The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahadeen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War is a 1998 non-fiction book written by former Afghan Army Colonel Ali Ahmad Jalali and American military scholar Lester W. Grau.
Background The book was commissioned by the United States Marine Corps Studies and Analysis Division to complement Grau's previous book, The Bear Went Over the Mountain. Jalali and Grau had planned travel into Afghanistan to interview Mujahideen fighters in late 1996, but were forced to remain in Pakistan as the Taliban began to seize major portions of Afghanistan, eventually capturing Kabul on September 27. Jalali interviewed approximately 40 Mujahideen during the month which the authors spent in Pakistan and an associate, Major Nasrullah Safi, conducted interviews inside Afghanistan for two months to collect additional data.Grau, Lester W. The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War. Quantico, Virginia. USMC Studies and Analysis Division. 1998. Pp XX-XXI (Preface).
Synopsis The Other Side of the Mountain is a compilation of selected anecdotes from Afghan Mujahideen recollecting their various combat actions against Soviet forces during the Soviet-Afghan War. The 92 vignettes along with accompanying maps including operational graphics are arranged chronologically and assembled topically, based on type of action, into 14 chapters. Each chapter opens with a brief summary and a simple map depicting the general locations of the vignettes inside Afghanistan. Soviet operational graphics were used in the detailed vignette maps, since the Afghan Army used them and many Mujahideen were familiar with them. The 15th chapter concludes the book by assessing the technology, command challenges, effects of decentralized command, professionalism, logistics, and tactics used by the Mujahideen.
Title The title alludes to Lester Grau's previous book, The Bear Went Over the Mountain, which presented the Soviet–Afghan War solely from the Soviet perspective. This book focuses on the Mujahideen perspective, thus the "other side" of the mountain.
Reception William C. Green declares that Jalali's and Grau's "highly readable compilation is a significant contribution to the literature on guerilla warfare" in a review for Naval War College Review. He is critical of the book's topical organization, states that the book is geographically biased, and claims that the "proofing and editing is distractingly bad." Despite these shortcomings, Green still lauds its value as a compilation of first-hand accounts of a successful insurgency but urges revisions so that subsequent editions can better educate American military personnel operating in Afghanistan.Green, William C. "The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War", Naval War College Review. Volume 56, Number 3, Summer 2003. Retrieved August 8, 2020 – via Naval War College Review
See also 1973 Afghan coup d'état Afghanistan Afghanistan conflict (1978–present) Afghanistan Mujahedin Freedom Fighters Front Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Fourth-generation warfare Guerrilla warfare Hezbi Islami Inter-Services Intelligence Irregular warfare Islamic Movement of Afghanistan Islamic State of Afghanistan Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen Jamiat-e Islami KHAD Kingdom of Afghanistan Lester W. Grau Low-intensity conflict Operation Cyclone People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan Qawm Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Saur Revolution Soviet war crimes Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Taliban Tehran Eight Unconventional Warfare
External links
The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahadeen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War (complete text) in Portable Document Format from the Defense Technical Information Center
References