Details

Ali Ahmad Jalali is a distinguished author within the realm of military history and strategic studies, particularly in the context of Afghanistan's turbulent recent past. His seminal work, 'The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War', is a critical perspective into asymmetric warfare and has garnered attention for its in-depth analysis of guerrilla tactics used by Afghan resistance fighters during the 1980s Soviet occupation. Jalali, a former Afghan Army Colonel who once served in the Afghan National Army, contributes a unique blend of practical military experience and scholarly research to his writing. His academic tenure is marked by a tenure at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where he has shared his extensive knowledge on counterinsurgency and nation-building. Beyond his military career, Jalali has also served as Afghanistan's Interior Minister, allowing him to provide a multifaceted view of the military, political, and social dynamics in his writings. His work moves beyond simple narrative to critically assess the complexities of warfare in a region that has seen an extensive repertoire of conflict and foreign intervention. The value in Jalali's contributions lies in the illumination of local strategies and insights that have too often been overlooked in Western-dominated discourses of the Afghan conflicts.