Indias former Foreign Secretary, J.N. Dixit, writes another book about one of his sensitive diplomatic assignments in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dixit was sent by Mrs. Indira Gandhi as Indias Ambassador to Kabul in December 1981. He served in Afghanistan for nearly four years from 1981 to 1985, during which he saw the Soviet political and military influence reach its peak in that country. As a consequence of this he was also witness to the ferocious military response of the Mujahideen supported by foreign powers to the Soviet presence. He also saw the beginning of the decline of Soviet influence in Afghanistan with the demise of President Brezhnev. Dixit was personally acquainted with the entire Afghan leadership beginning with President Karmal right down to Dr. Najibullah, who was then Chief of Afghan National Intelligence Organisation, and who later became President of Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal, and was ultimately killed by the Taliban in 1996. The Soviet Ambassador in Kabul, F.A. Tabeev, was a personal friend of Dixits.Dixit maintained a detailed diary on daily and weekly basis throughout his stay in Afghanistan which is now presented to the readers in the form of a book. Dixit has added two knowledgeable chapters to the diary, one^giving the historical background of events which led to the Soviet intervention while the;other as a Postscript bringing events in Afghanistan upto date. In the new print, the author has traced the radical changes following terrorist attacks in the U.S., the decimation of Taliban, Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and a new beginning in Afghanistan. As a high level adviser and implementer of Indias foreign policy during the critical period, Dixit provides insights into the logic and motivations, of Indias stand on Afghanistan and related developments in the first half of 1980s. He also provides a perceptive and thoughtful analysis of the implications of the current situation in Afghanistan for Indias security concerns, as well as for the regional strategic environment. The book, full of contemporaneous details and analysis, will undoubtably be a source book for scholars and researchers on Afghan developments.