In what year did the Soviet troops enter Afghanistan. Why did the USSR send troops to Afghanistan

The Soviet-Afghan war lasted more than nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. Mujahideen rebel groups fought during it against the Soviet Army and allied Afghan government forces. Between 850,000 and 1.5 million civilians were killed and millions of Afghans fled the country, mostly to Pakistan and Iran.

Even before the arrival of Soviet troops, power in Afghanistan through 1978 coup captured by the communists, planting the president of the country Nur Mohammad Taraki. He undertook a series of radical reforms, which turned out to be extremely unpopular, especially among the rural population committed to national traditions. The Taraki regime brutally suppressed all opposition, arresting many thousands and executing 27,000 political prisoners.

Chronology of the Afghan war. video film

Armed groups began to form around the country to resist. By April 1979, many large areas of the country had rebelled; in December, the government kept only cities under its rule. It itself was torn apart by internal strife. Taraki was soon killed Hafizullah Amin. In response to the requests of the Afghan authorities, the allied Kremlin leadership, headed by Brezhnev, first sent secret advisers to the country, and on December 24, 1979, moved the 40th Soviet army of General Boris Gromov there, declaring that they were doing this in pursuance of the terms of the 1978 agreement on friendship and cooperation and good neighborliness with Afghanistan.

Soviet intelligence had information that Amin was making attempts to communicate with Pakistan and China. On December 27, 1979, about 700 Soviet special forces captured the main buildings of Kabul and staged an assault on the Taj Beck presidential palace, during which Amin and his two sons were killed. Amin was replaced by a rival from another Afghan communist faction, Babrak Karmal. He headed the "Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" and requested additional Soviet assistance.

In January 1980, the foreign ministers of 34 countries of the Islamic Conference approved a resolution demanding the "immediate, urgent and unconditional withdrawal of Soviet troops" from Afghanistan. The UN General Assembly by 104 votes to 18 adopted a resolution protesting Soviet interference. President of the U.S.A Carter announced a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Afghan fighters began to receive military training in neighboring Pakistan and China - and receive huge amounts of assistance, funded primarily by the United States and the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. In carrying out operations against Soviet forces CIA Pakistan actively helped.

Soviet troops occupied the cities and main lines of communication, and the Mujahideen waged guerrilla warfare in small groups. They operated on almost 80% of the country's territory, not subject to the control of the Kabul rulers and the USSR. Soviet troops made extensive use of aircraft for bombing, destroyed villages where the Mujahideen could find shelter, destroyed ditches, and laid millions of land mines. However, almost the entire contingent introduced into Afghanistan consisted of conscripts who were not trained in the complex tactics of fighting partisans in the mountains. Therefore, the war from the very beginning went hard for the USSR.

By the mid-1980s, the number of Soviet troops in Afghanistan had risen to 108,800 soldiers. The fighting went on throughout the country with more energy, but the material and diplomatic cost of the war for the USSR was very high. In mid-1987 Moscow, where a reformer has now come to power Gorbachev announced its intention to begin the withdrawal of troops. Gorbachev openly called Afghanistan a "bleeding wound."

On April 14, 1988, in Geneva, the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the participation of the United States and the USSR as guarantors, signed the "Agreements to Settle the Situation in the Republic of Afghanistan." They determined the schedule for the withdrawal of the Soviet contingent - it took place from May 15, 1988 to February 15, 1989.

The Mujahideen did not take part in the Geneva Accords and rejected most of their terms. As a result, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the civil war in Afghanistan continued. New pro-Soviet leader Najibullah barely held back the onslaught of the Mujahideen. His government split, many of its members entered into relations with the opposition. In March 1992, General Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Uzbek militia stopped supporting Najibullah. A month later, the Mujahideen took Kabul. Najibullah hid in the capital building of the UN mission until 1996, and then was captured by the Taliban and hanged.

The Afghan war is considered part of cold war. In the Western media, it is sometimes called "Soviet Vietnam" or "Bear Trap", because this war became one of the most important reasons for the fall of the USSR. It is believed that about 15 thousand Soviet soldiers died during it, 35 thousand were injured. After the war, Afghanistan lay in ruins. Grain production in it fell to 3.5% of the pre-war level.

The military conflict in Afghanistan, which began more than thirty years ago, remains the cornerstone of world security today. The hegemonic powers, in pursuit of their ambitions, not only destroyed a previously stable state, but also crippled thousands of destinies.

Afghanistan before the war

Many observers, describing the war in Afghanistan, say that before the conflict it was an extremely backward state, but some facts are silent. Before the confrontation, Afghanistan remained a feudal country in most of its territory, but in large cities such as Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and many others, there was a fairly developed infrastructure, they were full-fledged cultural and socio-economic centers.

The state developed and progressed. There was free medicine and education. The country produced good knitwear. Radio and television broadcast foreign programs. People met at the cinema and libraries. A woman could find herself in public life or run a business.

Fashion boutiques, supermarkets, shops, restaurants, a lot of cultural entertainment existed in the cities. The beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the date of which is interpreted differently in the sources, put an end to prosperity and stability. The country in an instant turned into a center of chaos and devastation. Today, radical Islamist groups have seized power in the country, which benefit from maintaining unrest throughout the territory.

Reasons for the start of the war in Afghanistan

To understand the true causes of the Afghan crisis, it is worth remembering history. In July 1973, the monarchy was overthrown. The coup was carried out by the king's cousin Mohammed Daoud. The general announced the overthrow of the monarchy and appointed himself President of the Republic of Afghanistan. The revolution took place with the assistance of the People's Democratic Party. A course of reforms in the economic and social sphere was announced.

In reality, President Daud did not reform, but only destroyed his enemies, including the leaders of the PDPA. Naturally, discontent in the circles of the Communists and the PDPA grew, they were constantly subjected to repression and physical violence.

Social, economic, political instability in the country began and the external intervention of the USSR and the USA served as an impetus for even more massive bloodshed.

Saur Revolution

The situation was constantly heating up, and already on April 27, 1987, the April (Saur) revolution took place, organized by the military detachments of the country, the PDPA and the communists. New leaders came to power - N. M. Taraki, H. Amin, B. Karmal. They immediately announced anti-feudal and democratic reforms. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan began to exist. Immediately after the first jubilations and victories of the united coalition, it became clear that there was discord between the leaders. Amin did not get along with Karmal, and Taraki turned a blind eye to this.

For the USSR, the victory of the democratic revolution was a real surprise. The Kremlin was waiting to see what would happen next, but many prudent military leaders and apparatchiks of the Soviets understood that the outbreak of war in Afghanistan was not far off.

Participants in the military conflict

Within a month of the bloody overthrow of the Daoud government, the new political forces were mired in conflicts. The Khalq and Parcham groups, as well as their ideologists, did not find common ground with each other. In August 1978, Parcham was completely removed from power. Karmal, together with his like-minded people, travels abroad.

Another failure befell the new government - the implementation of reforms was hampered by the opposition. Islamist forces unite in parties and movements. In June, in the provinces of Badakhshan, Bamiyan, Kunar, Paktia and Nangarhar, armed uprisings against the revolutionary government begin. Despite the fact that historians call 1979 the official date of the armed clash, hostilities began much earlier. The year the war in Afghanistan began was 1978. The civil war was the catalyst that pushed foreign countries to intervene. Each of the megapowers pursued its own geopolitical interests.

Islamists and their goals

Back in the early 70s, the Muslim Youth organization was formed on the territory of Afghanistan. Members of this community were close to the Islamic fundamentalist ideas of the Arab Muslim Brotherhood, their methods of fighting for power, up to political terror. The primacy of Islamic traditions, jihad and suppression all kinds of reforms that contradict the Koran - these are the main provisions of such organizations.

In 1975, the Muslim Youth ceased to exist. It was absorbed by other fundamentalists - the Islamic Party of Afghanistan (IPA) and the Islamic Society of Afghanistan (ISA). These cells were led by G. Hekmatyar and B. Rabbani. Members of the organization were trained in military operations in neighboring Pakistan and sponsored by the authorities of foreign states. After the April Revolution, the opposition societies united. The coup in the country became a kind of signal for armed action.

Foreign support for radicals

We must not lose sight of the fact that the start of the war in Afghanistan, the date of which in modern sources is 1979-1989, was planned as much as possible by the foreign powers participating in the NATO bloc and some. If earlier the American political elite denied involvement in the formation and financing of extremists, then The new century brought some very amusing facts to this story. Former CIA employees left a mass of memoirs in which they exposed the policies of their own government.

Even before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the CIA financed the Mujahideen, set up training bases for them in neighboring Pakistan, and supplied the Islamists with weapons. In 1985, President Reagan personally received a delegation of the Mujahideen in the White House. The most important US contribution to the Afghan conflict was the recruitment of men throughout the Arab world.

Today there is information that the war in Afghanistan was planned by the CIA as a trap for the USSR. Having fallen into it, the Union had to see all the inconsistency of its policy, deplete resources and “fall apart”. As you can see, it did. In 1979, the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, or rather, the introduction of a limited contingent became inevitable.

USSR and support for the PDPA

There are opinions that the USSR prepared the April Revolution for several years. Andropov personally oversaw this operation. Taraki was an agent of the Kremlin. Immediately after the coup, the friendly assistance of the Soviets to fraternal Afghanistan began. Other sources claim that the Saur Revolution was a complete surprise for the Soviets, albeit a pleasant one.

After the successful revolution in Afghanistan, the government of the USSR began to follow the events in the country more closely. The new leadership in the person of Taraki showed loyalty to friends from the USSR. KGB intelligence constantly informed the "leader" about instability in the neighboring region, but it was decided to wait. The beginning of the war in Afghanistan was taken calmly by the USSR, the Kremlin was aware that the opposition was sponsored by the States, they did not want to give up the territory, but the Kremlin did not need another Soviet-American crisis. Nevertheless, he was not going to stand aside, after all, Afghanistan is a neighboring country.

In September 1979, Amin assassinated Taraki and proclaimed himself president. Some sources testify that the final discord with regard to former comrades-in-arms occurred because of the intention of President Taraki to ask the USSR for the introduction of a military contingent. Amin and his associates were against it.

Soviet sources claim that about 20 appeals were sent to them from the government of Afghanistan with a request to send troops. The facts say the opposite - President Amin was opposed to the entry of the Russian contingent. The resident in Kabul sent information about US attempts to draw the USSR into the Soviet Union Even then, the leadership of the USSR knew that Taraki and the PDPA were residents of the States. Amin was the only nationalist in this company, and yet they did not share the $ 40 million paid by the CIA for the April coup with Taraki, this was the main cause of his death.

Andropov and Gromyko didn't want to listen to anything. In early December, KGB General Paputin flew to Kabul with the task of persuading Amin to call on the troops of the USSR. The new president was relentless. Then on December 22, an incident happened in Kabul. Armed "nationalists" broke into the house where the citizens of the USSR lived and cut off the heads of several dozen people. Having impaled them on spears, armed "Islamists" carried them through the central streets of Kabul. The police, who arrived at the scene, opened fire, but the criminals fled. On December 23, the government of the USSR sent a message to the government of Afghanistan informing the president that Soviet troops would soon be in Afghanistan in order to protect the citizens of their country. While Amin was considering how to dissuade the "friends" troops from the invasion, they had already landed at one of the country's airfields on December 24. Start date of the war in Afghanistan - 1979-1989. - will open one of the most tragic pages in the history of the USSR.

Operation Storm

Parts of the 105th Airborne Guards Division landed 50 km from Kabul, and the KGB special unit "Delta" surrounded the presidential palace on December 27. As a result of the capture, Amin and his bodyguards were killed. The world community "gasped", and all the puppeteers of this undertaking rubbed their hands. The USSR was hooked. Soviet paratroopers captured all the main infrastructure facilities located in large cities. For 10 years, more than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers fought in Afghanistan. The year of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan was the beginning of the collapse of the USSR.

On the night of December 27, B. Karmal arrived from Moscow and announced the second stage of the revolution on the radio. Thus, the beginning of the war in Afghanistan is 1979.

Events 1979-1985

After the successful Operation Storm, Soviet troops captured all the major industrial centers. The Kremlin's goal was to strengthen the communist regime in neighboring Afghanistan and push back the dushmans who controlled the countryside.

The constant clashes between the Islamists and the SA units led to numerous casualties among the civilian population, but the mountainous terrain completely disorientated the fighters. In April 1980, the first large-scale operation took place in Panjshir. In June of the same year, the Kremlin ordered the withdrawal of some tank and missile units from Afghanistan. In August of the same year, a battle took place in the Mashkhad Gorge. SA troops were ambushed, 48 fighters were killed and 49 were wounded. In 1982, on the fifth attempt, Soviet troops managed to occupy Panjshir.

During the first five years of the war, the situation developed in waves. The SA occupied the heights, then fell into ambushes. The Islamists did not carry out full-scale operations; they attacked food convoys and individual parts of the troops. The SA tried to push them away from the major cities.

During this period, Andropov had several meetings with the President of Pakistan and members of the UN. The representative of the USSR stated that the Kremlin was ready for a political settlement of the conflict in exchange for guarantees from the United States and Pakistan to stop financing the opposition.

1985-1989

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the first secretary of the USSR. He had a constructive attitude, wanted to reform the system, charted the course of "perestroika". The protracted conflict in Afghanistan hampered the process of normalizing relations with the United States and European countries. Active military operations were not carried out, but nevertheless, Soviet soldiers died with enviable constancy on Afghan territory. In 1986, Gorbachev announced a course for a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In the same year, B. Karmal was replaced by M. Najibullah. In 1986, the leadership of the SA came to the conclusion that the battle for the Afghan people was lost, since the SA could not take control of the entire territory of Afghanistan. January 23-26 A limited contingent of Soviet troops conducted their last operation "Typhoon" in Afghanistan in the province of Kunduz. On February 15, 1989, all the troops of the Soviet army were withdrawn.

The reaction of world powers

Everyone was in a state of shock after the media announcement about the capture of the presidential palace in Afghanistan and the assassination of Amin. The USSR immediately began to be seen as a total evil and an aggressor country. The outbreak of the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989) signaled for the European powers that the Kremlin was isolated. The President of France and the Chancellor of Germany personally met with Brezhnev and tried to persuade him to withdraw the troops, Leonid Ilyich was adamant.

In April 1980, the US government authorized $15 million in aid to the Afghan opposition forces.

The United States and European countries urged the world community to ignore the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but due to the presence of Asian and African countries, this sporting event still took place.

The Carter Doctrine was drawn up precisely during this period of aggravation of relations. Third world countries by a majority vote condemned the actions of the USSR. On February 15, 1989, the Soviet state, in accordance with agreements with UN countries, withdrew its troops from Afghanistan.

Outcome of the conflict

The beginning and end of the war in Afghanistan are conditional, because Afghanistan is an eternal hive, as its last king spoke of his country. In 1989, a limited contingent of Soviet troops "organized" crossed the border of Afghanistan - this was reported to the top leadership. In fact, thousands of SA soldiers remained in Afghanistan, forgotten companies and border detachments, covering the withdrawal of that same 40th Army.

Afghanistan after a ten-year war was plunged into absolute chaos. Thousands of refugees fled the borders of their country, fleeing the war.

Even today, the exact number of dead Afghans remains unknown. Researchers voice the figure of 2.5 million dead and wounded, mostly civilians.

The SA lost about 26,000 soldiers during the ten years of the war. The USSR lost the war in Afghanistan, although some historians argue the opposite.

The economic costs of the USSR in connection with the Afghan war were catastrophic. $800 million was allocated annually to support the Kabul government, and $3 billion to equip the army.

The beginning of the war in Afghanistan was the end of the USSR, one of the largest world powers.

In 1979, the leadership of the USSR, in order to stop the development of a civil war in neighboring Afghanistan, introduced a limited contingent of troops there. This caused a strong reaction in the West: in particular, as a sign of protest, the United States and some other countries announced a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, which took place in 1980. The Soviet side in this war lost about 15,000 soldiers. To what extent was the entry of Soviet troops justified?

Why did the USSR send troops to Afghanistan

Magazine: History from the "Russian Seven", Almanac No. 3, autumn 2017
Category: Mysteries of the USSR
Text: Russian Seven

Background to the conflict

Before the introduction of its military forces, the Soviet side maintained friendly relations with Afghanistan. And the internal disorder that began on Afghan territory alerted the political leadership of the country. Conflicts with the Islamic opposition gradually escalated into a civil war. The current situation affected the interests of the USSR. But Soviet politicians acted very cautiously. The Afghan leadership repeatedly asked for help, but the Soviet side was in no hurry to intervene in the internal conflict of Afghanistan, fearing to receive the status of an aggressor. At one of the meetings, Leonid Brezhnev said: "It is not right for us to get involved in this war now."

The conflict grew at a tremendous pace. And already in early December 1979, the authorities decided to bring in Soviet troops, allegedly based on contractual relations providing for good neighborliness and mutual assistance. The official reason for making such a decision was the desire to help a friendly people. But was it really so? The Soviet leadership feared that the coming to power of Islamic radicals with an anti-Soviet attitude would lead to a complete loss of control over the southern borders. Pakistan also caused concern, the political regime of which at that time was largely supervised by the US authorities. Thus, the territory of Afghanistan served as a "layer" between the USSR and Pakistan. And the loss of control over Afghan territory could provoke a serious weakening of state borders. That is, friendly mutual assistance was just a cover under which the Soviet government skillfully concealed the true motive of their actions.
On December 25, Soviet troops entered Afghan territory, initially they were small units. No one imagined that hostilities would drag on for a decade. In addition to military support, the leadership pursued the goal of eliminating Amin - the current leader of the PDPA at that time - and replacing him with Karmal, who was close to the Soviet regime. Thus, the Soviet authorities planned to fully regain control over Afghan territory.

Every year, the USSR spent about 2-3 billion US dollars on the Afghan conflict. The Soviet Union could afford it at the peak of oil prices, which was observed in 1979-1980. However, in the period from November 1980 to June 1986, oil prices fell by almost 6 times! Participation in the Afghan conflict has become prohibitively expensive in a virtually bled economy.
By the end of 1989, articles critical of the government appeared in the press. The authorities decided to conduct a formal assessment of the actions related to the introduction of troops into the territory of Afghanistan. As a result, the researchers delivered their verdict, which was in the nature of a moral and political condemnation of the actions taken. Soon a similar assessment was provided by the UN General Assembly.
Two decades later, when the Soviet Union was no longer on the world map, American intelligence agencies admitted that they played a significant role in drawing the USSR into a military conflict. Thus, the former director of the CIA in his memoirs admitted that the Americans began to provide military assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen even before the entry of Soviet troops, provoking the decision of the Soviet leadership.

The favorable geopolitical position of this small and poor country in the center of Eurasia predetermined the fact that for several hundred years the world powers have been fighting for control over it. In recent decades, Afghanistan has been the hottest spot on the planet.

Pre-war years: 1973-1978

Officially, the civil war in Afghanistan began in 1978, but the events that took place a few years before led to it. For many decades, the state system in Afghanistan was a monarchy. In 1973 the statesman and general Mohammed Daoud overthrew his cousin King Zahir Shah and established his own authoritarian regime, which neither the local Islamists nor the communists liked. Daoud's attempts at reform failed. The situation in the country was unstable, conspiracies were constantly organized against the Daoud government, in most cases they were able to be suppressed.

The coming to power of the left party PDPA: 1978-1979

In the end, in 1978, the left-wing People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) carried out the April Revolution, or, as it is also called, the Saur Revolution. The PDPA came to power, and President Mohammed Daoud and his entire family were killed in the presidential palace. The PDPA proclaimed the country the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. From that moment on, a real civil war began in the country.

Afghan War: 1979-1989

The confrontation of local Islamists with the PDPA authorities, constant rebellions and uprisings became a reason for the PDPA to turn to the USSR for help. Initially, the Soviet Union did not want armed intervention. However, the fear that forces hostile to the USSR would come to power in Afghanistan forced the Soviet leadership to send a limited contingent of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.

The Afghan war for the USSR began with the fact that the Soviet troops eliminated the leader of the PDPA, objectionable to the Soviet leadership Hafizullah Amin, who was suspected of having links with the CIA. Instead, he began to lead the state Barak Karmal.

The USSR expected that the war would not be long, but it dragged on for 10 years. Government troops and Soviet soldiers were opposed by the Mujahideen - Afghans who joined the armed formations and adhered to radical Islamic ideology. Support for the Mujahideen was provided by part of the local population, as well as foreign countries. The United States, with the help of Pakistan, armed the Mujahideen and provided them with financial assistance as part of Operation Cyclone.

In 1986, the new president of Afghanistan became Mohammad Najibullah and in 1987 the government set the course for national reconciliation. Around the same years, the name of the country began to be called the Republic of Afghanistan, a new constitution was adopted.

In 1988-1989, the USSR withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, this war turned out to be essentially meaningless. Despite the large number of military operations carried out, it was not possible to suppress the opposition forces, and the civil war in the country continued.

The struggle of the government of Afghanistan with the Mujahideen: 1989-1992

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the government continued to fight the Mujahideen. Foreign supporters of the Mujahideen believed that the ruling regime would soon fall, but the government continued to receive assistance from the USSR. In addition, Soviet military equipment was transferred to government troops. Therefore, the hopes for an early victory of the Mujahideen did not come true.

At the same time, after the collapse of the USSR, the situation of the government worsened, Russia stopped supplying weapons to Afghanistan. At the same time, some prominent military men who had previously fought on the side of President Najibullah went over to the side of the opposition. The president completely lost control over the country and announced that he agreed to resign. The Mujahideen entered Kabul, and the PDPA regime finally fell.

"Internecine" wars of the Mujahideen: 1992-2001

Having come to power, the field commanders of the Mujahideen began to conduct hostilities among themselves. The new government soon collapsed. Under these conditions, the Islamist Taliban movement was formed in the south of the country under the leadership of Muhammad Omar. The opponent of the Taliban was an association of field commanders called the Northern Alliance.

In 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul, executed former President Najibullah, who was hiding in the building of the UN mission, and proclaimed the state of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which almost no one officially recognized. Although the Taliban did not completely control the country, they introduced Sharia norms in the occupied territory. Women were forbidden to work and study. Music, television, computers, the Internet, chess, and fine arts were also banned. Thieves' hands were cut off, and they were stoned for infidelity. The Taliban were also notable for their extreme religious intolerance towards those who adhered to a different faith.

Taliban granted political asylum to former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which initially fought against the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, and then began the fight against the United States.

NATO in Afghanistan: 2001 - present

After the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, a new stage of the war began, which continues to this day. The United States suspected terrorist number one Osama bin Laden of organizing the attacks and demanded that the Taliban extradite him and the leadership of Al-Qaeda. The Taliban refused to do so, and in October 2001 US and British forces, backed by the Northern Alliance, launched an offensive into Afghanistan. Already in the first months of the war, they managed to overthrow the Taliban regime and remove them from power.

The NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) contingent was deployed in the country, a new government appeared in the country, which was headed by Hamid Karzai. In 2004, after the adoption of a new constitution, he was elected president of the country.

At the same time, the Taliban went underground and started a guerrilla war. In 2002, the troops of the international coalition carried out Operation Anaconda against al-Qaeda militants, as a result of which many militants were killed. The Americans called the operation successful, at the same time, the command underestimated the strength of the militants, and the actions of the coalition troops were not properly coordinated, which caused many problems during the operation.

In subsequent years, the Taliban began to gradually gain strength and carry out suicide attacks, in which both military personnel of the contingent and civilians died. At the same time, ISAF forces began to gradually move to the south of the country, where the Taliban had strengthened. In 2006-2007, fierce fighting took place in these regions of the country. Due to the escalation of the conflict and the intensification of hostilities, civilians began to die at the hands of coalition soldiers. In addition, disagreements began between the allies. In addition, in 2008, the Taliban began to attack the Pakistani supply route for the contingent, and NATO turned to Russia with a request to provide an air corridor for supplying troops. In addition, in the same year, there was an assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai, and the Taliban released 400 members of the movement from Kandahar prison. Taliban propaganda among the local population led to the fact that civilians began to show dissatisfaction with the presence of NATO in the country.

The Taliban continued to wage guerrilla warfare, avoiding major clashes with coalition troops. At the same time, more and more Americans began to speak out in favor of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

A major victory for the Americans was the elimination of Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Pakistan. In the same year, NATO decided to gradually withdraw the contingent from the country and transfer responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local authorities. In the summer of 2011, the withdrawal of troops began.

In 2012 the President of the United States Barack Obama said that the Afghan government controls the areas where 75% of the population of Afghanistan lives, and by 2014 the authorities will have to control the entire territory of the country.

February 13, 2013 . After 2014, between 3,000 and 9,000 American soldiers should remain in Afghanistan. In the same year, a new international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan should start, which does not involve military operations.

On December 25, 1979, at 15.00, in the Kabul direction, the motorized rifle division of the TurkVO stationed in Termez began crossing the pontoon bridge across the Amu Darya and marching to Kabul. At the same time, BTA planes with personnel and military equipment of the airborne division crossed the border, which landed on the Kabul airfield.

Nine years, one month and eighteen days... That's how long the "Afghan war" lasted. The war that became the "swan song" of the Soviet Army and the Soviet Union.

A war that claimed 14,427 lives, through which a total of 620 thousand people passed, and which became one of the powerful prerequisites for a radical change in the geopolitical situation in the world.

What events preceded the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan? Was it vital for our country or was it pure adventure?

Soviet troops were brought into Afghanistan after repeated requests from the leadership of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which took the helm as a result of a coup d'état unexpected for the USSR in April 1978. But even then, the PDPA party did not represent a single entity, but consisted of two opposing factions - Khalq (People) and Parcham (Banner). The division into factions occurred almost immediately after the formation of the party in 1965. The “Khalq” faction adhered to the class principle of admission to the party, stood on radical left political positions, set as its main task “the establishment of national democracy”, “the solution of the land issue in favor of landless and land-poor peasants with broad participation in this process of the entire peasantry”. The head of the Khalq faction, Nur Muhammad Taraki, who later became the head of Afghanistan, considered the party to be the "vanguard of the working class", regardless of the fact that the working class in Afghanistan, if present, made up a very small part of Afghan society. Under such conditions, the ideological work of the "Khalkists" was directed primarily to the democratic intelligentsia and officers of the Afghan army. Ultimately, the Khalqists wanted to build a socialist society in Afghanistan.

Parcham, on the other hand, took a more moderate position, offering to accept people into the party not on the basis of a class principle, but on the basis of a person’s desire to work. They considered themselves the most prepared revolutionaries, "Marxist-Leninists." They considered the establishment of a democratic society in Afghanistan as their ultimate goal; for this, they intended to widely use the methods of parliamentary struggle, relying on the intelligentsia, civil servants, and the military, considering these layers the most real force with which they could achieve their goals.

It should be noted that at that time (in the late 1960s and early 1970s) the Soviet Union was not interested in a radical change in the state structure of Afghanistan. At that time, there was a strong central authority in Kabul, personified by King Zahir Shah. Afghanistan has traditionally been a friendly state for our country. Soviet specialists took an active part in building the Afghan economy and in training their own Afghan personnel. Under the guidance of specialists from the USSR, the famous Salang tunnel was built in 1964, which made it possible to connect Kabul with the northern provinces of the country by the shortest route. Under the strong rule of the king, all the numerous tribes of Afghanistan lived peacefully and did not conflict with each other.

In July 1973, an anti-monarchist coup took place in Afghanistan, led by Zahir Shah's cousin, Mohammad Daoud, who personified a moderately nationalist "third force" that stood between traditional Islamic forces and the PDPA.

Already in August 1973, in the Panjshir Gorge, armed demonstrations by supporters of the Islamic-monarchist structure of Afghanistan began, organized, as it was announced, by Pakistani military and political circles. Since then, the speeches of Daoud's opponents have been expanding.

In April 1978, a coup d'etat took place in the country, which was caused by contradictions between the leadership of Afghanistan and the PDPA, which claimed power. On April 25, by decree of M. Daoud, the top leaders of the Central Committee of the PDPA were arrested, including Nur Muhammad Taraki and Babrak Karmal. The reason for the arrest was the accusation of the leaders of the PDPA of violating the Constitution, which prohibited the activities of any political parties. And already at 9 am on April 27, mass demonstrations began, led by the leaders of the PDPA who remained at large, including Hafizullah Amin. Already at 17.30, the arrested leaders of the PDPA were released from prison. During the storming of the palace of M. Daud by the insurgent servicemen, he and members of his family were killed. On April 30, Afghanistan was proclaimed a Democratic Republic, and on May 1, a new government consisting of 20 ministers was appointed.

This development of events was actually a surprise for the Soviet leadership. which turned out to be unprepared for such a rapid development of events. And the PDPA itself, tormented by internal contradictions, was in no way suitable for the role of the leading and guiding force of the Afghan society, which, being under the strong influence of Islamic religious and secular authorities, was not inclined to immediately begin to destroy the established traditional foundations. Moreover, having come to power, the new leadership of Afghanistan, headed by Khalqist Taraki, immediately began a radical restructuring of all spheres of Afghan society. For example, surplus land was confiscated from large landowners, and the limit of land ownership was set at 6 hectares. Poor peasants were freed from debt bondage. 296 thousand families were endowed with land by taking land from wealthy landowners. However, the landless peasants cautiously accepted such “gifts” from the new government, because in Afghan society the traditional foundations were strong, according to which the poor could not claim the riches of the rich, “because it is pleasing to the Almighty (“Inshallah”)”.

Another major miscalculation of the new government was the proclamation of the "Saur uprising" ("Saur" - "April" in one of the official languages ​​of Afghanistan) "a proletarian revolution, part of the world proletarian revolution." And this is in a country where there were only about 100 thousand low-skilled workers for 16 million people. Most likely, statements about the proletarian nature of the revolution were made in the hope of the comprehensive assistance of the USSR. Considering the generally positive responses of the population to the overthrow of Daoud as approval of their coming to power, the PDPA began drastic socio-economic reforms that directly affected the interests of a fairly wide stratum of Afghan society. In relation to the farmers, the new authorities began to behave arrogantly, completely ignoring the traditions and foundations that had developed in a virtually closed cell - the Afghan village. Thus, they provoked a massive influx of the Afghan peasantry into the ranks of the political and armed opposition, the first detachments of which began operations during the reign of Daoud. In addition, the sharply anti-religious policy of the new authorities (for example, on the first day of the new government, more than 20 mullahs were shot in Kabul alone), did not contribute to mutual understanding between atheist communists and the deeply religious Afghan people. All this led to the fact that in July-September 1978, anti-government demonstrations intensified sharply. This is due to a sharp increase in funding for intra-Afghan anti-government Islamic groups by such international Islamist groups as the Muslim Brotherhood.

By the beginning of the summer of 1979, the military-political situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated sharply. Almost the entire eastern province of Paktia was controlled by opposition detachments, and mutinies of the Afghan regular army broke out in the garrisons every now and then. The Afghan leadership in the current situation was unable on its own, not having a combat-ready army and not using the support of the masses of the people, to stop the large-scale onslaught from the outside of large armed groups financed from abroad.

Beginning in the spring of 1979, the Afghan leadership repeatedly appealed to the USSR about sending a limited military contingent to Afghanistan to help repel external and internal "counter-revolution". There are 14 such appeals. Here are some of the appeals:

June 16th. Send Soviet crews in tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to the DRA to protect the government, Bagram and Shindand airfields.

But the Soviet leadership refused every time.

However, the opinion of the Soviet leadership changed dramatically in September 1979, when one of the leaders of the PDPA, Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin, eliminated President Nur Muhammad Taraki. The intra-party struggle, which had been quiet, flared up with renewed vigor, which threatened instability on the southern borders of the USSR. In addition, in foreign policy, Amin leaned more and more towards the West and the United States. And the internal political situation in Afghanistan sharply aggravated due to the fact that Amin began cruel political repressions against the "Parchamists". It was necessary to take the situation in Afghanistan under control. After a comprehensive study of the situation around Afghanistan, the top Soviet leadership decided to eliminate Amin, install a more predictable leader and send troops to provide moral support to the Afghan people. The political decision to send troops was made on December 12, 1979 in the office of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev. However, according to the leadership of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, the introduction of troops into Afghanistan would have led to an intensification of the rebel movement, which, first of all, would have been directed against the Soviet troops (which subsequently happened). But no one listened to the opinion of the military.

2. The entry of troops. Tasks that originally faced OKSV.

On December 25, 1979, at 15.00, in the Kabul direction, the motorized rifle division of the TurkVO stationed in Termez began crossing the pontoon bridge across the Amu Darya and marching to Kabul. At the same time, BTA planes with personnel and military equipment of the airborne division crossed the border, which landed on the Kabul airfield (From the reference of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR “On the issue of the circumstances of the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan”).

On December 27, 1979, the special unit of the KGB of the USSR "A" (the famous "Alpha"), led by Colonel Boyarinov, who died during this assault, began an operation to storm the palace of H. Amin, as a result of which the latter was liquidated. At this time, Soviet units were already crossing the border. On December 28, 1979, the situation in Kabul was completely controlled by the Soviet troops. On this day, Babrak Karmal, who “on the armor” of Soviet tanks returned triumphantly from “honorable exile” from Czechoslovakia, where he was ambassador, spoke on the radio with an appeal to the Afghan people. Now he, a member of the Parcham faction, has become the new ruler of Afghanistan.

Until January 1, 1980, about 50 thousand military personnel were introduced into Afghanistan, namely: two airborne and two motorized rifle divisions, support units). One motorized rifle division numbering 12 thousand people entered Afghanistan in the direction of Kushka, Kandahar, while the main forces - in the direction of Termez, Salang Pass to Bagram and Kabul.

In January 1980, two more motorized rifle divisions were introduced into Afghanistan. The total number of troops was 80 thousand people. The first commander of the 40th Army, which formed the backbone of the Limited Contingent of the Soviet Forces, was Colonel General Yuri Tukharinov.

By mid-January 1980, the entry of the main forces of the 40th Army into Afghanistan was basically completed. Three divisions were concentrated on the territory of Afghanistan (motorized rifle - 2, airborne - 1), an air assault brigade, and two separate regiments. Subsequently, the combat composition of the OKSV was specified, and some units were reorganized in order to strengthen them. Finally OKSV included:

4 divisions (motorized rifle - 3, airborne - 1),

5 separate brigades (motorized rifle - 2, air assault - 1, special forces -1)

4 separate regiments (motorized rifle - 2, paratroopers - 1, artillery - 1)

4 combat aviation regiments

3 helicopter regiments.

1 pipeline crew

1 brigade of material support.

Be that as it may, but for peacetime such a transfer of troops, unprecedented in its scale, was on the whole successful, without serious overlaps.

The initial combat missions facing the Soviet troops were: guarding the main transport routes (Kushka-Herat-Shindand-Kandahar; Termez-Kabul; Kabul-Jalalabad; Kunduz-Faizabad); protection of objects of the economic infrastructure of Afghanistan, ensuring the safe passage of convoys with national economic goods. But the situation has made significant adjustments to these tasks ...