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The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Soviet-controlled Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) from 1979 to 1989. The war was a major conflict of the Cold War as it saw extensive fighting between the DRA, the Soviet Union and allied paramilitary groups against the Afghan mujahideen and their allied foreign fighters.
- Storm-333
The Tajbeg Palace assault, known by the military codename...
- Afghan Mujahideen
The Afghan mujahideen (Dari: مجاهدین افغان)(Pashto: افغان...
- Tajbeg Palace
Tajbeg Palace (Pashto: د تاج بېګ ماڼۍ; Persian: قصر تاج بيگ;...
- Mulavi Dawood
Afghanistan Mujahedin Freedom Fighters Front (Persian: جبهه...
- Soviet Aircraft Losses
Afghans stand around the canopy of a downed Soviet jet in...
- Siege of Khost
Ghost Wars The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and...
- Afghanistan–Russia relations
In 1919, war broke out for the third time in the Third...
- Storm-333
- Afghanistan Had Long Held Strategic Importance
- Moscow Struggled to Lock in Afghan Allegiance
- Moscow Feared Growing U.S. Involvement
- The Soviets Upheld The ‘Brezhnev Doctrine’
- Afghanistan Might Exacerbate The USSR’s ‘Nationalities Problem’
From the early 19th century onward, Afghanistan became a geopolitical pawn in what came to be known as “The Great Game”between the empires of Tsarist Russia and Great Britain. Fearful that Tsarist Russia’s expansion into Central Asia would bring it perilously close to the border of India, their imperial jewel, Britain fought three wars in Afghanist...
In 1973, Afghanistan’s last king was ousted in a coup by his cousin and brother-in-law, Mohammed Daoud Khan, who proceeded to establish a republic. The USSR welcomed this shift to the left, but their delight soon faded as the authoritarian Daoud Khan refused to be a Soviet puppet. During a private 1977 meeting, he told Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev...
Afghanistan’s chaos alarmed Soviet leadership primarily because it increased the odds that Afghan leaders might turn to the United States for help. Top Politburo members warned Brezhnev in late October 1979 that Amin sought to pursue a more “balanced policy” and that the United States was detecting “the possibility of a change in the political line...
Those warnings likely fell on receptive ears. A decade earlier, in 1968, Brezhnev introduced his new dogma: All socialist (read: Moscow-friendly communist) regimes had a responsibility to uphold others, using military force if necessary. The “Brezhnev doctrine” was a response to the “Prague Spring,” a brief period of liberalization under the leader...
Throughout its history, Russia’s massive territory encompassed a wide swath of national and ethnic groups inhabiting their historical homelands. During the Soviet era, which overlaid a repressive system of centralized power, communist leaders worried about internal challenges erupting in its satellite states—particularly the fast-growing Muslim-maj...
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1929 against the Saqqawists and again in 1930 to fight the Basmachi movement. The Soviet Union, along with other countries, was a direct supporter of the new Afghan government after the Saur Revolution in April 1978.
May 27, 2024 · The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War (1978–92) and remained in Afghanistan until mid-February 1989.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Aug 4, 2014 · The shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missile supplied to the Afghan resistance by the CIA during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, is capable of bringing down low-flying planes and...
Nov 24, 2009 · On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. As midnight approached, the Soviets organized a massive...
