December 24 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

This Day in History: 24 December 2019

 

24 December 1979

 

40 years ago, today, the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan, wanting to uphold the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. In the early hours, the Soviets began a large military airlift into Kabul, and within a few days had secured it, after facing a resistance from the Afghan army. Three days later, the Marxist Babrak Karmal was instituted in as Afghanistan's new head of government, as Soviet forces entered Afghanistan from the north. However, they were met with more resistance when they advanced into the countryside, as they met the mujahidin, who saw the Christian and atheist Soviets as defying Islam and their traditional culture, and proclaimed jihad, a holy war, thus gaining support of the Islamic world. They employed guerrilla tactics against their enemies, meaning they would attack or raid quickly, then disappear and hide, using whatever weapons they could find from the Soviets, or whatever the US would provide them.

 

In 1987, the US introduced shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, which allowed the mujahidin to shoot down Soviet planes regularly and efficiently. When the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power, he decided to end this war, as he saw no victory in sight, so began to withdraw Soviet forces in 1988. The Afghanistan invasion marked the end of a period of improving relations in the Cold War, known as détente, and, as well as this, the SALT II arms treaty was also halted, causing the US to restart arming themselves. The Soviets never recovered from the public relations and financial losses, which also led to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In addition, the war created a breeding ground for terrorism and the rise of famous terrorist, Osama bin Laden. 

 

Want to find out more about the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty? Click here for more details.

Want to find out more about détente? Click here for more details.

Want to find out more about the SALT II treaty? Click here for more details.

 

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! 😊