Afghanistan has stood up to the most powerful empires of the past century, and the Americans are only the latest superpower to take on the country.
In "The Hidden War" Russian journalist Artyom Borovik exposed the ugly realities of the Soviet-Afghan War, which were hidden under a glossy veil of propaganda in Russia and kept secret from Western observers.
Written in 1990, shortly after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, "The Hidden War" is more a tale of human suffering and endurance, of government lies and hypocrisy, than it is historical chronicle.
Borovik gives few details of the events that led up to the war, and the political machinations that perpetuated it.
He wisely avoids analysis of policy and military strategies. The writing is simpler than that, but at the same time weaves a far more intriguing story.
He chooses, instead, to reveal the futility of the war and the government's foolishness and vulnerabilities through the eyes of the men who fought. He tells the story through anecdotes and interviews and essentiality lets his subjects provide the narrative.
The book is divided into two parts, the first of which was written in 1987, and the second in 1990 after the author returned from a correspondence mission in Afghanistan for Russian magazine Ogonyok.
The material is presented as if it were seen by someone just opening their eyes to the horror.
Borovik writes as if he is still trying to feel his way through the mess of the war, exposing such details as the guns smuggled under the bellies of sheep or the Afghan children who are bribed to punch holes in the Soviet oil pipelines.
The second part is far more critical of the situation. Borovik's interviews are more biased and his language becomes more cynical. In several chapters he discusses press conferences with Soviet dissidents living in the United States, who take an extremely negative stance against the war.
"I don't want to insult the men who sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan," one Russian veteran says at a press conference in Washington D.C. "But I just can't understand what it was all for, or who needed it."
In another chapter Borovik discusses the implications of war with a rebel leader, living in London named Gailani.
"I can't understand - and I return to this question again and again - how such a great country could trust the promises and assurances of a few men," Gailani says.
"How could it allow itself to be led into war without weighing all the pros and cons beforehand? Aren't policy decisions based on real information rather than on promises?"
One of the more colorful characters in the book is a Soviet lieutenant named Ushakov, who speaks with a stutter but keeps his unit control by prohibiting the use of alcohol and women. He has been disillusioned with his experience in the Red Army, which included time spent in a psychiatric ward.
"To a commander the psych ward is often like a magic wand," he said. "A soldier hits an officer for instance. The soldier is put on trial and it's a crisis.
But if a regiment has a crisis situation and a man has been convicted then a commander cannot rise to the next rank. So the incident is reported as a nervous breakdown and that's it... Could a normal soldier hit an officer?"
The book's strength lies in such vivid anecdotes. Borovik places importance on such acts as receiving the diary of a forlorn helicopter pilot or recounting a veterans life story on a cold winter day as the army is trying to exit the country. He writes like he genuinely cares about their plight
Borovik is also intelligent enough to know that he does not have answers. He knows that the war was built on a pile of lies, but he is unable to explain why.
He admits to that in the introduction, and by clearing that out of the way he is able to focus on the human stories.
His subjects recount a tale of the tragedy and disappointment that affected them much more than the political implications.
Write to Robert at rclopez@bsu.edu
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