Hi guys,
As Mg said this isn't the most well known war, but its one of the most fascinating. You had an army that by all accounts was among the most proficient in war fighting in history; after the Brezhnev reforms of the 1970s, the Soviet military had all the weapons it could ever want and a new doctrine to utilize them to their fullest. On top of that it had crushed several other rebellions in client states successfully; Afghanistan, basically a developing nation, should have been no different.
Afghanistan in 1978 was utterly different from what it is today. It had a functioning government, an operating economy, and decent military apparatus. It was probably the most stable the country had been since the 11th century. Yet within a year of the invasion, hundreds of bands started to emerge across the country. By 1988 there were approximately 6,000 mujahideen commanders prosecuting the war. Most never had any formal military training, but fought based on adherence to the Pushtunwali (the tribal code), some more radical interpretations of Islam, or a mixture of both.
Anyway I won't give an exhaustive list of references but I will recommend Col. Lester Grau's excellent book
The bear went over the mountain. It gives a series of Vignettes that show the application (or misapplication) of soviet military hardware. It shows how the very conventional tactics of the bear, which might have overwhelmed NATO in Europe, was utterly useless against the plucky mujahideen, who excelled at fighting on their terms.
As for the models, (because lets be honest, thats why we;re here), I'll be starting with an Mi-24; the most feared of the soviet arsenal. In addition to the Hind I think I'll try my hand at some 1/72 russian combat vehicles, maybe a BTR-60, BMP-2 or something that I can find at a reasonable price. If not then I'll build it in 1/35.