why did Russia invade Afganistan in the 1970s?

Answer 1

Opposition against, and conflict within, the series of communist governments that followed, was considerable. As part of a Cold War strategy, in 1979 the United States government under President Jimmy Carter and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski began to covertly fund and train anti-government Mujahideen forces through the Pakistani secret service agency known as Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), which were derived from discontented Muslims in the country who opposed the official atheism of the Marxist regime, in 1978. Brzezinski's recruiting efforts included enlisting Usama bin Laden to fight the Soviets. Bin Laden became a stinger missile expert in this war earning the nom de guerre "The Archer." In order to bolster the local Communist forces the Soviet Union - citing the 1978 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness that had been signed between the two countries in 1978 - intervened on December 24, 1979. The Soviet occupation resulted in a mass exodus of over 5 million Afghans who moved into refugee camps in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. More than 3 million alone settled in Pakistan. Faced with mounting international pressure and the loss of approximately 15,000 Soviet soldiers as a result of Mujahideen opposition forces trained by the United States, Pakistan, and other foreign governments, the Soviets withdrew ten years later, in 1989. For more details, see Soviet war in Afghanistan.


Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1988.
Photo by Mikhail EvstafievThe Soviet withdrawal was seen as an ideological victory in the U.S., which ostensibly had backed the Mujahideen through 3 bipartisan US Presidential Administrations in order to counter Soviet influence in the vicinity of the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Following the removal of the Soviet forces in 1989, the U.S. and its allies lost interest in Afghanistan and did little to help rebuild the war-ravaged country or influence events there. The USSR continued to support the regime of Dr. Najibullah (formerly the head of the secret service, Khad) until its downfall in 1992. However, the absence of the Soviet forces resulted in the downfall of the government as it steadily lost ground to the guerrilla forces.[2]

As the vast majority of the elites and intellectuals had either been systematically eliminated by the Communists, or escaped to take refuge abroad, a dangerous leadership vacuum came into existence. Fighting continued among the various Mujahideen factions, eventually giving rise to a state of warlordism. The chaos and corruption that dominated post-Soviet Afghanistan in turn spawned the rise of the Taliban (mainly pashtun tribe of afghanistan) in response to the growing chaos. The most serious fighting during this growing civil conflict occurred in 1994, when 10,000 people were killed during factional fighting in Kabul.

Exploiting the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, a few regional bedfellows, including fundamentalist Afghans trained in refugee camps in western Pakistan, the Pakistani ISI, the regional Mafia (well-established network that smuggled mainly Japanese electronics and tires before the Russian invasion, now involved in drug smuggling) and Arab extremist

Answer 2

They may be asking themselves the same question, an enormous mistake. The Brits. were there and decided it was a mistake. The French were there and found it to be a mistake. I won't comment on our presence, Afganistan is Afganistan!!! Michener wrote a book [fiction] about his travels around Afganistan titled CARAVAN only about 340 pages, in the back of the book he predicted if Afganistan didn't solve their problems the Russians would, it was written in 1953. From what i have heard about Afganistan; they give new meaning to the old saying "The more things change, the more they stay the same"

Answer 3

October 1979 relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union soured somewhat as Amin dismissed Soviet advice on stabilizing his government. Islamic guerrillas in the mountainous countryside harassed the Afghan army to the point where the government of President Hafizullah Amin turned to the Soviet Union for increased amounts of aid.

With Afghanistan in a dire situation during which the country was under assault by an externally supported rebellion, the Soviet Union deployed the 40th Army in response to previous requests from the government of Afghanistan. The 40th Army consisted of two motorized rifle divisions, an airborne division, an assault brigade, and two separate motorized rifle regiments.

Answer 4

Russia installed a puppet regime and when the Afghans revolted,russian troops went to quiet them down, russia suffer many casualties and finally russia gave up,that was russia's viet nam

Answer 5

if you were a student of history you would know the the Soviet Union wanted to take over the world.

Answer 6

Just to extend its borders

Answer 7

because they were communists.
btw, it wasn't russia it was the Soviet Union

Answer 8

They probably cut off their opium supply.

Answer 9

b/c they wanted to take the whole world

Answer 10

They were tired of their BS, same as the US.