Turtledove
Register
Advertisement
Soviet war in Afghanistan
Date 25 December 1979 – 15 February 1989
Location Afghanistan
Result Soviet withdrawal
Belligerents
Soviet Soviet Union
Afghanistan Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Mujahideen fighters, with support from the

The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving Soviet forces supporting Afghanistan's Marxist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) government against the Mujahideen insurgents that were fighting to overthrow Communist rule. The Soviet Union supported the government while the rebels found support from a variety of sources including the United States, Pakistan and other Muslim nations in the context of the Cold War.

The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on 25 December 1979. The final troop withdrawal began on 15 May 1988, and ended on 15 February 1989. Due to the high cost and ultimate futility of this conflict for this Cold War superpower, the Soviet war in Afghanistan has often been referred to as the equivalent of the United States' Vietnam War.

Soviet war in Afghanistan in "Black Tulip"[]

In one of the strangest battles of the Soviet war in Afghanistan (and the least publicized), a dragon, long asleep outside the town of Bulola was awakened by the fighting between Mujahideen fighters and Red Army troops. Angered, the dragon incinerated the entire Soviet garrison, and then returned to its slumber.

References[]

Advertisement