The Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) was a conflict between the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the rebel Mujahideen, who were supported by many Western and Arab nations. The Soviets intervened in December 1979 after over a year of unsuccessful fighting against the anti-communist Mujahideen rebels, and in a war that lasted the duration of the 1980s, 175,000 Soviet troops fought guerrillas in the Afghan countryside. In 1989 the Soviets cut their losses and withdrew, and the DRA was overthrown in 1992. 15,000 Soviets, 18,000 DRA armed forces, 180,000 Mujahideen, and 1,500,000 Afghan civilians were killed, with 6 million Afghans fleeing their country.
War[]
The conflict in Afghanistan that lasted almost the entire length of the 1980s had its genesis in July 1973, when the country's monarchy was overthrown and a republic established under Mohammed Daoud. Islamist organizations inspired by Muslim Brotherhood such as Jamiat Islami opposed to his modernizing government fled to neighboring Pakistan, where in 1975 they set up the mujahideen ("holy warriors") to overthrow Daoud's regime.
The assassination of Daoud in April 1978 by the Revolutionary Council, and his replacement with a communist-led government, prompted the US to support the mujahideen the following July. Alarmed by American-armed instability on its southern border, the Soviet Union sent in 85,000 troops to support the Afghan government in December 1979.
The Soviets and Afghan Forces fought the mujahideen mainly in the countryside which meant all major cities were in control of the Afghan/Soviet forces. The attempts to subdue the countryside through aerial bombardment and siege tactics sent millions of refugees fleeing to Pakistan and other neighboring countries.
By 1985 guerrilla warfare was being conducted in every province, convincing the new Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev to cut its losses and leave. A phased withdrawal of Soviet troops began in May 1988 and was finally completed the following February.
Second Afghan Civil War[]
Following the Soviet withdrawal with the planning by the CIA and ISI, the new "Interim Afghan Government" alongside Pakistani mercenaries and Arab foreign fighters attempted to capture the city of Jalalabad however the Afghan Army held their ground resulting in a international humiliation for the Pakistanis leading to the sacking of ISI head Hamid Gul. In 1990 the PDPA was renamed to the Homeland Party. The war remained a stalemate until January 1992. In Northern Afghanistan an Ethnic Tajik General named Abdul Momin harassed ethnic Pashtun Kochi merchants resulting in President Najibullah (an Ethnic Pashtun) releasing General Momin from his post and replacing him with a Pashtun Khalqist General. General Momin who was in contact with the Islamist warlord and fellow Tajik Ahmad Shah Massoud defected alongside ethnic Uzbek General Dostum. An Anti Pashtun coalition of Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Hazaras and Ismaili Shias, formed in the North in opposition to the Pashtun Socialists in the south with General Abdul Rashid Dostum proclaiming "Pashtuns have ruled Afghanistan for long enough now it is our turn". This coalition captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif from the ethnic Pashtun Afghan Army Garrison capturing the final Soviet shipments of weapons crippling the Homeland Party regime's ability to fight back. The Afghan Army, now almost exclusively Pashtun sided with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami setting the stage for the Third Afghan Civil War and the Battle of Kabul.
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Operation Magistral
Battle of Hill 3234, 1988