Before combing through 17 Moments and the Current Digest, I didn’t really have a firm understanding of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. However, I very quickly found out that among the events that took place in the 1970s under Brezhnev’s leadership, the invasion of Afghanistan proved to be a troubling turn of events for the Soviet Union.
The Politburo report in 17 Moments that discusses why Soviet leaders felt they needed to invade Afghanistan on Christmas Day in 1979, noted that two days after the invasion, “Soviet troops stormed the royal palace, killed Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin and replaced him with Babrak Karmal.” As the 17 Moments subject essay states, Amin himself had secured power from his predecessor Nur Mohammad Taraki by executing him, so Karmal was essentially a Soviet puppet who was flown to Afghanistan straight from the USSR. Karmal was a means to secure power on behalf of the Soviet Union in a state that was constantly facing insecure power struggles. The Soviet Union was motivated to secure territory, or at least access to it, in a region that boasted serious strategic value. Foreign policy with that type of motive has literally never worked out well, for anyone. The Soviet Union was also seriously concerned about how positive the relationship between Afghanistan and the US was turning out to be. The Politburo report noted that Afghanistan’s efforts “to mend relations with America as a part of the ‘more balanced foreign policy strategy’ adopted by H. Amin” were a threat, and it became increasingly evident that the USSR was not willing to bow down to the US in another foreign policy match-up.
So, they invaded.
But a foreign policy power-play with motivation like that could never end well. And the mujahideen did not take the invasion lightly, nor have they ever. Despite Karmal’s February 1980 speech that said “profound friendly and fraternal relations exist between our countries and peoples,” in reference to the relationship between Afghanistan and the USSR, it was pretty evident that the Afghan people did not feel the same way. The mujahideen were able to leverage the mountainous terrain in which they had a home advantage to use guerilla warfare, which proved decisive in a fight for their autonomy and sovereignty against yet another foreign invader. And after a decade-long struggle, the Soviet Union eventually withdrew from Afghanistan, and they paid a pretty price. Thousands upon thousands of Soviet men had to be drafted for a fight that was essentially an unnecessary re-match of a Cold War pissing contest, and that did not bode well for the motherland, where the dissident movement was already in full swing. Not to mention, the proxy war gave the US an opportunity to support and supply arms to the Islamic revolt by funneling money through Pakistan with the help of the CIA and Operation Cyclone (cue tangent Wikipedia “conspiracy” theories).
The point is that the invasion ended poorly for the Soviet Union, and a sizeable amount of people argue that the losses in Afghanistan significantly contributed to the fall of the USSR, which was soon to follow. The dissidence that was taking place in the motherland while Brezhnev was bleeding resources in Afghanistan for a fight they really didn’t need to have created a lot of unnecessary issues, just to compete with the US and try their hand at an Afghan invasion. Then again, I guess insanity really is doing the same thing multiple times and expecting a different result. But hey, the US did it too.
April 27, 2020 @ 1:14 pm
Hi Kendall, it has been very interesting to learn about the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Thats crazy that it only took them two days to reach the palace and overthrow the leadership. I can only imagine how successful they thought this invasion would be at that point in time. We all know that wasn’t the case, and those who have tried since then have faced a similar fate.
April 27, 2020 @ 4:33 pm
Hey Tanner, thanks for your comment! And definitely! I didn’t have a lot of information about the invasion or what motivated it before, but the confidence the USSR had in the invasion eventually proved to be misplaced, and somehow we still didn’t learn from that lesson.
April 27, 2020 @ 2:32 pm
Hey Kendall, you did a good job highlighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ripple effects it had on the region and the Soviet Union. Its amazing how Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, their “Vietnam”, contributed mightily to the downfall of the Soviet system.
April 27, 2020 @ 4:40 pm
Hello, thanks for your comment! It’s interesting to see how one decision really affected their presence in the region and how the motherland seriously shifted because of it. It goes to show how foreign policy choices can have serious domestic implications.
April 27, 2020 @ 8:32 pm
Reading about the Afghan war really reminds me why realism was the political philosophy of the time. Especially in foreign policy. Each world power was constantly balancing to what the other power did. For instance the Soviets invaded in response to our own grabs for power this time however it would put a serious dent in their resources leading to their demise.
April 27, 2020 @ 9:46 pm
Thanks for your comment! I totally agree with you. And I think we’re still in that same era where realism virtually rules how the US and other major world powers interact with each other, and other nations, on a world stage. It’s interesting to think about because you’re right, the Soviet’s grab for power put a serious strain on their resources, and it definitely didn’t help them that the US was arming the mujahideen. There are some seriously dynamic relationships going on there.
April 27, 2020 @ 9:41 pm
So many good Afghanistan posts this week! I appreciate you flagging the December Politburo meeting resolution, which indicates that concerns about potential US influence in the region were a significant factor behind the decision to invade. Thanks, Kendall!
April 27, 2020 @ 9:48 pm
Good evening Professor Nelson, thanks for your comment! And I really liked that Politburo reading, the concern over US influence in the region is something we’re obviously still dealing with today, and that was very clearly not another battle for influence the Soviet’s were ready to cede.
April 27, 2020 @ 10:43 pm
Hey Kendall really great post you have here and like you I had never really heard or read about the issues with Afghanistan and the USSR and as you stated they fell on their faces and with it being close to the fall of the USSR I can not help but wonder how much damage it really did to get to that point.
April 27, 2020 @ 10:45 pm
Great post Kendall, I like yourself had never really heard or read about the problems between the USSR and Afghanistan though I will say that this probably did not help later on but I like you can not help but wonder how much this failure pushed the end of the Soviet Union.
April 28, 2020 @ 4:12 pm
Hey Chase! I think the Soviet Union was already struggling internally and saw the invasion as an opportunity to secure Soviet ideals in another nation; but, I don’t think they were prepared for the growing dissidence at home or the serious opposition waiting for them in Afghanistan. I think it was a perfect storm that became cataclysmic in the end.
April 28, 2020 @ 12:04 am
Hi Kendall, great post! I did not really know much about how the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, and you wrote some very interesting things. It was very interesting to read that just because the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, it gave them reason to arm the guerrillas of the Islamic revolt.
April 28, 2020 @ 5:36 pm
Hi Siria, thanks for your comment! And I found the US aid for the mujahideen incredibly interesting. I find it so ironic that anywhere the USSR or the US had (and has) it’s hands, the other is not far behind.
April 28, 2020 @ 2:34 am
Hey Kendall, I really liked your post! It’s fascinating to me that so many countries decide to invade countries that cannot be truly taken over. The Soviet Union invading Afghanistan was their main example similar to the US with Vietnam.
April 28, 2020 @ 5:38 pm
Hey Michael! You’re definitely right about that; the similarities between the Vietnam and Afghanistan invasions are too prevalent to ignore. There definitely has to be a lot of confidence to invade for your own advancements, and in this case, the USSR was clearly a little too over-confident. Thanks for your comment!