pt. I.The Limits of 'Sovietization. 1. The original social base of the 'Democratic Republic' and its transformations. 2. Difficulties in the implementation of the social program of the Revolution. 3. The building up of the social base of the Saur Revolution and its limits. 4. Reluctant concessions and co-optations -- pt. II. The Afghan Regular Armed Forces: Reconstruction, Reorganization and Structural Limits. 5. Karmal's 'new model army' and its role in the war. 6. The political shortcomings of the armed forces and the party response. 7. The efforts to build up quantitatively the armed forces and their limits. 8. Attempts to address the strategic problems. 9. (In- )Effectiveness of the Afghan armed forces. 10. Perverse effects on the army of the transformations caused by the war -- pt. III. The 'Pacification Policy', 1980-1991. 11. The early approaches. 12. The first political strategy of 'pacification'. 13. The National Reconciliation.