Soviet–Afghan War
1979–1989 war between the Soviet Union and Afghan insurgents / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Soviet–Afghan War, or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, was a war that was initially fought between the forces of the communist government of Afghanistan and fighters who were supported from abroad. Without proper equipment and training, the communist government was unable to resist the opposition, known as the mujahideen, and so it eventually sought the aid of the Soviet Union.
Soviet war in Afghanistan | |||||||
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Part of the conflict in Afghanistan and the Cold War | |||||||
Mujahideen fighters in Kunar Province of Afghanistan in 1987 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Soviet Union | Afghan Mujahideen | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Leonid Brezhnev Yuri Andropov Konstantin Chernenko Mikhail Gorbachev Dmitriy Ustinov Sergei Sokolov Dmitriy Yazov Valentin Varennikov Igor Rodionov Boris Gromov Hafizullah Amin Babrak Karmal Mohammad Najibullah Abdul Rashid Dostum Abdul Qadir Dagarwal Shahnawaz Tanai Mohammed Rafie |
Ahmad Shah Massoud Mullah Omar Abdul Haq Abdullah Azzam Ismail Khan Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Jalaluddin Haqqani Mullah Naqib Abdul Rahim Wardak Fazal Haq Mujahid Burhanuddin Rabbani Osama bin Laden Ayman al-Zawahiri | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Soviet Forces:
|Afghan Forces:
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Mujahideen: 200,000–250,000[4][5][6] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Soviet Forces: 14,453 Killed (total) 53,753 Wounded[7] 312 Missing[8] Afghan Forces: 18,000 killed[9] |
Mujahideen: 75,000–90,000 killed, 75,000+ wounded (tentative estimate)[10] | ||||||
Civilians (Afghan): 850,000–2,000,000 killed[11][12] 5 million refugees outside of Afghanistan 2 million refugees in Afghanistan Around 3 million Afghans wounded (mostly civilians)[13] Civilians (Soviet): Around 100 dead |
The war began on 25 December 1979, when the Soviets brought their 40th Army to fight in Afghanistan. The Soviets' entry to the country caused an immediate increase in the presence of foreign involvement, and Islamists from around the world who came to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen.
The Soviets' assive military campaigns against the mujahideen, who blended in with the local population, caused extensive destruction of local infrastructure and loss of lives, which made the local population side with the mujahideen. That caused a loss of support for the Soviet military presence and eventually created a nationwide resistance during the conflict.
On 15 May 1988, the Soviet troops started to leave Afghanistan, which continued until 2 February 1989. On 15 February 1989, the Soviets announced that all of their troops had left Afghanistan.
During the war, about 15,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed and about 35,000 wounded. About two million Afghan civilians had been killed. The mujahideen were supported by many countries such as Pakistan, the United States, and Saudi Arabia.