The last Soviet decade was marked by the Afghan war (1979-1989). Briefly, the course of the war is far from known to every citizen of Russia and other countries of the former USSR. In the 90s, due to rapid reforms and economic crises, the Afghan campaign was almost squeezed out of public consciousness. But today, when much work has been done by historians and researchers, all ideological clichés have disappeared, and a good opportunity has appeared to give an impartial look at the events of those years.
Background
In Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space, the Afghan war, in short, is associated with a ten-year period (1979-1989), when the USSR armed forces were present in this country. In fact, it was only one part of a long civil conflict. The prerequisites for its occurrence appeared in 1973, when the monarchy was overthrown in Afghanistan. Mohammed Daoud’s short-lived regime came to power. He ceased to exist in 1978, when the Saur (April) revolution took place. After it, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) began to rule the country, which proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA).
The organization was Marxist, which related it to the Soviet Union. Leftist ideology has become dominant in Afghanistan. Just as in the USSR, they began to build socialism there. However, by 1978, the country already existed in an ongoing chaos. Two revolutions, civil war - all this destroyed stability in the region.
Different forces opposed the socialist government, but first of all, radical Islamists. They considered the members of the PDPA enemies of the entire Afghan people and Islam. In fact, a holy war (jihad) was declared to the new political regime. For the fight against infidels, mujahideen units were created. It was with them that the Soviet army fought, for which the Afghan war soon began. Briefly, the success of the Mujahideen can be explained by their skillful propaganda work in the country. For Islamist agitators, the task was facilitated by the fact that the vast majority of the population of Afghanistan (about 90%) was illiterate. In the state outside the big cities tribal orders reigned with extremely patriarchal views of the world. Religion in such a society certainly played a significant role. These were the causes of the Afghan war. Briefly, they were described in official Soviet newspapers as providing international assistance to the friendly people of a neighboring country.
PDPA requests for Soviet intervention
Before the PDPA came to power in Kabul, armed rebellions, fueled by Islamists , began in other provinces of the country. The Afghan leadership began to lose control of the situation. Under these conditions, in March 1979 it first applied for help to Moscow for help. Subsequently, such messages were repeated several more times. There was nowhere else to wait for the help of the Marxist party, surrounded by nationalists and Islamists.
For the first time, the issue of providing assistance to Kabul "comrades" was considered in the Kremlin on March 19, 1979. Then Brezhnev opposed armed intervention. However, time passed, and the situation at the borders of the USSR was getting worse. Gradually, members of the Politburo and other senior state functionaries changed their minds. For example, Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov believed that the Afghan war, in short, could be a danger to the Soviet borders.
In September 1979, another coup took place in Afghanistan. This time the leadership in the ruling party of the PDPA changed. The head of the party and state was Hafizullah Amin. Through the KGB, the Soviet Politburo began to receive reports that he was an agent of the CIA. These reports further incline the Kremlin to military intervention. Then preparations for the overthrow of Amin began. At the suggestion of Yuri Andropov, it was decided to replace Babrak Karmal, loyal to the Soviet Union, in his place. This member of the PDPA was first an important person in the Revolutionary Council. During the party purges, he was first sent as ambassador to Czechoslovakia, and then declared a traitor and conspirator. Karmal, who was in exile at that time, remained abroad. At the same time, he moved to the USSR, becoming the figure on whom the Soviet leadership put.
Decision on the introduction of troops
On December 12, 1979, it became finally clear that the USSR would start its own Afghan war. Having briefly discussed the latest reservations in the documents, the Kremlin approved the operation to overthrow Amin.
Of course, hardly anyone in Moscow then realized how long this military campaign would drag on. But from the very beginning, the decision to send troops also had opponents. Firstly, the Chief of the General Staff, Nikolai Ogarkov, did not want this. Secondly, Alexei Kosygin did not support the decision of the Politburo . This position of his became an additional and decisive reason for the final break with Leonid Brezhnev and his supporters.
Immediate preparations for the transfer of the Soviet army to Afghanistan began the next day, December 13. The Soviet special services tried to organize an attempt on Hafizzulu Amin, but the first pancake came out lumpy. The operation hung in the balance. Nevertheless, the preparation continued.
Storming Amin's Palace
The deployment of troops began on December 25th. Two days later, Amin, being in his palace, felt ill and lost consciousness. The same thing happened with some of his associates. The reason for this was the poisoning, which was organized by Soviet agents who settled in the residence as cooks. Amina was given medical assistance, but the guard felt something was amiss.
At seven o’clock in the evening near the palace, the Soviet subversive group stalled in their car, which stopped near the hatch that led to the distribution center of all Kabul communications. A mine was safely lowered there, and after a few minutes an explosion thundered. Kabul was left without electricity.
Thus began the Afghan war (1979-1989). Having briefly assessed the situation, the operation commander, Colonel Boyarintsev, ordered that the assault on Amin’s palace be launched. The Afghan leader himself, upon learning of the attack by unknown military personnel, demanded that his associates ask the Soviet Union for help (formally, the authorities of the two countries continued to remain friendly to each other). When Amina was informed that special forces of the USSR were at his gate, he did not believe. It is not known exactly under what circumstances the head of the PDPA died. Most eyewitnesses later claimed that Amin committed suicide even before the Soviet military appeared in his apartment.
One way or another, but the operation was successfully carried out. Not only the palace was captured, but the whole of Kabul. On the night of December 28, Karmal arrived in the capital, which was declared the head of state. The forces of the USSR lost 20 people (among them were paratroopers and commandos). Killed and assault commander Grigory Boyarintsev. In 1980, he was posthumously assigned to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Timeline of conflict
According to the nature of the fighting and strategic objectives, the brief history of the Afghan war (1979-1989) can be divided into four periods. In the winter of 1979-1980 Soviet troops entered the country. Military personnel were sent to garrisons and important infrastructure facilities.
The second period (1980-1985) was the most active. The fighting was conducted throughout the country. They were offensive in nature. Mujahideen were destroyed, and the army of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was improved.
The third period (1985-1987) is characterized by operations of Soviet aviation and artillery. Measures involving the use of ground forces were carried out less and less until finally they came to naught.
The fourth period (1987-1989) was the last. Soviet troops were preparing for a conclusion. At the same time, the civil war in the country continued. The Islamists were never finally defeated. The withdrawal of troops was caused by the economic crisis in the USSR and a change in political course.
Continuation of the war
When the Soviet Union was just introducing its troops into Afghanistan, the country's leadership argued that it only provided assistance, according to the numerous requests of the Afghan government. On fresh traces at the end of 1979, the UN Security Council was convened. It presented an anti-Soviet resolution prepared by the United States. The document was not supported.
The American side, although it did not actually participate in the conflict, actively financed the Mujahideen. The Islamists had weapons purchased in the West. Thus, in fact, the cold confrontation between the two political systems received a new front, which became the Afghan war. The course of the war was briefly covered in all world media.
The CIA organized several training and educational camps in neighboring Pakistan where Afghan mujahideen (dushmans) were trained. Islamists, in addition to American funding, received money from drug trafficking. In the 80s, this country became the world leader in the production of heroin and opium. Often the purpose of Soviet operations was precisely the destruction of these industries.
The causes of the Afghan war (1979-1989), in short, sent a huge mass of people to the confrontation, who had never before held weapons in their hands. Recruitment into the ranks of dushmans was led by a wide agent network throughout the country. The advantage of the Mujahideen was their lack of a specific center. Throughout the entire armed conflict, it was a collection of many diverse groups. The field commanders controlled them, but there was no “leader" among them.
The low efficiency of partisan operations was fully demonstrated by the Afghan war (1979-1989). Briefly, the results of many Soviet attacks were mentioned in the media. Many raids were negated by the effective propaganda work of the enemy among the local population. For the Afghan majority (especially in the deep provinces with a patriarchal order), Soviet troops have always been invaders. The commoners did not feel any sympathy for the socialist ideology.
"The policy of national reconciliation"
In 1987, the implementation of the “national reconciliation policy” began. At its plenum, the PDPA abandoned its monopoly on power. A law appeared that allowed opponents of the government to create their own parties. A new Constitution and a new president, Muhammad Najibullah, appeared in the country. All these measures were taken in order to end the war by means of compromise and concessions.
At the same time, the Soviet leadership, headed by Mikhail Gorbachev, headed for the reduction of its own weapons, which meant the withdrawal of troops from a neighboring country. The Afghan war (1979-1989), in short, could not be fought in the conditions of the economic crisis that began in the USSR. In addition, the Cold War was already in its last breath. The USSR and the USA began to agree among themselves by signing numerous disarmament documents and ending the escalation of the conflict between the two political systems.
The withdrawal of Soviet troops
For the first time, Mikhail Gorbachev announced the upcoming withdrawal of Soviet troops in December 1987, while on an official visit to the United States. Soon after, the Soviet, American and Afghan delegations sat down at the negotiating table in Geneva, Switzerland. April 14, 1988, following the results of their work, program documents were signed. So the story of the Afghan war came to an end. Briefly, it can be said that according to the Geneva agreements, the Soviet leadership promised to withdraw its troops, and the American leadership - to stop financing opponents of the PDPA.
Half of the military contingent of the USSR left the country in August 1988. In summer, important garrisons were left in Kandahar, Gradez, Fayzabad, Kundduz and other cities and settlements. The last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan on February 15, 1989, was Lieutenant General Boris Gromov. The whole world was shot by footage of how the military crossed and crossed the Friendship Bridge across the border river Amu Darya.
Losses
Many events of the Soviet years were subjected to a one-sided communist assessment. Among them was the history of the Afghan war. Dry news briefly appeared in newspapers, and television talked about the continued success of internationalist warriors. However, until the beginning of Perestroika and the announcement of a policy of publicity, the USSR authorities tried to keep silent about the true scale of their irretrievable losses. Zinc coffins with draftees and privates returned half-secretly to the Soviet Union. The soldiers were buried without publicity, and for a long time on the monuments there was no mention of the place and cause of death. A stable image of “200 cargo” has appeared among the people.
Only in 1989, the Pravda newspaper published real data on losses - 13.835 people. By the end of the 20th century, this figure reached 15 thousand, since many military personnel were already dying in their homeland for several years due to injuries and illnesses. These were the true consequences of the Afghan war. Briefly mentioning their losses, the Soviet government only intensified the conflict with society. By the end of the 80s, the demand to withdraw troops from a neighboring country became one of the main slogans of Perestroika. Even earlier (under Brezhnev) dissidents advocated this. So, for example, in 1980 the famous academician Andrei Sakharov was sent into exile in Gorky for his criticism of the “solution to the Afghan question”.
Summary
What are the results of the Afghan war? In short, Soviet intervention extended the life of the PDPA exactly for the period during which the USSR remained in the country. After their withdrawal, the regime suffered agony. Mujahideen groups quickly regained control of Afghanistan. Islamists appeared even at the borders of the USSR. Soviet border guards had to endure shelling of the enemy after the troops left the country.
The status quo has been violated. In April 1992, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was finally eliminated by the Islamists. The country began full-fledged chaos. It was divided by numerous groups. The war of all against all there continued until the invasion of NATO troops at the beginning of the XXI century. In the 90s, the Taliban movement appeared in the country, which has become one of the leading forces of modern world terrorism.
In the mass post-Soviet consciousness, the Afghan war became one of the most important symbols of the 80s. Briefly for the school today they talk about it in history textbooks for grades 9 and 11. The war is devoted to numerous works of art - songs, films, books. Evaluation of its results varies, although at the end of the existence of the USSR, the majority of the population, according to opinion polls, favored the withdrawal of troops and the cessation of senseless war.