The Soviet Afghan war is cited by scholars as a significant factor contributing to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991

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Soviet–Afghan War

Contents

• (Top)
• Naming
• Background
• Soviet deployment, 1979
• Soviet invasion and palace coup
• Soviet occupation, 1980–1985
• Soviet exit and change of Afghan leadership, 1985–1989
• Fall of Najibullah government, 1992
• Aerial engagements
• War crimes
• Foreign involvement
• Spillover
• Impact
• Aftermath
• Media and popular culture
• Perception in Afghanistan
• Perception in the former Soviet Union
• Notes
• References
• Bibliography
• Further reading
• External links

Soviet–Afghan War

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other conflicts involving the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, see Soviet–Afghan War (disambiguation).

Soviet–Afghan War
Part of Afghan conflict and the Cold War in Asia
Mujahideen fighters in Kunar Province, 1987
Date 25 December 1979 – 15 February 1989 (9 years, 1 month and 3 weeks) Location Afghanistan Result Afghan mujahideen victory[1]
Belligerents
Soviet Union  Afghanistan	Afghan mujahideen
Commanders and leaders
Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev # Yuri Andropov # Konstantin Chernenko # Mikhail Gorbachev Dmitry Ustinov Sergey Sokolov Dmitry Yazov Nikolai Ogarkov Sergey Akhromeyev Afghanistan Hafizullah Amin X Babrak Karmal Mohammad Najibullah Abdul Qadir Nazar Mohammad Mohammed Rafie Shahnawaz Tanai	Sunni Mujahideen Ahmad Shah Massoud Burhanuddin Rabbani Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Mulavi Younas Khalis Jalaluddin Haqqani Sibghatullah Mojaddedi Shia Mujahideen Muhammad Asif Muhsini Other Faiz Ahmad Mulavi Dawood Abdul Karim Brahui
Units involved
Soviet Armed Forces OKSVA Spetsnaz VDV KGB Afghan Armed Forces Afghan Army Afghan Commando Forces KhAD Afghan Air Force Paramilitaries	Sunni Mujahideen factions Shia Mujahideen factions Maoist factions Other factions Pakistani units
Strength
Soviet Union: 620,000 total personnel[12] 115,000 (1986 estimate)[13] 120,000 (1987 estimate)[14] Afghanistan: 250,000 total personnel (1989, including Sarandoy and Khad)[15]	Mujahideen: 200,000–250,000 fighters[16][17]
Casualties and losses
Total: 658,402–669,949 Soviet Union: 14,453[18]–26,000[19] 9,511 killed in combat[18] 2,386 died from wounds[18] 2,556 died from disease and accidents[18] 53,753 wounded[18] 264 missing 415,932 hospitalized due to disease[18] 451 aircraft lost (including 333 helicopters) 147 tanks lost 1,314 IFVs/APCs lost 433 artillery guns and mortars lost 11,369 cargo and fuel tanker trucks lost Afghanistan: 58,000+ killed (1980–1989)[20] 116,000+ wounded (1980–1989)[20] Total killed: 72,453–73,052+	Total: 162,579–192,579+ Mujahideen: 150,000–180,000 casualties (tentative estimate)[21] 75,000–90,000 killed[22] Pakistan: 5,775 killed[23] 6,804 wounded[23] 1 F-16 fighter aircraft lost (lost to friendly fire, according to Pakistan) (shot down, according to Afghan authorities)[24][25] Iran: 2 Super cobras shot down[26] Total killed: 80,775–95,775+
Civilian casualties (Afghan): 1) 562,000[27] 2) 1,000,000 dead[28] 3) 1,500,000 dead[29] 4) 2,000,000 dead[30] Total deaths: Approximately 1–3 million killed[31] 3,000,000 wounded[32] 5,000,000 externally displaced 2,000,000 internally displaced

v t e Soviet–Afghan War

v t e Afghan conflict

The Soviet–Afghan War took place in Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 47-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Communist-led Afghan military fight against the rebelling Afghan mujahideen, aided by Pakistan. While backed by various countries and organizations, the majority of the mujahideen's support came from Pakistan, the United States (as part of Operation Cyclone), the United Kingdom, China, Iran, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, in addition to a large influx of foreign fighters known as the Afghan Arabs. American and British involvement on the side of the mujahideen escalated the Cold War, ending a short period of relaxed Soviet Union–United States relations.

Combat took place throughout the 1980s, mostly in the Afghan countryside, as most of the country's cities remained under Soviet control. The conflict resulted in the deaths of one to three million Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees; most externally displaced Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan and in Iran. Between 6.5 and 11.5%^[33] of Afghanistan's population of 13.5 million people (per the 1979 census) is estimated to have been killed over the course of the Soviet–Afghan War. The decade-long confrontation between the mujahideen and the Soviet and Afghan militaries inflicted grave destruction throughout Afghanistan, and has been cited by scholars as a significant factor contributing to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991; it is for this reason that the conflict is sometimes referred to as "the Soviet Union's Vietnam"