Invasion+of+Afghanistan+(1979)

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Background

1979 USSR took control of the capital Kabul, and tried through the following decade to gain control over the whole country and its people

Afghanistan. The land is mountainous and arid. Jagged, impassable ranges divide the country and make travel difficult

the people are extremely provincial, with more loyalty to their specific clan or ethnic group than to a government or a country. The people are Muslims, and extremely religious and conservative. The majority ethnic group is the Pashtun, but there are over ten minority groups.

1950s, the USSR began giving aid to Afghanistan. The Soviets built roads, irrigation and even some oil pipelines 1970s, a Communist party overthrew the monarchy and tried to institute social reforms

The rural populations saw land distribution and women's rights as alien to their traditional Islamic culture, a culture in which polygamy, covering of women, and blood for blood practices are accepted. The Communist governments in Kabul in the 1970s lacked the popular support of the rural population.

The Invasion

The Soviets sent troops into Afghanistan in 1979 for a number of reasons. -expand their influence in Asia -preserve the Communist government -met with fierce resistance when they ventured out of their strongholds into the countryside -Resistance fighters, called mujahidin -The US gave them weapons and money. The mujahidin employed guerrilla tactics against the Soviets -The fighters used whatever weapons they could take from the Soviets or were given by the US. Decentralized and scattered around Afghanistan, the mujahidin were like a poisonous snake without a head that could be cut off. There was no one strong central stronghold from which resistance operated.

Short-Term Effects / World Response

The Soviet invasion had a devastating effect on the Afghan people

Soviet bombing destroyed entire villages, crops and irrigation, leaving millions of people dead, homeless or starving

Land mines maimed unsuspecting Afghans

The Soviet invasion in Afghanistan elicited a strong reaction from all over the world. The United States condemned the occupation immediately.

We sent hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guns and food to Afghanistan to aid the mujahidin and the refugees. . One of these benefactors of the war was Osama bin Laden. Although the primary reason for the Soviet withdrawal was their military failure, diplomatic pressure from around the world may have hastened it.

Soviet Withdrawal / Reprecussions -In 1989, Soviet forces pulled out of Afghanistan. -Fifteen thousand Soviet soldiers and countless Afghans had been killed in the decade-long war. - unable to defeat the mujahidin and pressed by world opinion to leave Afghanistan, Soviet leader Gorbachev decided that the USSR had to get out. -These missiles, the mujahidin shot down Soviet planes and helicopters every day, increasing the monetary and human cost of the war, and making Soviet strike tactics ineffective. -Demoralized and with no victory in sight, the USSR's forces left Afghanistan. -The war had far-reaching effects on Afghanistan, the Soviets, and the US. Several million Afghans had either fled to neighboring Pakistan for refuge or had become internal refugees. -millions had died from starvation or from the Soviet bombings and raids. -Among the survivors were a generation that had known only war, hatred, and fear. Homes, animals, and precious irrigation systems were destroyed, leaving the country barren and in ruin. -Also, thousands of miniature land mines dropped by the Soviet planes continued to pose a hazard to the Afghan people long after the war with the USSR ended. - This fall from invincibility and vast expendature of money to finance the invasion in part caused the USSR to fall apart in the early 1990s. -One long-term effect of the Soviet invasion and pull-out was the establishment of a weak state full of religious hatred and hatred of richer nations: a breeding ground for terrorism. -Though supplying the Afghan resistance with American guns and anti-aircraft missiles seemed like a good idea for the US in the 1980s, and was the reason for the Soviets’ defeat, now as the US invades, they are met with their own guns. -The significance of the sophisticated guns has yet to be determined. -In light of the US involvement today in Afghanistan after the September 11th terrorist attacks, it is especially important to understand the history of the Soviet's involvement there so we can avoid making the same mistakes.

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http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002-p4/baker_p4_12-01_mj_sz/index.htm

http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002-p4/baker_p4_12-01_mj_sz/index.htm