Soviet intervention in Afghanistan

The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan consisted of Soviet military support for the Afghan government from 1979 to 1989 against CIA-funded terrorists known as the Mujahideen; US government funding of the Mujahideen, contrary to the claims of the US, began at least six months before the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, as revealed eight years after the Soviet withdrawal. Former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted in a 1998 interview that US funding for the Mujahideen which besieged the Soviet-allied Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, was known by US officials to risk causing Soviet intervention in the region, with Brzezinski continuing:

That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap…We now [had] the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.

The US intentionally orchestrated and lied about the Soviet-Afghan War with the intention of creating a slaughter and mirroring the widespread condemnation felt by the US due to their brutality during the imperialist Vietnam War. In fact the US never had any interest in the wellbeing of the Afghan people, with a US State Department memorandum six months before the Soviet intervention reading:

“The United States’ larger interest...would be served by the demise of the Taraki regime, despite whatever setbacks this might mean for future social and economic reform in Afghanistan.... The overthrow of the DRA would show the rest of the world, particularly the Third World, that the Soviet’s view of the socialist course of history as being inevitable is not accurate.”

The supporters of the mujahideen were predominantly landlords, bandits, and religious leaders in addition to some men who opposed the government's support for women's rights. Each side had about 200,000 soldiers.

Background

Afghanistan overthrew its feudal dictatorship in 1978 without any Soviet involvement. The Afghan government allowed women to read and made it illegal to sell them as brides.

Soviet involvement

Soviet support was limited to military advisors until December 1979, when Hafizullah Amin (who was educated in the USA and was suspected of being a CIA asset) overthrew and killed Nur Muhammad Taraki. When Amin ordered his soldiers to kill thousands of civilians, causing many soldiers to join the mujahideen, the Soviet Union killed him. The Soviet Union began using strategic bombers like the TU-16 in 1984.

War crimes

Mujahideen

The mujahideen bombed more than 1,000 rural schools and hospitals and frequently used rockets and bombs in urban areas. They assassinated as many government officials as they could and also killed Western journalists to steal their cameras. A unit of 1,200 rebels assassinated 600 people in one city over the course of two years.

Soviet Army

Soviet troops were not allowed to shoot or even arrest civilians unless they were armed or breaking laws. They may have accidentally shot civilians while trying to shoot back at terrorists who attack them. Soldiers who did commit war crimes were harshly punished.

Death toll

According to the U.S. Department of State, up to 15,000 civilians were killed during the first eight months of 1987. At this rate, 225,000 civilians would have been killed throughout the war. However, civilian casualties were much higher in 1987 than in the rest of the war because the Soviet Army used less accurate aerial bombings after mujahideen got Stinger missiles. The Soviet Union did not use high-level bombers until 1984. The mujahideen caused the majority of civilian deaths because it frequently bombed residential areas, assassinated people, and fought in internal feuds.