ABSTRACT
This chapter examines spatial variation in warfare in civil war. It focuses on two different regions of Afghanistan directly before, and after, the Soviet direct military intervention in December 1979. The chapter reviews the overall dynamics of the balance of capabilities and warfare in Afghanistan over the period under examination. It discusses foreign intervention, the balance of capabilities and warfare in the Nuristan and Herat regions before the Soviet direct military intervention. Nuristan is an isolated, mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan and was the first region to rebel against the central government in 1978. Similarly, Herat was the first significant military mutiny in Afghanistan. The chapter discusses the balance of capabilities and warfare in Nuristan and Heart; however, it focuses on the period after the 1980 Soviet intervention. The Nuristani Rebellion was the first in what became a long series of similar revolts across rural Afghanistan.
