Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the CIA's Secret War in Afghanistan - Hardcover

Lohbeck, Kurt

9780895264992: Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the CIA's Secret War in Afghanistan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0895264994 ISBN 13: 9780895264992

Publisher: Regnery Publishing, 1993

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

brings the reader deep inside a tragic conflict that is too quickly being forgotten.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A principal virtue of TV-journalist Lohbeck's vivid account of his lengthy sojourn in Afghan combat zones is the light it sheds on the mujahideen groups that--despite various political/religious agendas, internecine rivalries, and fitful aid from Western allies- -managed to drive Soviet troops from their mountainous, hostile homeland. The only American journalist to make the savage undeclared war a full-time beat (mainly for CBS), Lohbeck first provides an overview of the primitive Muslim nation's history, which extends through Moscow's bootless efforts to support a reliably Communist government in Kabul by force of arms. The author offers instructive perspectives on the seven different resistance movements that fought or at least opposed USSR forces (and vied for sponsorship abroad, most often in the US). Early on, Lohbeck gained the confidence of an astute guerrilla chieftain named Abdul Haq, whose effective military operations he reported on many occasions. A muddy-boots correspondent, the author was wounded twice in the course of covering a host of deadly engagements between tribal irregulars and Soviet invaders. He also experienced some real, if not always mortal, dangers away from the front lines. Cases in point range from the Afghanistan's puppet regime putting a price on his head through stateside contact with Jay Pollard (a Naval Intelligence operative subsequently convicted of selling classified documents to Israel) to clashes with Pakistani officials (nominally committed to maintaining their country's neutrality), ad hominem assaults by fellow members of the press, and run-ins with CIA agents pursuing objectives at odds with those espoused by either Foggy Bottom or Capitol Hill. Dramatic, frequently affectionate, takes on fractious rebel warriors whose success has yet to yield them the victory they thought they'd won by nine years of bloody battle. (Foreword by Dan Rather; maps and eight pages of photographs--not seen) -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Almost all of the recent books on the Afghan war have told the story from either the Soviet or the American perspective. Although this is of the latter category, it comes as close as possible to presenting the mujahaddin view. The author, an American journalist on contract with CBS News, spent most of the eight-year war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Washington. He became a close friend with one resistance leader, Abdul Haq, traveled with his group, and was wounded twice. In the United States, Lohbeck interviewed CIA Director William Casey and other senior figures. Although the book is biased and has a misleading subtitle (don't look here for "insider revelations" or an objective interpretation of the Soviet role), it does bring the reader deep inside a tragic conflict that is too quickly being forgotten.
- John Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.