Soviet invasion of Afghanistan


The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a 10-year which war wreaked
incredible havoc and destruction on Afghanistan. The 'shooting' 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.

The war was regarded by many as an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign
country by another. However, others supported the Soviet Union, regarding it
as coming to the rescue of an impoverished ally, or as a preemptive war
against Islamist terrorists.

Timeline of the Invasion

Various dates are given for the beginning of the war, depending on what
specific event is held to be the beginning. At the the beginning of 1978,
when the Communist regime took power in Kabul. In October 1979, the Soviet
Union began mobilization. In December 1979, the final airlift of combat
troops in support of the assault against the government took place. The
timeline below offers a list of significant events during this period.

Prelude to invasion

   * April 27, 1978 - Hafizullah Amin stages of coup against, resulting in
     the death of the former head of state, Mohammed Daoud Khan. The
     communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) takes
     control. Nur Mohammed Taraki is named President, Prime Minister, and
     General Secretary of the PDPA. Amin and Babrak Karmal are named deputy
     prime ministers. The country is renamed the Democratic Republic of
     Afghanistan (DRA).
   * Spring 1978 - Traditional tribal resistance (insurgency) begins.
   * Late Spring 1978 - Soviets begin discussions with Amin about possible
     removal of Taraki.
   * December 5, 1978 - The PDPA signs a friendship treaty with the Soviet
     Union.
   * February 15, 1979 - The U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs is abducted by
     insurgents and killed during a rescue attempt ordered by Amin. The U.S.
     accuses the Soviet Union of initiating the gunfight leading to his
     death. No replacement Ambassador is appointed.
   * March 1979 - The Soviet Union begins massive military aid to
     Afghanistan, including 500 military advisors (with families, implying a
     long-term commitment) arriving to provide assistance.
   * March 10, 1979 - Afghan military units located in Herat mutiny, killing
     350 Soviet citizens. By March 20, the mutiny is quelled, with great
     loss of life.
   * May 1979 - Soviet advisors begin taking over operations at Bagram air
     base from Afghan government technicians. Diplomatic dispatches and
     articles in Pravda begin referring to Afghanistan as a ?member of the
     socialist community?. Many take these public statements to mean that
     the Soviet Union now regards Afghanistan as falling under the Brezhnev
     Doctrine.
   * August 1979 - General Ivan Pavloskiy, commander of Soviet ground forces
     arrives in Afghanistan with a staff of over 50 officers.
   * September 1, 1979 - Taraki attends the Conference of Nonaligned Nations
     in Havana, Cuba.
   * September 11, 1979 - Taraki returns to Kabul.
   * September 12, 1979 - Taraki is forced from power by Amin and resigns
     his government and PDPA posts.
   * September 14, 1979 - An assassination attempt on Amin in the
     Presidential palace, held to be directed by Taraki.
   * September 16, 1979 - Amin assumes Taraki's offices in the government
     and the Afghan Communist Party.
   * September 18, 1979 - Some elements of the previous government and
     military officers resist, and are killed by those loyal to Amin.
     Speculation abounds that Taraki has been killed in the fighting.

Preparation for Invasion

   * October 1979 - General Pavloskiy and his staff depart from Afghanistan.
     The Soviet Union begins mobilization of Category 2 divisions in
     southern Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR's).
   * October 10, 1979 - The Kabul Times reports that Taraki has died due to
     an illness. Other reports suggest death in a shootout, by
     strangulation, or execution; none can be proven.
   * November 7, 1979 - In an issue celebrating Soviet National Day, the
     Kabul Times reports Afghanistan's role in the ?continuation of the
     Great October Revolution?. Many view this statement as acceptance by
     the PDPA of the Brezhnev Doctrine in regards to Afghanistan.
   * November 28, 1979 - Lt. General Viktor Paputin, the Soviet Union's
     deputy minister of interior, arrives in Kabul for a meeting concerning
     ?mutual cooperation and other issues of interest?. Many speculate he is
     the top KGB official responsible for coordinating invasion.
   * December 1979 - Several Tashkent based Soviet airborne battalions with
     heavy weapons are deployed to Bagram air base.
   * December 17, 1979 - The head of the Afghan intelligence service,
     Assadullah Amin ? Amin's nephew, is seriously wounded in an
     assassination attempt and leaves the country to receive medical aid in
     Tashkent.
   * December 18, 1979- Airborne units stationed in Bagram move to cover the
     Salang Pass. This move supports the upcoming border crossing of the
     357th Motorized Rifle Division, based in Tashkent.

Start of Invasion

   * December 21, 1979 - A reinforced Soviet airborne regiment is airlifted
     to Bagram.
   * December 22, 1979 - Soviet advisors to the Armed Forces of Afghanistan,
     advise the Afghan's to undergo maintenance cycles for tanks and other
     crucial equipment. Telecommunications links to areas outside of Kabul
     are severed, isolating the capital. Amin moves the offices of the
     president to the Dar-ul-aman Palace, believing this location to be more
     defensible during invasion.
   * December 24, 1979 - Three Soviet division-sized units take control of
     all airfields in and around Kabul. Spetnaz commandos seize control of
     the telecommunications complex in Kabul, controlling all intra-city
     communication.
   * December 26, 1979 - Additional Soviet regiment and division-sized units
     move southward toward the Afghan border.
   * December 27, 1979 - Soviet interior advisors host a party for Afghan
     government officials at the Intercontinental Hotel, at its conclusion
     all are arrested. Soviet military advisers host a party for their
     Afghan counterparts, at its conclusion all are imprisoned. Three Soviet
     battalions attack the palace where Amin is located; the palace is taken
     with heavy casualties.
   * December 28, 1979 - Three additional Soviet motorized rifle divisions
     cross the Afghan border, supported by four reserve divisions in the
     Southern Soviet Union, just across the border.
   * December 29, 1979 - Babrak Karmal, leader of the Parcham faction of the
     PDPA appoints himself President and Prime Minister of the DRA, and
     General Secretary of the PDPA. Over 50,000 Soviet troops occupy
     Afghanistan.

Political and Military Motivations

A number of theories have been advanced for the Soviet action. Some believe
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was intended to prevent constituent SSR's
in the southern Soviet Union from breaking away. At the time of the
invasion, Iran had recently staged an Islamic revolution, deposing a United
States-supported government. The newly instituted government was no more
friendly to the Soviet Union than to the United States. This signified an
additional axis of power in Eurasian politics (along with the Soviet Union
itself, the Peoples Republic of China, and NATO), much to the Soviets dismay.

After its revolution, Iran had sufficient religious, political, and economic
motivations to expand revolution northward into the Soviet Union and/or
eastward into Afghanistan. A similar Islamist revolution appeared to have
been developing in Afghanistan. Iran (with a population of 65 million) was
technologically sophisticated and well armed with Western (particularly
American) military technology. Invasion of an impoverished, technologically
unsophisticated Afghanistan that supplied an eastern flank to Iran was
considered by most political and military strategists to be preferable for
the Soviet Union to any overt action agsainst Iran.

Both theses are supported by public statements made by Leonid Brezhnev at
the time declaring the Soviet Union had a right to come to the assistance of
an endangered fellow socialist country (and presumably its own fellow
SSR's). This assertion of a right is now known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.

Political and Military Goals

Afghanistan is primarily rural and agrarian. The political form of
government at the time was tribalistic. Strong tribal held the social order
together. The Soviet Union had 2 major options for successful control:

   * Drive the resistance (mujahadeen) out of Afghanistan, depopulating the
     rural areas and providing control of the cities to the Soviet-backed
     government.
   * Use the shock power of mechanized combat to break the will of the
     resistance, causing so much destruction and dislocation that the
     civilian population could no longer resist.

Either goal supported the Brezhnev Doctrine, solidified the southern
frontier of the Soviet Union, and provided a strategic counter-point to a
hostile Iran.

Soviet tactics utilized the following military and economic efforts.

   * The deployment of the 40th Soviet Army (over 100,000 ground troops).
     With air support, logistics, MVD troops, and other miscellaneous
     troops, the total number is estimated by some observers at
     approximately 175,000 troops total. This represented almost 20% of the
     category 1 (front-line) divisions possessed by the Soviet Union at the
     time.
   * There was wide-spread use of chemical weapons behind the front lines by
     the Soviet Union. This was accepted practice for Soviet military units
     as reported by Soviet military journals.
   * More than 20 million anti-personnel mines were dropped by the Soviet
     Union. Some of these anti-personnel mines were shaped like pens, or
     dolls, or other shiny trinkets, known as 'dolly bombs', intended for
     children to attemt to pick up.
   * Russian costs (in 1986 dollars) were approximately $20 Billion USD / yr.

These tactics accomplished the following results:

   * Approximately 90,000 Afghan combatants killed (mujahadeen and
     government), and 90,000 wounded. Including civilian casualities,
     estimates are that 10% of the total population and 13.5% of the male
     population was killed, 1.5 million killed overall.
   * Approximately 22,000 Soviets were killed and 75,000 wounded.
   * Approximately 6 million refugees were driven into surrounding
     countries.
   * Damages of approximately $50 Billion USD to Afghanistan, about 1/3 to
     1/2 the net worth of the country.
   * Agricultural production reduced by 50%, livestock losses of 50%.
   * 70% of paved roads destroyed.
   * Of 15,000 villages in the country, 5,000 were destroyed outright or
     made economically unsupportable by destruction of all economic
     resources such as fields, wells or roads.