The Russian Gamble: Unraveling The Roots Of The Afghan War

The Soviet-Afghan War was a conflict that lasted from 1979 to 1989 and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans, with millions more fleeing the country as refugees. The war was fought between the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), the Soviet Union, and their allied paramilitary groups, and the Afghan mujahideen and their foreign allies.

The war began when the Soviets, under Leonid Brezhnev, invaded Afghanistan to support the local pro-Soviet government. This invasion was a watershed event of the Cold War, marking the only time the Soviet Union invaded a country outside the Eastern Bloc. The Soviets' aim was to secure Afghanistan as a socialist state and prevent it from returning to the capitalist camp.

The invasion triggered a brutal civil war in Afghanistan and contributed significantly to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviets dealt harshly with the mujahideen rebels, levelling villages and laying millions of landmines. The mujahideen, in turn, used guerrilla warfare tactics and were supported by various foreign powers, including the United States, Pakistan, China, and Iran.

The conflict resulted in a stalemate, with Soviet troops controlling the cities and mujahideen fighters operating in the countryside. The war ended in 1989 with the withdrawal of Soviet troops, leaving Afghanistan in a state of non-alignment.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to uphold the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978

The Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978 was signed on December 5, 1978, by Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and Afghan Prime Minister Noor Mohammed Taraki. The treaty was an effort to prop up the unpopular pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, agreeing to provide economic and military assistance to the country. The treaty established a 20-year period of "friendship and cooperation" between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union had long considered Afghanistan, its bordering nation, of interest to its national security. Since the 1950s, the Soviet Union had been providing economic aid and military assistance to Afghanistan. In April 1978, members of the Afghan Communist Party overthrew and murdered President Sardar Mohammed Daoud. Nur Mohammed Taraki, the head of the Communist Party, took over and declared one-party rule in Afghanistan. The regime was extremely unpopular with many Afghans, so the Soviets sought to bolster it with the December 1978 treaty.

The treaty, however, did not help Afghanistan. Taraki was overthrown and killed by members of the Afghan Communist Party in September 1979. In December 1979, Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan and established a regime more amenable to Russian desires. The invasion triggered a brutal, decade-long civil war in Afghanistan and contributed significantly to the eventual collapse of the USSR.

The invasion was the first Soviet military expedition beyond the Eastern Bloc since World War II

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was the first Soviet military expedition beyond the Eastern Bloc since World War II.

On the night of December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, sending in around 30,000 troops and toppling the short-lived presidency of People's leader Hafizullah Amin. The invasion was a watershed event of the Cold War, marking the only time the Soviet Union invaded a country outside the Eastern Bloc.

The invasion was the culmination of growing Soviet domination going back to 1973. In the summer of 1973, Afghanistan's last king was ousted in a coup by his cousin and brother-in-law, Mohammed Daoud Khan, who established a republic. The USSR welcomed this shift to the left but was soon disappointed when Daoud Khan refused to be a Soviet puppet. In 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrew Daoud Khan in what became known as the Saur Revolution.

The new PDPA regime, divided and unstable, faced fierce cultural resistance from conservative and religious leaders, and opposition throughout much of the Afghan countryside to the communists' radical agrarian reforms. In the fall of 1979, revolutionary Hafizullah Amin orchestrated an internal PDPA coup that killed the party's first leader and ushered in his brief, but brutal reign. National unrest soared, and Moscow's hand-wringing intensified.

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan to prop up their new but faltering client state, now headed by Babrak Karmal, a leader of the PDPA's Parcham faction. Karmal was installed as Afghanistan's new head of government on December 27, 1979, after the Soviets deployed a special assault unit against the Tajberg Palace, killing Amin.

The invasion triggered a brutal, nine-year-long civil war in Afghanistan and contributed significantly to the USSR's collapse. The conflict cost the lives of an estimated 1 million civilians and some 125,000 Afghan, Soviet, and other combatants. The war wreaked havoc not only on Afghanistan but also on the Soviet Union, whose economy and national prestige took a severe drubbing. The military misadventure would contribute significantly to the USSR's collapse and breakup.

The Soviets wanted to prevent Afghanistan from turning to the US for help

The Soviet Union had been a major power broker and influential mentor in Afghan politics since 1947, providing large amounts of aid, economic assistance, military equipment training, and military hardware to Afghanistan. The Soviets had also been interested in the energy resources of Afghanistan, including oil and natural gas exploration, since the 1950s and 1960s.

However, the Soviets were concerned that Afghanistan's instability would lead to the country turning to the US for help. The Soviets were particularly worried about the US's influence in Pakistan, which was an ally of both the US and China. The Soviets believed that if the US were to gain influence in Afghanistan, it would create weaknesses that the US could later exploit.

The Soviets also wanted to uphold the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that once a country became socialist, Moscow would never permit it to return to the capitalist camp. The Soviets wanted to prevent Afghanistan from turning to the US for help and becoming a capitalist country.

The invasion was also an attempt to enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that Moscow would uphold other socialist regimes

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was an attempt to enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that Moscow would uphold other socialist regimes.

The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet foreign policy outlined in 1968 by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. It stated that Moscow would intervene, including militarily, in countries where socialist rule was under threat. The doctrine was largely a response to the Prague Spring, a period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia. The Soviets feared that liberal ideas would spread to other Eastern European states, causing instability and threatening the security of the Soviet Union.

In 1979, Moscow invaded Afghanistan to support the local pro-Soviet government. The invasion was also an attempt to enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine, as Afghanistan was seen as a faltering, once-friendly socialist regime. The Soviets wanted to prop up their new but faltering client state, now headed by Babrak Karmal, and prevent it from falling to anti-communist Muslim guerrillas.

The invasion of Afghanistan was the first Soviet military expedition beyond the Eastern Bloc since World War II. It was met with fierce resistance from the Mujahideen, who saw the atheist Soviets controlling Afghanistan as a defilement of Islam and their traditional culture. The Soviets dealt harshly with the Mujahideen and those who supported them, levelling villages and using scorched-earth tactics. The conflict resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans, while millions more fled the country as refugees.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had far-reaching consequences. It contributed significantly to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. It also created a breeding ground for terrorism and the rise of Osama bin Laden.

The Soviets wanted to prevent dissent or a shift in alliance from Afghans, which could spark similar moves in adjacent states

Afghanistan's geopolitical significance continued to be recognised after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the end of British colonial rule in India. In 1919, the Soviet Union became the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, which was one of the first to formally recognise the Bolshevik government.

The Soviets were also concerned about internal challenges erupting in their satellite states, particularly the fast-growing Muslim-majority Central Asian ones. They worried that any dissent or shift in alliance from Afghans—even those professing to be communists—could spark similar moves in adjacent states like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, which all shared ethnic identity, religion and history with Afghanistan.

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