The Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan in late 1979 to support the communist government against anti-communist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan civil war from 1978-1992. The Soviets controlled urban areas but could not take the mountainous regions where rebels received support from the US, China, Saudi Arabia and used missiles to counter Soviet air power. The costly war drained Soviet resources and contributed to weaknesses that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Over 50,000 Soviet troops were killed or wounded in the conflict.

1. Background
In April 1978, the central government of Afghanistan, headed by the President.
Mohammad Daud Khan was overthrown by leftist military officers led by Nur
Mohammad TarakAi. Power was there after being shared by two Marxist-Leninist
political groups, the People's Party (Khalq) and the Banner Party (Parcham), which
had previously come from a single organization, the People's Democratic Party.
Afghanistan and had gathered in an uneasy coalition shortly before the coup. The
new government, which had little popular support, forged close ties to the Soviet
Union, launched ruthless purges of all internal opposition and embarked on
sweeping land and social reforms which were bitterly felt by the devout Muslim
population and largely anti-communist. Insurrections have broken out against the
government among tribal and urban groups, and all of these known collectively as
the mujahidin.
Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late December 1979 bytroops ofthe Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union intervened to support the Afghan communist government in its
conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas during the war in Afghanistan
(1978-1992) and remained in Afghanistan until mid-February 1989.
Intervention
Any activity of a State or its agents which influences the actions or attitudes of
another State, but in particular the threat or use of force, since force is particularly
intrusive, particularly persuasive and often particularly felt by those who are subject
to his power. Maryland Journal
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
Abbreviation: PDPA
Leader: last leader Dr. Muhammad Najibullah
Founded: 1st January 1965
Dissolved: March 1992
Succeeded: By Watan Party
Headquarters: Kabul
Newspaper: Khaliq 1966, Parcham 1969
Youth-wing: Democratic youth organization of Afghanistan
Ideology: Islam

2. Participants
1. Soviet union: D.R. Afghanistan, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary
2. Mujahidin: Pakistan, SaudiArabia, Turkey, Jordan, West Germany, UK, US,
France, Egypt, Israel
Factors Continued
Afghan guerrillas were supported by the United States, China and Saudi Arabia.
Although the USSR had a large and better army, and the combatants of the army
held out. The need for war had a winner or a loser becausethe Soviets controlled the
urban areas, but they had never taken the mountainous regions of the country. The
rebels began to use anti-aircraft missiles to reduce technological defecation between
two forces.
Afghanistan-Israel relations
During the 1980s, Israel was the first country to condemn the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan. Israel provided arms and training to forces fighting the Soviet-backed
Afghan government. Thousands of Mujahidin fighters, particularly from the Hizb-e
Islami faction of Gul-buddin Hikmat-yar, have been trained by Israeli instructors.
The head of the Pakistani ISI agency, Akhtar Abdul Rahman, is said to have allowed
Israeli coaches to enter his country.
Killing of the US Ambassador
In 1978, Dubs was appointed US ambassador to Afghanistan following the Saur
Revolution, an urban coup that brought the Soviet-aligned Khalq faction into power.
Pakistan's role in Afghan-soviet war
The importance of Pakistan both to the Soviet Union and to the United States has
increased considerably in recent years. This is due to several factors. First, the
revolution in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan made Pakistan, because of
its geographic location and historical ties to the two countries, both a target and an
obstacle to Soviet ambitions in the region.

3. World reaction
Most countries in the world disliked what the Soviet Union was doing in
Afghanistan. But they liked the way the Afghan peoplefought them. Some reactions
have been very serious. US President Jimmy Carter said Soviet action was "the
gravest threat to peace since World War II." Foreign fighters who wish to carry out
jihad against the atheist communist. Among them, a young Saudi Arabian named
Osama bin Laden, whose Arab group eventually became al-Qaeda. Muhammad
najibullah, former chief of the Afghan secret police (khad) was elected president and
a new constitution was adopted. The Islamists who fought also believed that they
were responsible for the entire fall of the Soviet Union.
Initiation of the Insurgency
Afghanistan has cemented regional problems with Pakistan after Dawood imposed
his radical policy from Pashtunistan to Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated and Prime
Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto authorized a covert operation under the command of
MI Major General Naseerullah Babar. Hekmatyar could be murdered by Dawood.
According to Baber, Bhutto's operation was a great idea and it had a hard-hitting
impact on Dawood and his government, which forced Dawood to increase his desire
to make peace with Bhutto. Another part of this operation was to form Jamiat-e
Islami, a hard line. Militants against Daoud's secular government, but the operation
was put in a cold room after Bhutto was removed from power.
Downfall of Soviet Union
According to Arnold, the Soviet Empire rested on three pillars: military, KGB and
Communist Party, and maintains that the war in Afghanistan ate in these pillars,
weakening them to the point of collapsing. Economic devastation, political
repression, despotic rule and forced virtues were old-schoolStalinist policies, which
kept the chains surrounding a societythat could no longer bekept away from change.
Afghanistan has been a major factor in breaking the myths that have surrounded the
Soviet Empire for decades. Recognition of the rapid implementation of Perestroika
and Glasnost, coupled with a breakdown in the economy and a changing Soviet
ideology, were elements that shattered the Soviet Union. Economically speaking,
the cost of the war varies, according to the varying Soviet figures, but the most
agreeable figure is given as $8.2 billion per year.
As for the victims, this is also a questionable subject, due to the strict censorship of
the Soviet Union. The 15,000 official deaths are a gross understatement. Experts
agree that at least 40,000 to 50,000 Soviets lost their lives in combat, in addition to

4. the wounded, suicides and murders. Corruption is at the top ofeach list. An example
given by Arnold is that the price to pay for a medical exemption from nuclear
cleaning in Chernobyl in 1987 was 500 rubles and 1000 rubles to avoid doing
military service in Afghanistan. Another problem facing society was the return of
Afghan veterans. Almost all of the 546,200 soldiers who served in Afghanistan had
the chance to experiment with drugs for the first time. Cheaper and easier to find
than alcohol in Afghan bazaars, drugs have often changed hands with rifles and
ammunition.
Conclusion
The fact that the Afghan war was critical to the collapse of the Soviet Union
resonates well with theories emphasizing the great wars as key factors in the demise
of empires. The great wars between great powers reorient the internal policy of the
belligerents by weakening the powerful groups and by liberating the less powerful
groups. it is only dramatic and significant events that cause empires to collapse, not
continuous stalemates and the only event that fits this bill is the war in Afghanistan,
perhaps one of the most over-studied but underestimated in the history of the 20th
century, the one that analysts at the end of the Cold War continue to ignore at their
own risk.