The beginning of the war in Afghanistan, 1979-1989

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 the previously stable state, but also maimed thousands of fates.

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 state in most of the territory, but in large cities such as Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and many others, there was a sufficiently developed infrastructure, these 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 broadcasts. People met in the movies 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, whose date is treated differently in the sources, put an end to prosperity and stability. The country in one moment turned into the center of chaos and devastation. Today, power in the country has been captured by radical Islamist groups, which benefit from maintaining unrest throughout the territory.

The reasons for the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan

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

In reality, President Daoud did not carry out reforms, 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 caused civil war, and external intervention of the USSR and the US triggered an even more massive bloodshed.

The Saur revolution

The situation was constantly heated, and 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 the holding of anti-feudal and democratic reforms. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan began to exist. Immediately after the first jubilation and victories of the united coalition, it became clear that there was discord among the leaders. Amin did not get on well with Karmal, and Taraki closed his eyes to it.

For the USSR, the victory of the democratic revolution was a real surprise. The Kremlin waited for what would happen next, but many prudent military leaders and apparatchiks of the Soviets understood that the beginning of the war in Afghanistan was just around the corner.

Participants in the military conflict

Just one month after the bloody overthrow of the Daud government, new political forces were mired in conflicts. The groups Khalq and Parcham, like their ideologists, did not find common ground between themselves. In August 1978 there was a complete removal of the "Parcham" from power. Karmal, along with his like-minded people, goes abroad.

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

Islamists and their goals

In the early 1970s, the organization "Muslim Youth" was formed on the territory of Afghanistan, the Islamic fundamentalist ideas of the Arab "Muslim Brotherhoods", their methods of power struggle, up to political terror were close to the people of this community.The predominance of Islamic traditions, jihad and suppression All the reforms that contradict the Koran are the main provisions of such organizations.

In 1975, "Muslim Youth" ceased to exist. It was absorbed by other fundamentalists - the Islamic Party of Afghanistan (IPA) and the Islamic Society of Afghanistan (IOA). Guided by these cells are H. Hekmatyar and B. Rabbani. Members of the organization were trained in conducting military operations in neighboring Pakistan and were sponsored by the authorities of foreign states. After the April Revolution, opposition societies merged. The coup in the country became a kind of signal for the armed actions.

Foreign support for radicals

One can not overlook the fact that the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the date of which in modern sources - 1979-1989, was maximally planned by the foreign powers-participants of the NATO bloc and some Islamic states. If earlier the American political elite denied involvement in the formation and financing of extremists, then the new century brought very entertaining facts into this story. Former CIA staff left a lot of memoirs, in which they exposed the policy of their own government.

Even before the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, the CIA financed the mujahideen, equipped them with training bases in neighboring Pakistan, and supplied the Islamists with weapons. In 1985, President Reagan personally received a delegation of Mujahideen in the White House. The most important contribution of the United States 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. Getting caught in it, the Union had to see the whole inconsistency of its policy, drain resources and "fall apart". As you can see, it happened. In 1979, the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, or rather, the introduction of a limited contingent of the Soviet Army, became inevitable.

The USSR and the support of the PDPA

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

After the successful revolution in Afghanistan, the government of the USSR began to closely monitor developments in the country. The new leadership in the person of Taraki showed loyalty to friends from the USSR. Intelligence of the KGB constantly informed the "leader" of instability in the neighboring region, but it was decided to wait. The USSR took the beginning of the war in Afghanistan calmly, the Kremlin was aware of the sponsorship of the opposition by the States, it did not want to give territory, but the Kremlin did not need another Soviet-American crisis. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union did not intend to stand aside, yet Afghanistan is a neighbor country.

In September 1979, Amin killed Taraki and proclaimed himself president. Some sources indicate that the final disagreement over former associates was due to President Taraki's intention to ask the USSR to enter the military contingent. Amin and his associates were against it.

Entry of Soviet troops

Soviet sources claim that from the government of Afghanistan they were sent about 20 appeals with the request to introduce troops. The facts claim the opposite: President Amin was an opponent of the Russian contingent. The resident in Kabul sent data on US attempts to draw the USSR into a regional conflict. Even then, the USSR leadership knew that Taraki and PDPA were residents of the States. Amin was the only nationalist in this company, and yet with Taraki they did not divide $ 40 million paid by the CIA for the April coup, this was the main cause of his death.

Andropov and Gromyko did not want to listen to anything. In the first days of December Kabul, General KGB, flew to Kabul with the task of persuading Amin to call the troops of the USSR. The new president was inexorable. Then on December 22, an incident occurred in Kabul. Armed "nationalists" broke into the house where citizens of the USSR lived, and cut off the heads of several dozen people. By planting 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 pondered how to dissuade the troops of "friends" from the invasion, they had already landed at one of the airfields of the country on December 24. The date of the beginning 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 kilometers from Kabul, and a special unit of the KGB Delta surrounded the president's palace on December 27. As a result of the seizure, Amin and his bodyguards were killed. The world public "gasped," and all the puppeteers of this venture rubbed their hands. The USSR was caught on the hook. Soviet paratroopers captured all the main infrastructure facilities located in major cities. Over 10 years in Afghanistan, fought over 600 thousand Soviet soldiers. 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 - 1979.

The events of 1979-1985.

After the successful Operation Storm, Soviet troops seized all 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.

Constant clashes between Islamists and detachments of the SA led to numerous casualties among civilians, but the mountainous terrain absolutely disoriented the fighters. In April 1980, the first large-scale operation in Panjshir took place. 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 Mashhad gorge. SA troops were ambushed, 48 soldiers were killed and 49 - wounded. In 1982, with the fifth attempt, the Soviet troops managed to occupy the Panjshir.

During the first five years of the war, the situation developed wavyly. SA occupied the heights, then fell into ambush. The Islamists did not conduct full-scale operations, they attacked the food columns and separate parts of the troops. CA tried to push them away from the big cities.

During this period, several meetings took place between Andropov and the President of Pakistan and UN members. The representative of the USSR declared that the Kremlin was ready for a political settlement of the conflict in exchange for the guarantees of the United States and Pakistan for stopping the financing of the opposition.

1985-1989

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the first secretary of the USSR. He was constructive, wanted to reform the system, outlined a course of "perestroika." The protracted conflict in Afghanistan hampered the process of settling relations with the United States and European countries. Active military operations were not carried out, but Soviet soldiers died with enviable constancy on the Afghan territory. In 1986, Gorbachev announced a course for the phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In the same year B. Karmal was succeeded by M. Najibullah. In 1986, the leadership of the SA came to the conclusion that the battle for the Afghan people was lost, since it 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

All the world community after the announcement of the media about the seizure of the presidential palace in Afghanistan and the murder of Amin was in a state of shock. The Soviet Union was immediately viewed as a total evil and an aggressor country. The outbreak of the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989) for the European powers signaled the beginning of the isolation of the Kremlin. The President of France and the Chancellor of Germany personally met with Brezhnev and tried to persuade him to withdraw his troops, Leonid Ilyich was adamant.

In April 1980, the US government authorized assistance to the opposition forces of Afghanistan in the amount of $ 15 million.

The US and European countries called on the world community to ignore the 1980 Olympic Games taking place in Moscow, but because of the presence of Asian and African countries this sporting event was held.

The "Carter Doctrine" was compiled precisely during this period of aggravation of relations. The countries of the third world condemned the actions of the USSR by a majority of votes. On February 15, 1989, the Soviet state, according to agreements with the UN countries, withdrew its troops from Afghanistan.

The outcome of the conflict

The beginning and the end of the war in Afghanistan are conditional, because Afghanistan is an eternal hive, as its last king said about 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, in Afghanistan there were thousands of prisoners of war SA, forgotten companies and border troops that covered the withdrawal of the very 40th Army.

Afghanistan after the ten-year war was plunged into absolute chaos. Thousands of refugees left their country to escape the war.

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

During the ten years of the war, CA lost about 26,000 soldiers. The Soviet Union lost the war in Afghanistan, although some historians claim the opposite.

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

The outbreak of the war in Afghanistan was the end of the USSR, one of the world's largest powers.