Not-So-Indomitable Afghanistan?
In his article “Indomitable Afghanistan” [Aug/Sept 2009], Stephen Tanner states the Soviet Union “ultimately lost” the war in Afghanistan. I do not understand what this is based on. After all, the Soviet Union finally did manage to install Mohammad Najibullah, who, with a lot of aid, managed to keep the country under control and the Taliban at bay. The Najibullah regime outlasted the Soviet Union. Not until the fall of the latter, which deprived its former satrap of his source of aid, did his regime give way to the Taliban.

George Nielsen
The Hague, Netherlands

In the article “Indomitable Afghanistan,” the author states, “…failed would-be conquerors have included Alexander the Great.” My understanding is that Alexander the Great did, in fact, conquer Afghanistan. Although it took him three years to do it and required a considerable portion of his small army to garrison it, he left a stable province, through which he received reinforcements and communications while in India. Almost alone among his conquered provinces, Afghanistan never rose in revolt while he was alive.

John Harrison
Potomac, Md.

Daring Raids
Being a former airborne Ranger, I could not let it go that the raid on St. Francis, Canada, by Rogers’ Rangers during the French and Indian War was not included [in “The Seven Most Daring Raids Ever,” by Stephan Wilkinson, Oct/Nov]. It may have been the greatest raid by a ranging force as far as distances covered, cost in casualties and difficulties encountered, while having a dramatic and probably decisive effect on the outcome of the war.

Brian Gilbert
Verdale, Wash.

A raid of scope and daring from World War II would be the fabulous rescue of more than 2,000 civilian internees [from Los Baños, the Philippines on Feb. 23, 1945], a perfect example of trusting Philippine intelligence and guerrilla groups to provide aid. Lt. Gen. E.M. Flanagan Jr. produced a wonderful book entitled The Los Baños Raid.

Don Fangboner
Lake George, N.Y.

Battlescapes
Alfred Buellesbach’s photos from Marcus Cowper’s Battlescapes in your Aug/Sept issue would be beautiful enough without the added interest of helping us to imagine what it was like as armies struggled years before. The idyllic Utah Beach photo especially caught my eye, as my wife and I recently visited the invasion beaches of Normandy. Not all the traces of war are gone, however. The remains of the Mulberry harbor nicknamed “Port Winston” even provided a backdrop for a young boy playing army on the same beach where 64 years earlier soldiers fought for real.

Walter E. Switzer
Mesa, Ariz.

Mad Anthony
[Re. “Fallen Timbers, Broken Alliance,” Aug/Sep:] Hooray for Thomas Fleming! I am neither a military scholar nor a social studies expert, but at last I have seen in print what has seemed abysmally obvious to me since I was a kid. Yes, our forefather’s dealings with American Indians were not particularly enlightened by today’s standards, but Fleming captured it correctly when he referred to the vast movement of people, the clash of totally different ways of life and the pointlessness of hand-wringing. The westward movement followed patterns well established in human history, and I submit it would likely happen again if we had it all to do over in a modern setting.

David Teasdale
Sachse, Texas

Thomas Fleming’s article on the St. Clair–Wayne campaigns in the Northwest Territory, 1791–94, has one serious omission and one misrepresentation that influence understanding of the St. Clair defeat and the Wayne victory.

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