Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a 10-year war fought between the Soviet Army and rebels in Afghanistan. The war is generally held to have started December 24, 1979. Soviet troops ultimately withdrew from the area between May 15, 1988 and February 2, 1989. The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops had left Afghanistan on February 15, 1989.

Soviet/Afghan war

Following the invasion, the Soviet troops were unable to establish authority outside Kabul. As much as 80% of the countryside still escaped effective government control. The initial mission, to guard cities and installations, was expanded to combat the Mujahideen rebel forces by mostly Soviet army reservists.

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Early military reports emphasized the difficulty of fighting on the mountainous terrain, for which the Soviet Army had no training. Weaponry and military equipment, particularly armored cars and tanks, were vulnerable and Soviet troops had no anti-guerrilla training. Heavy artillery was broadly used against the rebels.

Related Topics:
Armored car - Tank - Guerrilla - Artillery

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Soviet soldiers often found themselves fighting against the civilians they intended to protect, which led to the killing of local people. Operations to capture rebel formations were often unsuccessful and had to be repeated several times in the same area because the rebels retreated to the mountains and home villages while the Soviets returned to their occupying forces.

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By the mid-1980s, the Afghan resistance movement, aided by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others was costing Moscow a high price militarily and with relations to the Western and Islamic world.

Related Topics:
United States - Saudi Arabia - Pakistan

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In May 1985, the seven principal guerrilla organizations formed an alliance to coordinate their military operations against the Soviet army. Late in 1985 the groups were active in and around Kabul, launching rocket attacks and conducting operations against the communist government. The failure of the Soviet Union to win militarily, gain a significant number of Afghan collaborators or to rebuild the Afghan army forced an increasing responsibility towards the resistance and civilian administration.

Related Topics:
May - 1985

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Karmal was replaced by Mohammad Najibullah, former chief of the Afghan secret police (KHAD) in May 1986. Najibullah was ineffective and highly dependent on Soviet support. Further weakened by divisions within the PDPA, the regimes efforts to broaden its base of support once again failed.

Related Topics:
Mohammad Najibullah - 1986

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Informal negotiations for a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan had been underway since 1982. In 1988 the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the United States and Soviet Union serving as guarantors, signed an agreement settling the major differences between them known as the Geneva Accords.

Related Topics:
1982 - 1988 - Geneva Accords

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Among other things the Geneva accords identified the U.S. and Soviet non-interference with internal affairs of Pakistan and Afghanistan and a timetable for full Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan by February 15 1989.

Related Topics:
February 15 - 1989

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An estimated one million Afghans were killed between 1979 and 1989, along with about 15,000 Soviets.

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