"This volume is an historical survey of advisory and mentoring missions from the 1940s onward, starting from the Soviet missions to the Kuomintang and ending with the mission to Iraq. It focuses on Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and after 2001, but also deals with virtually every single advisory mission from the 1940s onward"--Jacket.

An arrogant superpower? The case of military advisers -- State-builders in red: the civilian advisers -- From success to failure: training armies -- Police reformers: a never-ending apprenticeship? -- A jungle of civilian experts -- The beginnings: advisers in Afghanistan before 1978 -- The Soviet advisory missions -- The role of Soviet specialists in economic and technical assistance to Afghanistan -- Afghanistan after 2001 -- General conclusion: a blunted tool of hegemony.