A memoir of the author's covert operations in Afghanistan, during the initial period of Soviet control there. The SAS man is sent in to reconnoitre possible training locations and to gather Soviet hardware. The usual intelligence and military mishaps and foul-ups occur, much to the chagrin of the author. Institutional stupidity aside, he must deal with recalcitrant and almost unmanageable mujahideen who "conspire" with the harsh local conditions to make the mission very difficult indeed.
The author's understated dry humour is not entirely helpful, but was probably the only way to survive and certainly adds a bit of levity to the proceedings.
He wonders how Lawrence of Arabia would have dealt with the Afghans (having just read a book on him) and when given Flashman early on, he notes with hindsight that things hadn't changed much in the 150 years since.
With escapades away from the front-line the author firmly establishes his "squaddie" credentials, and his foray into arms-dealing to acquire surface-to-air missiles for the Mujahideen is something I wish had been gone into more.
The operation itself eventually ends up in the hands of the CIA, but I'm not sure how many lessons have been learnt. It looks like many of the Soviet's mistakes and failures are being repeated. How many fingers in the pie the Russians have at present, we shall probably discover in twenty years or so.
A useful book, and a very quick read. ( )