Soviet Union in Afghanistan

The Soviet Union responded to the crisis arising due to the war between the Communist Afghan Government and the Muslim anti-communist Guerrillas. This Afghan War took place between 1978 and 1992. The Russian troops were there on Afghan soil operating till the mid of February 1989. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is a remarkable turnover in the history of the Asian continent. This invasion earmarked the downfall of the centrist rulers of the country. Russians also showed bitter reforms and ruthless purges during this time. In this article, we will study the Soviet-Afghan War and its aftermath.

Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan

The Afghan War broke between the communist government and the Muslim anti-communist guerillas in 1978. The centrist government under the presidency of Mohammad Daud Khan was overpowered and dethroned by the left-wing Military officers under the guidance of Nur Mohammad Taraki.

It is then the power of Afghanistan was shared between the Parcham or Banner Party and People or Khalq Party. Both parties emerged from the single platform of the People’s Democratic Party of this country. Before this coup, they reunited with each other to overpower the communist regime to take command of the country.

As the new government was formed by the short coalition of these two parties, it forged ties with the neighboring Soviet Union. This new government did not have popularity among the common people as they were happy with the previous one. For this reason, the new coalesced government took the help of the Soviet Union’s military power to get rid of the unwanted anti-government sentiment. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan earmarked ruthless times for the locals of Afghanistan who did not support the current government.

The urban, as well as, the tribal groups spread across this country started showing disharmony against the government with insurgencies. They were collectively known as the Mujahideen meaning the persons engaging in Jihad. These people were from the Islamic orientation.

The current government was feeling political unrest and armed uprising of this group along with internal coups. The internal friction was the result of the unmatched ideologies of the Banner factions and People’s supporters. This prompted the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan on 24^th December 1979.

Afghanistan before the war was an advanced state where people had freedom and were eyeing excellent development of the economy. When the current centrist government was dethroned and Muslim insurgencies took place, it shattered the contemporary conditions and halted the development.

Nearly 30,000 troops were deployed to the land of Afghanistan leading to the dethroning of Hafizullah Amin, the then People’s leader and President of Afghanistan. The prime aim of the Afghanistan invasion of the Soviet Union was to restore and prop up the faltering condition of Afghanistan, their client state. It was not headed by Babarak Karmal, the Banner leader.

Karmal was unable to restore peace and he did not gain much popularity among the urban and tribal population of the country. In fact, the United States of America backed the rebellious uprising of the Mujahideen and it spread across the country. This political unrest took an ugly turn when Soviet Union forces used power against the local rebels. They did not leave any measure to stop and suppress the rebels.

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As time passed by, the Soviet Union had to leave the Afghan soil leaving the matter to the hands of the country’s army. The Afghan army suffered from mass desertion and the rebellion still continued to spark to form a wildfire. The army remained ineffective in these years of war resulting in no restoration of peace.

This resulted in the occupancy of the main cities, major garrisons, and larger towns by Soviet Union troops. More than 100,000 soldiers were deployed in these areas whereas the rebellion was pushed to enjoy partial freedom in the countryside.

The Russians then tried to push the rebels to their limits by bombing the rural areas in the countryside. They used various tactics with ruthless outcomes to suppress these insurgencies but failed every time due to the guerilla tactics utilized by the Mujahideen soldiers.

Not all people were Mujahideen fighters but had to suffer from the massive blows of depopulating tactics undertaken by the Soviet Union. More than 2.8 million people left the country by 1982 and were bound to seek asylum in Pakistan, the neighboring country. More than 1.5 million sought asylum in Iran.

Eventually, the Mujahideen became stronger with the support of the US military supplies. They were handed rocket-propelled grenades or anti aircraft shoulder-fired missiles. The huge supply took down the entire Soviet Union’s airpower in this country resulting in suppressing the Russians to a considerable level.

The uncoordinated movements and plans of Mujahideen due to the surfacing of independent groups led to anarchy after the Soviet Union troops left. The arms and other resources were shipped to this country from the USA via Pakistan. The combat style improved and eventually, the Russians were forced to sign an accord with Afghanistan, the USA, and Pakistan and had to withdraw their troops. It was completed on 5^th February 1989.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan summary suggests that the Soviet Union wanted to establish a sympathetic reign in the country but failed. Afghanistan was unable to restore its previous glory and still remains in huge tension.