A staff general who turned wartime experience into military theory
After the 1989 withdrawal, he remained in Kabul to advise Najibullah’s government on conducting the war.
Makhmut Gareev was a senior commander and military theorist who shaped Soviet approaches to operations and training through the combined perspective of wartime experience and staff work. In the General Staff’s scientific and operational institutions, he developed a practical method for analysing war and preparing forces. After the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, he remained as chief military adviser to President Mohammad Najibullah, linking continuing Soviet aid with the Afghan government’s military planning and operations. In memoirs and studies, he interpreted the Afghan war and Soviet wartime experience as military and political lessons.
Career Timeline
- 1941–1945Served in the Great Patriotic War as a battalion and brigade staff officer
- 1947–1950Studied at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy
- 1965–1970Commanded the 50th Guards Motor Rifle Division and served as chief of staff of the 28th Army
- 1970–1971Chief of staff of the military advisory mission in the United Arab Republic
- 1974–1984Headed the General Staff’s Military Scientific Directorate and became deputy chief of its Main Operational Directorate
- 1984–1989Deputy Chief of the General Staff for scientific work and operational training
- 1989–1990Chief military adviser to the President of Afghanistan
- 1995–2019Founding president of the Academy of Military Sciences