Lessons Learned by Yugoslav Military Experts from the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 1979-1981
https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2023-1-88-153-176
Abstract
The article analyzes the attitude of Yugoslav military analysts to the deployment of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan in 1979–1981. Afghanistan was not among diplomatic, or military priorities for Yugoslavia. After the coup in Afghanistan on April 27, 1978, relations between the two countries, previously rather formal, deteriorated, as Kabul started to move away from the non-alignment movement taking a pro-Soviet orientation. Yugoslavia saw Afghanistan as a non-aligned country and was extremely concerned about the Soviet interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. This political assessment heavily influenced the views of Yugoslav military expert, resulting into some distorted conclusions and numerous overlooked lessons. This testifies to the primacy of everyday political (and even propaganda) needs over military science in Yugoslavia. They believed that Afghanistan would turn into a permanent problem for the USSR. Despite the rich empirical material, Yugoslav analysts did not see any novelty in tactics and the use of new weapons in mountainous areas. They neglected to analyze the tactics of anti-partisan actions in the highlands; their predictions were not original; they ignored the presence of militant fundamentalism as a factor in the conduct of hostilities.
About the Author
A. Y. Timofeev
University of Belgrade, Institute of Recent History of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia
Aleksey Y. Timofeev – Doctor of Sciences in History, Professor, Principal Research Fellow. Institute of Recent History of Serbia; Subdepartment of Contemporary History, Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy
Serbia, 11000, Belgrade, st. Chika-Lubina, 18-20
References
1. Adelson R. 1995. London and the Invention of the Middle East: Money, Power, and War, 1902-1922. New Haven: Yale University Press. 256 p.
2. Barfield Th. 2010. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History, Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 400 p.
3. Brechtefeld J. 1996. Mitteleuropa and German Politics: 1848 to the Present. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. 195 p.
4. Etschmann W. 2003. Guerillakriege. Ursachen-Verläufe-Folgen. Wien: Verlag AV. 384 p. Glantz D.M. 1984. The Soviet Airborne Experience. Fort Leavenworth: Combat Studies Institute. 232 p.
5. Grau L.W. 1996. The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan. Washington: National Defense University Press. 216 p.
6. Grau L.W. Gress M.A. 2002. The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 364 p.
7. Jalali A., Grau L.W. 1995. The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the SovietAfghan War. Fort Leavenworth: Foreign Military Studies Office. 429 p.
8. Mikac R. 2008. Afganistan: nikad završen sukob. Zagreb: Naklada Jesenski i Turk. 271 s. (In Croatian)
9. Nourzhanov K. 2015. Bandits, warlords, national heroes: interpretations of the Basmachi movement in Tajikistan. Central Asian Survey. 34. 2. P. 177-189.
10. Petrovic J. (ed.) 2016. Cold War Energy: A Transnational History of Soviet Oil and Gas. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 425 p.
11. Riedel B. 2014. What We Won: America's Secret War in Afghanistan. 1979–1989. Washington: Brookings Institution Press. 189 p.
12. Schmider K. 2002. Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944. Hamburg: E. S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH. 589 s.
13. Statiev A. 2010. The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands. Cambridge: Cambridge university press. 368 p.
14. Jakovina T. 2011. Treća strana Hladnog rata. Zaprešić: Fraktura. 784 s. (In Croatian)
15. Panajotović Z. 1989. Bibliografija o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu i socijalističkoj revoluciji Srbije 1941–1944. godine: knjige, brošure i članci 1944–1985. [Bibliography on the National Liberation War and the Socialist Revolution of Serbia 1941–1944. years: books, brochures and articles 1944–1985.] Beograd. (In Serbian)
16. Petrović N.Ž. 2016. Vojna saradnja Jugoslavije sa Sovjetskim Savezom 1953-1964. godine: pogled iz Beograda [Military cooperation of Yugoslavia with the Soviet Union 1953-1964: view from Belgrade] Beograd: Medija centar Odbrana. 259 s. (In Serbian)
17. Smolović P. 1974. Teritorijalna odbrana: anotirana bibliografija. [Territorial defense: an annotated bibliography.] Beograd. (In Serbian)
18. Strugar V. 1962. Rat i revolucija naroda Jugoslavije, 1941–1945. [War and revolution of the people of Yugoslavia, 1941–1945.] Beograd: Vojnoistorijski Institut. (In Serbian)
19. Sudar V. 2021. Djelovanje Europske unije u Afganistanu. [Action of the European Union in Afghanistan.] Političke analize: tromjesečnik za hrvatsku i međunarodnu politiku. 39. S. 17-23. (In Croatian)
20. Timofejev A. 2012. Tito po drugi put među... Rusima [Tito for the second time among... Russians]. Istorija 20. veka. No 1. P. 99-108. (In Serbian)
21. Timofejev A., Živanović M. 2018. Udžbenik za Tita: Kominterna i pripreme partizanskog rata u Evropi. [Textbook for Tito: The Comintern and preparations for the partisan war in Europe]. Beograd: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije. 527 p. (In Serbian)
22. Životić A. 2022. Strah ili realnost? Mogućnost sovjetske vojne intervencije u Jugoslaviji 1948–1953 [Fear or reality? The possibility of Soviet military intervention in Yugoslavia 1948– 1953]. Istorija 20. veka. No 1. P. 107-128 (In Serbian)
23. Aminulla. 1992. Ekonomicheskaya otsenka proyektnykh resheniy razvitiya neftegazovogo kompleksa Afganistana. Kandidatskaya dissertatsiya. [Economic evaluation of design solutions for the development of the oil and gas complex of Afghanistan. PhD thesis.] Moskva: Akademiya nefti i gaza im. I. M. Gubkina. 155 p. (In Russian)
24. Kostyrya A. A. 2009. Istoriografiya, istochnikovedenie, bibliografiya specoperacii SSSR v Afganistane (1979 − 1989 gg.) [Historiography, sources, bibliography of the USSR special operation in Afghanistan (1979 1989)] Doneck: Promin. 596 s. (In Russian)
25. Kozlov S.V. 2013. Spetsnaz GRU: Ocherki istorii. V 5 knigakh. Kniga 3. Afganistan — zvezdnyy chas spetsnaza 1979—1989. Istoricheskaya entsiklopediya. [Spetsnaz GRU: Essays on history. In 5 books. Book 3. Afghanistan the finest hour of special forces 1979-1989. Historical encyclopedia.] Moskva: Russkaya panorama. 736 p. (In Russian)
26. Krivosheev G.F. (ed.) 2010. Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka. Kniga poter' [Russia and the USSR in the wars of the XX century. Book of Losses] Moscow: Veche. 607 s. (In Russian)
27. Shit'ko V.V. 2007. Voyska OGPU-NKVD v lokal'nykh voynakh i konfliktakh. Kandidatskaya dissertatsiya. [Troops of the OGPU-NKVD in local wars and conflicts. PhD thesis.] Moskva: Voyennyy universitet. 242 s. (In Russian)
28. Vasif El'-Yusef. 1993. Mestorozhdeniya tyazholykh neftey Sirii, osobennosti ikh stroyeniya i osvoyeniya. Kandidatskaya dissertatsiya. [Deposits of heavy oils in Syria, features of their structure and development. PhD thesis.] Moskva: Institut geologii RAN. 200 p. (In Russian)
29. Vishnyakov Ya.V. 2012. Voennyj faktor i gosudarstvennoe razvitie Serbii nachala XX veka. [Military factor and state development of Serbia at the beginning of the 20th century]. Moskva: MGIMO Universitet, 2012. 440 p. (In Russian)
30. Zevelev A.I, Poliakov Iu.A., Chugunov A.I. 1981. Basmachestvo: vozniknovenie, sushchnost', krakh [Basmachism: emergence, essence, collapse.] Moscow: Glavnaia redaktsiia vostochnoi literatury izdatel'stva Nauka. 134 s. (In Russian)
Review
For citations:
Timofeev A.Y. Lessons Learned by Yugoslav Military Experts from the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 1979-1981. MGIMO Review of International Relations. 2023;16(1):153-176. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2023-1-88-153-176
Views:
700
Email this article 