Soviet–Afghan War

The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the <a href="/facts/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan/XU07Fy3R">Democratic Republic of Afghanistan</a> from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long <a href="/facts/Afghan_conflict/ez2tQT7U">Afghan conflict</a>, it saw the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> and the <a href="/facts/Armed_Forces_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan/crdRn1nP">Afghan military</a> fight against the rebelling <a href="/facts/Afghan_mujahideen/nDVlPBW9">Afghan mujahideen</a>, aided by <a href="/facts/Pakistan/cbIsvJy1">Pakistan</a>. While they were backed by various countries and organizations, the majority of the mujahideen's support came from Pakistan, the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> (as part of <a href="/facts/Operation_Cyclone/JAdv0qeL">Operation Cyclone</a>), the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">United Kingdom</a>, <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a>, <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Arab_states_of_the_Persian_Gulf/tpxkypCs">Arab states of the Persian Gulf</a>, in addition to a large influx of foreign fighters known as the <a href="/facts/Afghan_Arabs/u6MxylLh">Afghan Arabs</a>. American and British involvement on the side of the mujahideen escalated the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>, ending a short period of relaxed <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union%25E2%2580%2593United_States_relations/t1Lf12bn">Soviet Union–United States relations</a>. Combat took place throughout the 1980s, mostly in the Afghan countryside, as most of the country's cities remained under Soviet control. The conflict resulted in the deaths of one to three million Afghans, while millions more <a href="/facts/Afghan_refugees/mrNMwIvm">fled from the country as refugees</a>; most externally displaced Afghans sought refuge <a href="/facts/Afghans_in_Pakistan/Hh74HWTp">in Pakistan</a> and <a href="/facts/Afghans_in_Iran/smBmEvfe">in Iran</a>. Between 6.5 and 11.5% of Afghanistan's erstwhile population of 13.5 million people (per the 1979 census) is estimated to have been killed over the course of the Soviet–Afghan War. The decade-long confrontation between the mujahideen and the Soviet and Afghan militaries inflicted grave destruction throughout Afghanistan and has also been cited by scholars as a significant factor that contributed to the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union/Fyn5jw3n">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> in 1991; it is for this reason that the conflict is sometimes referred to as "the Soviet Union's <a href="/facts/Vietnam_War/W0gfbGTE">Vietnam</a>" in retrospective analyses.
In March 1979, there had been a <a href="/facts/1979_Herat_uprising/uk3TtcDy">violent uprising in Herat</a>, in which a number of Soviet military advisers were executed. The ruling <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Democratic_Party_of_Afghanistan/bTJamvJm">People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan</a> (PDPA), which had determined that it could not subdue the uprising by itself, asked for urgent Soviet military assistance; in 1979, over 20 requests were sent. Soviet premier <a href="/facts/Alexei_Kosygin/LAaFsQYB">Alexei Kosygin</a>, declining to send troops, advised in one call to Afghan prime minister <a href="/facts/Nur_Muhammad_Taraki/pyzJUUj3">Nur Muhammad Taraki</a> to use local industrial workers in the province. This was apparently on the belief that these workers would be supporters of the Afghan government. This was discussed further in the Soviet Union with a wide range of views, mainly split between those who wanted to ensure that Afghanistan remained a <a href="/facts/Socialist_state/SCSD8x2m">socialist state</a> and those who were concerned that the unrest would escalate. Eventually, a compromise was reached to send military aid, but not troops.
The conflict began when the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Armed_Forces/w42mNgsQ">Soviet military</a>, under the command of <a href="/facts/Leonid_Brezhnev/sL5scf4N">Leonid Brezhnev</a>, moved into Afghanistan to support the Afghan administration that had been installed during <a href="/facts/Operation_Storm-333/IG1z6UDX">Operation Storm-333</a>. Debate over their presence in the country soon ensued in international channels, with the <a href="/facts/Muslim_world/n9vVGogr">Muslim world</a> and the <a href="/facts/Western_Bloc/RS9Ev5RJ">Western Bloc</a> classifying it as an invasion, while the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Eastern Bloc</a> asserted that it was a legal intervention. Nevertheless, numerous sanctions and embargoes were imposed on the Soviet Union by the international community shortly after the beginning of the conflict. Soviet troops occupied Afghanistan's major cities and all main arteries of communication, whereas the mujahideen waged guerrilla warfare in small groups across the 80% of the country that was not subject to uncontested Soviet control—almost exclusively comprising the rugged, mountainous terrain of the countryside. In addition to laying millions of landmines across Afghanistan, the Soviets used their aerial power to deal harshly with both Afghan resistance and civilians, levelling villages to deny safe haven to the mujahideen, destroying vital irrigation ditches and other infrastructure through tactics of <a href="/facts/Scorched_earth/aHudzo27">scorched earth</a>.
The Soviet government had initially planned to swiftly secure Afghanistan's towns and road networks, stabilize the PDPA, and withdraw all of their military forces in a span of six months to one year. However, they were met with fierce resistance from Afghan guerrillas and experienced great operational difficulties on the rugged mountainous terrain. By the mid-1980s, the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan had increased to approximately 115,000 troops and fighting across the country intensified; the complication of the war effort gradually inflicted a high cost on the Soviet Union as military, economic, and political resources became increasingly exhausted. By mid-1987, reformist Soviet leader <a href="/facts/Mikhail_Gorbachev/tKxQRaeP">Mikhail Gorbachev</a> announced that the Soviet military would begin a <a href="/facts/Soviet_withdrawal_from_Afghanistan/PvAMMNAI">complete withdrawal from Afghanistan</a>. The final wave of disengagement was initiated on 15 May 1988, and on 15 February 1989, the last Soviet military column occupying Afghanistan crossed into the <a href="/facts/Uzbek_Soviet_Socialist_Republic/r3HwYqo5">Uzbek SSR</a>. With continued external Soviet backing, the PDPA government pursued a solo war effort against the mujahideen, and the conflict evolved into the <a href="/facts/Afghan_Civil_War_(1989%25E2%2580%25931992)/bvNvHRwX">Afghan Civil War</a>. However, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, all support to the Democratic Republic was pulled, leading to the toppling of the government at the hands of the mujahideen in 1992 and the start of a second <a href="/facts/Afghan_Civil_War_(1992%25E2%2580%25931996)/04r6IJHq">Afghan Civil War</a> shortly thereafter.

Soviet–Afghan War open-in-new

Soviet–Afghan War