Afghanistan’s Violent Decades

This book examines the key political and military events in Afghanistan from 1978 to August 2021. It covers the Afghan-Soviet war and how that war was followed by an Afghan Civil War that made the country receptive to the rise of the Afghan Taliban. It explains how the Taliban secured control of Afghanistan’s government, and permitted Osama bin Laden to reside in the country while he secretly planned an attack on the American mainland.
It also covers why Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, flew hijacked airliners into New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It describes how American and NATO forces responded by invading Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda and to overthrow the Taliban government. The 20-year Afghan-NATO war which followed would lead to American troops suffering 2,488 dead and 20,722 wounded. This book is one of the first to cover this long war written after the war ended in August 2021, giving it a new perspective. It offers an even-handed coverage of the war based on Taliban, American, and British sources.

Stanley B. Sprague is a retired attorney who specialized in civil litigation and appeals. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Stanley B. Sprague
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 285
Bibliographic Info: 3 photos, chronology, glossary, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9185-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5235-1
Imprint: McFarland

Preface and Acknowledgments 1
Chronology 3
Glossary 5
Introduction 11
Part One—Soviet Intervention
1. Early Soviet Interest and PDPA in Power 13
2. First Phase: Soviet Invasion (Dec. 1979 to March 1980) 24
3. Second Phase: Sparring; The War Heats Up (March 1980 to March 1985) 31
4. Third Phase: End Game (March 1985 to Feb. 1989) 37
5. The Fall of Najibullah’s Communist Regime (Feb. 1989 to April 1992) 46
Part Two—Civil War,
Taliban Formation and Conquests
6. The Afghan Civil War 53
7. Taliban’s Birth, Conquests, and Rule 58
8. Taliban’s Attempts to Eliminate Massoud 67
Part Three—The ­Afghan-NATO War
9. First Phase: Al–Qaeda Strikes U.S.A.; Taliban Routed (Sept. to Dec. 2001) 79
10. Second Phase: The Quiet Period (Dec. 2001 to June 2003) 92
11. Third Phase: The Taliban Return (June 2003 to Aug. 2003) 106
12. Fourth Phase: NATO Takes Over and Expands (Aug. 2003 to Feb. 2006) 116
13. Fifth Phase: Taliban Major Offensives in South (Feb. to Dec. 2006) 127
14. Sixth Phase: NATO Counteroffensives (Dec. 2006 to Aug. 2007) 139
15. Seventh Phase: The Americans Lose Momentum (Aug. 2007 to Feb. 2009) 147
16. Eighth Phase: America Decides to Surge Troops (Feb. to Dec. 2009) 161
17. Ninth Phase: America Uses Its Surge Troops (Dec. 2009 to June 2010) 176
18. Tenth Phase: Petraeus Takes the Offensive (June 2010 to May 2011) 185
19. Eleventh Phase: Americans Withdraw More Troops (June 2011 to April 2014) 195
20. Twelfth Phase: Troop Withdrawals/Taliban Successes (April 2014 to Jan. 2017) 209
21. Thirteenth Phase: Peace Deal/Taliban in Power (Jan. 2017 to Aug. 2021) 221
Epilogue: Autopsy of the ­Afghan-NATO War 237
Chapter Notes 241
Bibliography 270
Index 273