Soviet–Afghan War

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, is regarded by most as an unprovoked invasion of a soverign country by another. However others regard it as a socialist giant coming to the rescue of an impoverished ally, or even as a preemptive war against Islamist terrorists by a genuinely threatened government. In any estimation, the resulting 10-year war wreaked incredible havoc and destruction on Afghanistan.

Timeline of the Invasion

It is difficult to give an exact date of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Depending on what specific event you care to name, the actual invasion starts anywhere from the beginning of 1978 with the Communist regime taking power in Kabul, to October 1979 when the Soviet Union begins mobilization, or the final airlift in December 1979 of combat troops to support the assault against the government. This is one timeline of events leading to the invasion.

'Prelude to invasion'

April 27, 1978 - Hafizullah Amin stages of coup against the sitting government, resulting in the death of the former head of state, Mohammed Daoud Khan. The communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) takes control, naming Nur Mohammed Taraki President, Prime Minister, and General Secretary of the PDPA. Amin and Babrak Karmal are named deputy prime ministers. The country was 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 if necessary.

December 5, 1978 – The PDPA signs a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union.

February 15, 1979 – The well-connected and informed [U.S.] Ambassador Adolph Dubs is abducted by insurgents and killed during a rescue effort ordered by Amin. The U.S. accuses the Soviet Union of initiating the gunfight that leads to his death. No replacement for the Ambassador is appointed.

March 1979 – Soviet begins massive military aid to Afghanistan, including 500 military advisors (with their families) arriving to provide assistance.

March 10, 1979 – Afghan military units located in Herat mutiny, and kill 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”. Most commentators 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 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 all of his government and PDPA posts.

September 14, 1979 – Taraki attempts to assassinate Amin in the Presidential palace.

September 16, 1979 – Amin assumes Taraki’s offices in the government and the Afghan Communist Party.

September 18, 1979 – 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 Afghanistan. The Soviet Union begins mobilization of Category 2 divisions in southern Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR’s).

October 10, 1979 – Kabul Times reports on the death by illness of Taraki. Other various reports indicate different forms of his death (illness, shootout, strangulation, 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”. Most commentators view this statement as acceptance by the PDPA of the Brezhnev Doctrine in regards to Afghanistan.

December 1, 1979 – Lt. General Viktor Paputin, the Soviet Union’s deputy minister of interior, is reported to have arrived in Kabul on November 28. His visit is touted in the Kabul Times as for a meeting on “mutual cooperation and other issues of interest”. Many sources speculate he is the top KGB official responsible for coordinating the invasion.

December 1979 – Several Tashkent based Soviet airborne battalions with heavy weapons air-deploy 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 the coming invasion, which only now he realizes is underway.

December 24, 1979 – 3 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, after its conclusion everyone is arrested. Meanwhile, Soviet military advisers host a party for their Afghan counterparts as well, after its conclusion everyone is imprisoned in the building. 3 Soviet battalions attack the palace where Amin is located; the palace is taken with heavy Soviet causalities and no Afghan survivors.

December 28 – A total of 3 additional Soviet motorized rifle divisions cross the Afghan border, supported by an additional 4 divisions that stay as a reserve in the Southern Soviet Union, just across the border.

December 29 - Babrak Karmal, leader of the Parcham faction of the PDPA appoints himself as the President and Prime Minister of the DRA, and General Secretary of the PDPA. At this point, over 50,000 Soviet troops occupy Afghanistan.

Political and Military Motivations

A number of theories have been advanced for the Soviet action. Some sources believe the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was motivated to prevent constituent SSR's in the southern Soviet Union from breaking away and joining what was becoming an area of wide upheaval. At the time of the invasion, Iran had very recently staged an Islamic revolution against the United States supported government. The newly instituted government was no more friendly to the Soviet Union than to the United States. This signified a third major axis in Eurasian politics (the Chinese, and NATO being the others), much to the Soviets dismay.

After its revolution, Iran had ample religious, political, and economic motivations to expand the revolution northward into the Soviet Union, or eastward into the PDPA. A similar situation (an expansionist Islamist revolution) could be seen as possibly developing in Afghanistan, with possible (from the Soviet POV) disastrous results. An invasion of an impoverished, technologically unsophisticated Afghanistan that also supplied an eastern flank to Iran would be considered by most Soviet (and other) political and military leaders to be a preferable solution to the developing crisis.

Supporting either thesis, are public statements by Leonid Brezhnev 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 is now known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.

Political and Military Goals

Unlike Western countries where control of the cities provides effective political control, Afghanistan is primarily rural and agrarian. The political form of government at the time could most closely be compared to feudalism, with strong tribal ties replacing Noble oaths as in Medieval Europe. The Soviet Union had 2 major options for control (with the unstated option of failure and withdraw being taken as a given):

Drive the resistance (mujahadeen) into Pakistan or Iran, 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, and cause so much destruction and dislocation that the civilian population could no longer resist. When carried to an extreme (as some commentators have called this case) this is referred to as genocide.

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

What was Wagered and What was Accomplished

See also: [Other sources]

According to some commentators, 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.

Many observers reported wide-spread rear-area use of chemical weapons by the Soviet Union. Such use would be in line with common wartime practice for Soviet military units, as reported by Soviet military journals.

The Soviets dropped more than 20 million anti-personnel mines to respond to an enemy that marched on its feet and hooves. Some of these anti-personnel mines were shaped like pens, or dolls, or other shiny trinkets, known as ‘dolly bombs’. These were for children to pick up and play with. The long-term tactic was to maim enough children in enemy areas to seriously impact mujahadeen operations in the future.

Russian costs (in 1986 dollars) were approximately $20 Billion USD / yr, or 10% of their entire military industrial complex.

These tactics accomplished the following effects:

Approximately 90,000 Afghans killed (mujahadeen and government), and 90,000 wounded. Including civilian casualities, estimates are that 10% of the total population was killed, 13.5% of the male population was killed, or 1.5 million were killed overall.

Approximately 22,000 Soviets killed, and 75,000 wounded.

Approximately 6 million refugees (driven into Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, etc.).

$50 Billion USD in damage to Afghanistan, or 1/3 to 1/2 the net worth of the country.

Agricultural production reduced by 50%, livestock losses of 50%.

70% of paved roads were destroyed.

Of 15,000 villages in the country, 5,000 were destroyed (rendered uninhabitable, or economically unsupportable by destruction of all economic value, i.e. fields, wells, roads, etc.)

This piece still needs a wrap-up