Book Review: Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the Cia's Secret War in Afghanistan

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Book Review: Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the Cia's Secret War in Afghanistan

Reader Rating: 7.5/10

Salaams! I'm dusting off some old books from my shelves on Afghanistan these days in efforts to get caught up on all that transpired over the past 30 years of my absence from the area. Lots to learn and read up on! Somewhat connected to Charlie Wilson's War, this book, Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the CIA's Secret War in Afghanistan, is written by Kurt Lohbeck, a news stringer for various media groups who covered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan before he was hired full-time by CBS News to be their Afghanistan war correspondent. He was one of the few western correspondents who actually lived in Peshawar, rather than traveling in and out of there to do stories.

Lohbeck's book is a personal journey of his various trips and encounters with various Afghan Mujahideen fighters, rather than a comprehensive overlook at the efforts and strategies behind arming them against the Soviets. I think the book's title/sub-title is somewhat misleading. I guess that explains why Lohbeck is himself in just about every picture in the book! There's not much in specific about the actual workings of the CIA on behalf of the Mujahideen. Most of Lohbeck's experiences with the Mujahideen come through the filter of one of the Mujahideen leaders (and his exploits)--Abdul Haq, who was the leader of the "Kabul Front" and was an incredibly brilliant young military strategist and risk-taker. He was killed in late 2001 by the Taliban on one of his trips into E Afghanistan to stir up resistance as the US forces worked with the Northern Alliance to oust Taliban & Al-Qaeda forces.

Lohbeck quickly fell in love with the Afghan's strong sense of mission and willingness to give up everything in order to rid their country of the invading infidels. As Addul Haq said to him and others more than once: "We are not fighting just for Afghanistan or for the region; we are fighting for the whole world. If they want to help, they are just helping themselves. If they don't, we will still fight...You see, everybody has lost a mother or father, a sister, brother, uncles, children. We will fight until only one Afghan is left. Then they could just have a desert."

Traveling on some dangerous missions with the Mujahideen, Lohbeck was privy to some of the biggest news scoops of the little-covered Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: he filmed the first evidence of the Soviet's use of chemical weapons against the Afghans, as well as their use of napalm. He was a close enough eyewitness that he suffered the misfortunes of being wounded twice, once seriously enough--by his proximity to an exploding tank shell--that he had to have both his eardrums replaced.

Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the Cia's Secret War in Afghanistan
by Kurt Lohbeck
11 used & new from $36.29
Edition: Hardcover

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Lohbeck, under contract to CBS, was the only American journalist to cover the war in Afghanistan on a full-time basis. Surviving on tea and turnips for long periods, he lived with the mujahaddin ("holy warriors"), enduring earthquakes, sickness, napalm burns and shrapnel wounds to record on videotape their way of life as they battled the Soviet invader. Lohbeck conveys his admiration for the muj and their cause, the emotional shock of battle (and its perverse appeal), and describes his risk-taking adventures as he sought the "great shot." He was the first journalist to obtain filmed proof that the Soviets used chemical gas and napalm in Afghanistan. His comments on the Central Intelligence Agency's wrongheaded attempts to "run the war" from Pakistan are too general to have impact; more interesting is his account of how CIA director William Casey heeded his recommendation to equip the muj with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. Subsequent introduction of that weapon became an important turning point in the war. The free world, and former Iron Curtain countries, owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the mujahaddin , stresses Lohbeck, who argues that their successful resistance was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details
Hardcover: 306 pages
Publisher: Regnery Publishing    (November 1, 1993)
ISBN: 0895264994
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