, as well as others-and to reach some well thought out conclusions of his own. He also gives some professional comment on the actual military operations.