Tamarov was a member of the soviet unions airborne assault force and served on the front lines in afghanistan as part of a minesweeping team. An afghan who studied and published in the west, then became a prominent professor of history at kabul university, his opposition to the soviet invasion got him arrested by the communist regime in 1982. Pakistan has worlds second largest stockpile of anti. Pfm1 is a land mine of soviet production, very similar to the blu43 us army landmine. The september 11th sourcebooks national security archive. Widely used in afghanistan, the soviet pfm1 scatterable pressuresensitive blast mine is also known as the butterfly mine because of its shape, which unfortunately attracts children who think it is a toy. Trumps afghanistan strategy by the associated press august 21, 2017 president trump has settled on a new plan to carry on the nearly 16yearold conflict in afghanistan. Though the ieds used against american soldiers in iraq and afghanistan are. In march, the afghan army battalion in herat defected to the insurgents, and killed 20 soviet advisers in the city. It was adopted in 1997 and it entered into force on 1 march 1999. T his is the book that every politician, every general, every diplomat contemplating getting into, or out of, afghanistan should be made to. Russia accused of supplying taliban as power shifts create. The sovietafghan war was a conflict wherein insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen, as well as smaller maoist groups, fought a guerrilla war against the soviet army and the democratic republic of afghanistan government for over nine years, throughout the 1980s, mostly in the afghan countryside.
By signing the convention on 1 march 2003, the islamic republic of afghanistan committed to establish a complete ban on antipersonnel mines within four years, with all. In this second part of a twopart interview by government book talk blog editor michele bartram, col. Russia accused of supplying taliban as power shifts create strange bedfellows an afghan army commander is the latest to allege that moscow is providing arms to the islamist group that grew out of. He follows this account with a firsthand report of the 1979 invasion, and analyzes the intervention from political, military, and economic perspectives. Deformation of the soft plastic skin of the mine forces the arming plunger to strike the detonator, detonating the mine. In the 1960s and 1970s, due to cooperation between the soviet union and afghanistan, there were roughly 10,000 russian expatriate engineers, interpreters, construction workers, and other similar professionals living in the country, a figure which had grown to 15,000 by the eve of the sovietafghan war. There are numerous variations of the pmr2a or pomz2 antipersonnel stake mines, which are generally. In some cases, they bounce up before exploding or explode in a certain direction. Boozing through the sovietafghan war was more horrifying. The earlier pmn2 landmine seen at left in the image below has been documented in syria since at least early 2012, however this is the first known appearance of the pmn4 above and below, at right. Antipersonnel ap mines there are hundreds of different types of ap mine 7, though probably only about. Antipersonnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines, the latter may or may not be a bouncing mine. The politburo sessions of january 17 and 28, 1980 carried extensive discussions of the situation in afghanistan.
Land mines and their antecedents have been used on the battlefield from. Old mines bring new casualties in afghanistan hundreds of afghans, mostly children, are killed or injured each year from old mines and unexploded ammunition in unmarked areas. Largely basing his account on russian sources and interviews he shows the war through the eyes of the russians themselves politicians, officers, soldiers, advisers, journalist. Variations of the word afghan may be as old as a 3rdcenturyce sasanian reference to abgan. Meanwhile, we may trace the history of russiansovietafghan relations, we may consider why the u.
Over the course of 1979, the soviets watched carefully as their client government in kabul lost control of more and more of afghanistan. The design of the pmn1 mine dates from the late 1950s. In afghanistan russians are now remembered with love new. Russia is funding taliban military operations against nato in afghanistan through a covert programme of laundered fuel sales, the times has learnt from members of. But, even when the wars are over and the soldiers have gone, these eternal sentinals continue to maim and. Soviet voices from the afghanistan war 1st edition by alexievich, svetlana, heinemann, larry isbn. Decades after soviet invasion, russian land mines continue. Fragmentation mines are frequently triggered by wire and are lethal within a radius of about 30m. Deliberately targeting civilians in a time of war, russia is committing a war crime. A complete analysis of the soviet intervention in afghanistan in late 1979 must wait until enough time passes for that event to be evaluated in terms of longrange soviet military and political objectives. World war two german glasmine 43 anti personnel mine duration. Russianbacked afghan military forces used mines for the protection of their. Afghanistans kajaki dam offers landmines, breathtaking. Symposium on autonomous vehicles in mine countermeasures, monterey, april.
Russias new landmine can distinguish between soldiers and. A digital reproduction is available from eeditions, a collaboration of the university of california press and the california digital librarys escholarship program. The soviet intervention in afghanistan by alfred l. What isnt in the museum is spread out across roughly 1,000 square miles of the country. Secretly keeping a detailed journal and photographic record of his combat missions in the mountais, tamarov captured the fear, futility, and violence of an insane war. A number of dilapidated russian antiaircraft guns also dotted the mountain, and an abandoned russian tank could be. Sometimes referred to as the ottawa convention, the mine ban treaty is officially titled. The mine varies considerably in activation pressure, but 110 kg is normal. To quote from ospreys web page, each essential histories book studies the origins, politics, fighting and repercussions of one major war or theatre of war, from both military and civilian perspectives. Books set in afghanistan showing of 112 a thousand splendid suns by. A farmer in his field is more likely to detonate an antipersonnel mine than a trained soldier on patrol. Barred from afghanistan, he gathered incontrovertible testimony of the. Antipersonnel ap mines are designed to be activated by people, whilst anti tank at mines are intended to defeat tanks or other armoured vehicles. Afghanistan is infamous today for being in the grip of the most benighted, fanatical and misogynist government in the world.
Russia funds taliban in war against nato forces the times. Why russia wants the us to stay in afghanistan the diplomat. Pfm1 was mainly used during the soviet invasion of afghanistan, allegedly. It is particularly deadly because it contains an unusually large explosive filling when compared to most other antipersonnel landmines. In areas that have been cleared, 30,725 anti personnel mines, 2,366 anti tank mines and around 2 million pieces of unexploded ordnance have been identified and neutralised. Russia knows this, and deploys antipersonnel mines anyway. The gist of this history occurs when ambassador braithwaite closes chapter nine by summarizing the soviet military effort in afghanistan. The americans never did anything for afghanistan, almost nothing. The united states commander in afghanistan, however, in recent testimony to the senate, said that the russians were trying to undermine natos mission in the country, and that it was the afghan. Ukraine claimed russian troops had set up fields of mines between crimea and the rest of ukraine. Afghanistan war, 197892, conflict between anticommunist muslim afghan guerrillas mujahidin and afghan government and soviet forces. Lyakhovsky and other authors report that at the same time, the top soviet military and political leadership held secret deliberations on the possibility of early withdrawal of soviet forces from afghanistan. Antipersonnel mine ottawa treaty organization for mine clearance and.
The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew afghan president sardar muhammad daud khan, who had come to power by ousting the king in 1973. The mines are often designed to injure, not kill, their victims in order to increase the logistical support required by enemy forces that encounter them. If there would be a referendum right now, on a simple question. The mujahideen were backed primarily by the united states. Its design is typical of many post world war ii anti tank blast mines, circular with a central fuze well fitted with a plug in this case. Capable of being deployed from the air, as well as being resistant to explosive clearance techniques.
Landmines in war and peace and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. Russian pmn4 antipersonnel landmines in syria armament. Landmines and land rights in afghanistan global protection cluster. It was the last hot war it would fight, and one whose failure played a leading role in its loss of the cold war and disintegration. Mines can be either designed as anti personnel or anti tank. Last year, ukraine had accused russia of planting antitank and antipersonnel landmines on its territory during moscows annexation of crimea. Ieds, land mines, and booby traps in the sovietafghan war. How to disarm a russian, pmn2, antipersonnel mine youtube. Antipersonnel mines are indiscriminate weapons and they mostly harm civilians, not soldiers. And so the russians discovered, as other armies have discovered in afghanistan before and since, that once you have taken the ground you need troops to hold it.
Antipersonnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to antitank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. This book, the sovietafghan war 197989, by gregory fermontbarnes, is an entry in osprey publishings essential history series. The first official deployment of the soviet army into the kingdom of afghanistan began dec. Antipersonnel mines with fragmentation are not or only partially digged inside the ground. The mines were placed by soldiers during wars of aggression or by combatants during civil wars. Kakar is that rare and unhappy intellectual fated to an eventful life. Russia, the ussr and afghanistan, yesterday and today. Other articles where history of afghanistan is discussed. Camilla wasznik, a spokesperson for the icrc minesarms unit, says some 60 people are reported killed or maimed by land mines across afghanistan each month. Russian forces based in tajikistan, beginning in late 2000, have laid antipersonnel mines inside tajikistan on the tajikafghan border. The earliest muslim reference to the afghans probably dates to 982, but tribes related to the modern afghans have lived in the region for many generations. In the longer term, russia can simply either try to reproduce the antitaliban alliance and the international coalition supporting it, creating a. Some types of antipersonnel mines can also damage the tracks on armour.
Since 1990, authorities have recorded about 3,000 incidents related to mine and other old ordnance explosions in the western region. The demining expert says that by the time peace finally came to afghanistan with the u. The antipersonnel mine ban convention, most often referred to as the. On august 15, 2017, russian president vladimir putins special envoy to afghanistan, zamir kabulov, urged the united states to withdraw its military presence from afghanistan and end its 16year. Whilst the pmn2 is one of the most prolific antipersonnel mines in the world, the pmn4 is less frequently encountered. Ares has previously documented their employment during the ukraine conflict. The design has been copied by many countries worldwide, and can be found almost anywhere. Afghanistan mine action programme launched in 1988, the unocha mine action programme for afghanistan mapa is committed to working to help afghans rid their land of these gruesome and sinister weapons. Pfm1 is a small, scatterable antipersonnel ap mine with a body made from lowdensity polythene. The russians had also seized 605 landmines stored at a ukrainian military depot in crimea.
Counterinsurgency in afghanistan and pakistan, 20012011, describes the lessons learned after ten years of war in afghanistan. Cassidy, author of the new, critically acclaimed book, war, will, and warlords. The russians in afghanistan, 197989 main by braithwaite, sir rodric isbn. Similar mines are often assembled in the field by combat engineers and factories such as the wojo factory in krakow.
Innocent men, women, and children in many third world countries are killed and maimed by antipersonnel landmines. Theyre a common symbol for landmines, something the russians laid in the 1980s while occupying the kajaki area. If anything, this was even more the case in soviet times when the very difficulties of getting hold of booze acted as a spur to the ingenuity for which russians are also rightly known. There are estimated to be 1,500 russians living in afghanistan. Bombing kills dozens and hurts schoolchildren as taliban. In a timely and eyeopening book rodric braithwaite examines the russian experience in that most recent war in afghanistan after alexanders conquests and the many british imperial wars and skirmishes. The soviet union invaded afghanistan in december 1979. The pfm1s version incorporates a selfdestruct mechanism.
The 19791989 soviet war in afghanistan lasted more than nine years, and mine. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The pmd1 may be easily disarmed, but is often boobytrapped. Understanding that the soviet unions troublesome economic and international situation was complicated by its involvement in the afghan war, gorbachev had decided to seek a withdrawal from afghanistan and had won the support of the politburo to do so by october 1985 193. Ask the russian embassy in kabul, and the assistance is all.
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