Without wishing to be drawn into the debate I would just like to post a couple of links to articles about the Soviet-Afghan War.
The Soviet-Afghan War: A Superpower Mired in the Mountains
by Lester W. Grau, Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS.
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/doc...redinmount.htm
Humping a Ruck Across Sunny Afghanistan, Summer of 1986.
A
Snipers Paradise interview with a Soviet Spetsnaz vet of the Soviet-Afghan War.
http://www.snipersparadise.com/articles/soviet.htm