This book is the first to analyze the institutions, successes, and failures of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, the pro-Soviet regime that sought to dominate the country during the years of the Soviet military presence. Antonio Giustozzi explores the military, political, and social strategies of the predominantly urban and Marxist regime as it struggled—and ultimately failed—to win the support of a largely rural and Islamic population.

Drawing on many Soviet materials not previously used by Western writers, including unpublished Red Army documents and interviews with participants, Giustozzi provides valuable new insights into the cold war and the rise of Islamic revolt.

Antonio Giustozzi received a PhD in international relations at the London School of Economics.

Introduction

The Limits of 'Sovietization'

1. The original social base of the 'Democratic Republic' and its transfromations

2. Difficulties in the implementation of the social program of the Revolution

3. The building up of the social base fo the Saur Revolution and its limits

4. Reluctant concessions and co-optations

The Afghan Regular Armed Forces: Reconstruction, Reorganization and Structural Limits

5. Karmal's 'new model army' and its role in the war

6. The political shortcomings of the armed forces and the party response

7. The efforts to build up quantitatively the armed forces and their limits

8. Attempts to address the strategic problems

9. (In-)Effectiveness of the Afghan armed forces

10. Perverse effects on the army of the transformations caused by the war

The 'Pacification Policy,' 1980-1991

11. The early approaches

12. The first political strategy of 'pacification'

13. The National Reconciliation

14. Overall considerations on the policy of 'pacification'

The Role of the Militias

15. Origins of the militia system

16. The rise in importance of the militias

17. The place of the militias in the economy of the war

18. Perverse effects of the spread of the militias

19. Conclusion: The Fall of Najibullah

20. The aftermath: Afghanistan's disintegration

Appendixes

A. Statistical Tables

B. Maps

C. Graphs

Bibliography

Index