Threat from the East? Soviet Policy from Afghanistan and Iran to the Horn of Africa

From Afghanistan through Iran and the Arab Middle East to the Horn of Africa—this is the area known as the ‘Arc of Crisis’ The countries included in it vary from time to time but it is the focus for contemporary international conflict. For the West, the underlying cause of turmoil has been the policy of the Soviet Union—and the thesis of the ‘Soviet threat’ is often offered as an explanation. This book, however, takes a closer look at the facts. In an area where Afghanistan is in the grip of war, where the monarchies of the Arabian peninsula remain fragile, where there is no peace in the Horn of Africa and where—most important of all—Iran is in chaos, pressures from the West play a vital part. The author of Iran: Dictatorship and Development has written a clear and accurate analysis of this potentially explosive and worrying state of affairs. The cover shows a group of Afghan rebels with a captured Soviet armoured vehicle, east of Kabul. (Photo: Associated Press)