Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

In the year of 1979, after helping to establish and maintain a communist government in this nation, the Soviet Union engaged in a bloody war with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, or the DRA (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). This 10 year conflict caused massive amounts of destruction and mayhem for the country, but in the end was a military disaster (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). The damage suffered by the Soviet Union was irreparable, both militarily and politically. This researcher will prove in the following text that the Soviets' decision to invade the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a grave error in judgment, and ultimately helped lead the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic to its downfall. In fact, this war has been described as "the pebble which this exhausted sick man stumbled on and fell." (Moshref, R. (Date Unknown). The roll of Afghanistan in the fall of the USSR. Retrieved April 13. 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.afghan-web.com/history/articles/ussr.html.).

First of all, as this researcher has stated in the previous paragraph, the Soviet Invasion of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was, in the end, a failure. Due to this, the government of the USSR was forced to spend enormous amounts of money to support the war, which was completely wasted. Some very important events lead up to the Soviets' beginning this invasion before they became directly involved. Very shortly before their invasion, in April 1978, a military coup occurred, taking the current head of state, Mohammed Daoud Khan, out of power (he was killed during this takeover). The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, or PDPA, a communist party, seized control. This is also when the country was named the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The man responsible for the coup, Hafizullah Amin, was named a Deputy Prime Minister in the PDPA. A man named Nur Mohammed Taraki was named Prime Minister, President, and General Secretary. In the spring of 1978, a resistance movement was formed.

This is where the Soviets enter the picture, and the proof of the enormous amount of money wasted in this country is most evident. The USSR began talks with Amin about the possibility of the removal of Mohammed Daoud Khan (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). This occurred in the late spring. On December 5 the PDPA signed a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and the real spending of Soviet money began. In March of 1979, the USSR began to give an incredible amount of military aid to Afghanistan (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). This aid included 500 military advisors, as well as their families. The fact that the advisors' families were accompanying them was in implication of a long-term stay in the country (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). On March 10, 1979, a group of Afghan military units located in Herat, Afghanistan, mutiny, killing 350 citizens of the Soviet Union. The mutiny is ended within 10 days, however at a great cost to the Soviets (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). The cost to the Soviets' increases by October of 1979, as they truly prepare for an invasion. General Ivan Pavloskiy, commander of Soviet ground forces, who had been in Afghanistan since August, returned to Soviet Russia. The Soviet Union began to mobilize its Category 2 divisions in southern Soviet Socialist Republics. Many airborne soviet battalions were deployed to the military base in Bagram, Afghanistan. These battalions were then later moved to cover the border crossing of the 357th Motorized Rifle Division, which was based in Tashkent, the capitol of Uzbekistan.

Now the real invasion starts to take shape. The Soviets sent a reinforced airborne division to the airbase in Bagram. Then, the Soviet advisors to the Afghanistan military forces advised the army to go through a series of maintenance cycles for their tanks and other equipment, leaving the forces much less able to resist (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). Communications in Kabul were completely cut off. The now President Amin moves to Dar-ul-aman Palace, as he believed it to be better fortified (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). The Soviets seized control of every airfield within and near Kabul, as well as the telecommunications complex. Additional Soviet forces were moved toward the Afghan border. 700 KGB spetsnaz Special Forces troops, Alpha group, were sent to kill president Amin. They stormed the presidential palace dressed in Afghan uniforms. They succeeded in killing Amin, but only after sustaining heavy casualties (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Soviet-Invasion-of-Afghanistan.). Finally, the Soviet Union moved more divisions into the country. There were 50 000 Soviet troops on Afghan soil at this point. The Soviets continued in this fashion for the better part of 10 years.

As you can tell, the Soviet Union spent a great deal of money on this endeavor in the Middle East, and lost a lot of manpower as well. The Russians had deployed the entire Fortieth Soviet Army, which consisted of 100 000 land troops. On top of this, were air support, logistics, MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) soldiers, and other troops had also been deployed in Afghanistan (Unknown Author. (Unknown Date). Encyclopedia: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from the World Wide Web: