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The Soviet-Afghan War

How a Superpower Fought and Lost

The Russian General Staff

Translated and edited by Lester W. Grau and Michael A. Gress

Foreword by Theodore C. Mataxis

February 2002
392 pages, 19 photographs, 32 maps, 6 x 9
Modern War Studies
Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-1186-7, $17.95

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General Staff Introduction 1

The Limited Contingent of Armed Forces of the Soviet Union entered the territory of Afghanistan in the last days of December 1979 "with the mission of rendering international aid to the friendly Afghan people and establishing advantageous conditions to prevent possible actions by the governments of neighboring countries against Afghanistan." Thus, with these extremely vague goals and limited military planning time, the Soviet peoples were cast into a bloody war that would last for nine years, one month, and eighteen days. The war took the lives or health of 55,000 Soviet citizens and did not result in the desired victory for the government.

At the same time, the unsatisfactory political and military-strategic results of the war should, in no way, reflect adversely on the quality of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces,2 especially in the area of operational art and tactics. During the course of the war, Soviet operational art and tactics developed under the particular conditions of Afghanistan-the physical geography, the local economy, the peoples, the history, and the internal and foreign affairs of the last decade.3

Afghanistan is a Middle Eastern state located in the southwest region of Central Asia. Its territory covers 655,000 square kilometers [252,830 square miles], or an area roughly equal to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark combined. Its 5,421-kilometer [3,366-mile] border shared 2,348 kilometers [1,458 miles] with the Soviet Union, 820 kilometers [509 miles] with Iran, 2,180 kilometers [1,354 miles] with Pakistan, and 73 kilometers [45 miles] with China. Part of the Soviet-Afghan border was defined by the river channels of the Amu Darya4 and Panj rivers. The Iran-Afghan border runs through plains, hilly country, and desert. Most of the Pakistan-Afghan border and the China-Afghan border run through mountain massifs. Afghanistan is land-locked, and the shortest distance between its southern border and the Indian Ocean is approximately 500 kilometers [311 miles].

Looking at the geophysical features of Afghanistan, it is a subtropical mountain-desert country located on the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau. It is a vast dry desert that extends from the numerous plateaus of the Near and Middle East (Map 1). About 85 percent of the territory is covered with mountains. They run through the middle of the country and sharply divide the country into two border regions-a northern and a southern. Between these lay interior plateaus and vast deserts.

The Paropamisus and Hindu Kush mountain chains define northern Afghanistan. These chains extend some 1,200 kilometers [745 miles] from the then-Soviet border to Iran along the Paropamisus plateau. The width of this mountain massif stretches from 300 to 500 kilometers [186 to 311 miles]. Mountain ranges crest from 2,000 to 7,750 meters [6,562 to 24,428 feet]. Conventional combat is not possible in this region.

The nearly impassable Suleiman mountain range stretches some 700 kilometers [435 miles] along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. This mountain range is 250 to 400 kilometers [155 to 248 miles] in width and the mountain peaks extend from 2,000 to 3,500 meters [6,562 to 11,484 feet] in height. These mountains run parallel to each other at several places, creating separate narrow dry canyons. Primary ground traffic with Pakistan and India move along these canyons. Small military units can operate in these canyons.

The Gazni-Kandahar plateau, about 20 percent of Afghanistan, lies between the Hindu Kush and the Suleiman mountain ranges.

In the north, the Paropamisus mountains [Safid Kuh] join the Bactrian plain that extends to the Karakum desert. The Bactrian plain is a sand-covered belt dotted with many oases and cut up by a dense grid of irrigation canals.

The western plain follows the Afghan-Iranian border from the Harirud river to the Farahrud river. This plain is 500 to 1,200 meters [1,641 to 3,937 feet] above sea level.

The zones of sandy desert are the Khash, Deshti-Margo, and Registan, which extend from the west to east some 540 kilometers [335 miles] and north to south some 580 kilometers [360 miles]. This area allows limited deployment of forces.

 

The country has a poorly developed highway network. There are only some 19,000 kilometers [11,800 miles] of road, or some three kilometers of road per 100 square kilometers [4.8 miles per 100 square miles]. The primary road network is a rough circle connecting Kabul, Puli Khumri, Mazar-e Sharif, Andkhoy, Herat, Kandahar, and Kabul again. It has an asphalt, concrete, or crushed rock surface. However, no more than 25 percent of Afghanistan's roads are paved and the rest are dirt. The carrying capacity of the paved road network is 6,000 to 8,000 vehicles every twenty-four hours while the carrying capacity of the dirt road network is two to three times less. The majority of the road network is difficult to travel due to the varying width of the road (three to ten meters) [10 to 33 feet]; the large number of bridges, tunnels, and high-mountain sections; and the virtually impassable condition of the roads during winter.

The river network is spread very irregularly across Afghanistan. There are many rivers in the mountains, but the few rivers on the plains are widely separated. Most of the mountain rivers originate high in the mountains and have a current of three to five meters per second [10 to 16 feet per second]. The depth of these rivers varies by season and day. They carry the most water during the March to April spring flood and during the July to August snow melt.

The Amu Darya is the mightiest river in the northern part of the country. It has a width of 120 to 1,500 meters [131 to 1,641 yards], a depth of two to ten meters [6.5 to 33 feet], and a current of two meters per second [6.5 feet per second]. Another northern river, the Harirud, forms 96 kilometers [60 miles] of the border with Iran.

The Helmand river is the mightiest river in the southwest of the country. It stretches 1,150 kilometers [714 miles], has a width of 90 to 350 meters [98 to 383 yards], and a depth of one to two meters [three to six-and-a-half feet]. The speed of the current is one to two meters per second [three to six-and-a-half feet per second].

The Kabul river flows in the eastern part of the country and is joined by the large Kunar river. In the area around Jalalabad, the Kabul river spreads to a width of 200 meters [219 yards] and has a depth of five to seven meters [16 to 23 feet].

All the rivers of Afghanistan, with the exception of the Amu Darya, can be forded during part of the year, but during high water, they are serious obstacles.

 

Ground cover in Afghanistan, although not abundant, is sufficiently varied. Less than 5 percent of the land is forested. At elevations of 1,500 to 1,800 meters, drought-resistant plants such as loco weed and camel thorn thrive. Sagebrush, Russian thistle, and saxaul grow in the desert. In the eastern border regions with Pakistan, there is a moderate area of Himalayan-type forest. Here, an evergreen oak grows up to elevations of 2,500 meters. Pine, fir, and cedar grow up to elevations of 3,300 meters. Elfin woods and alpine meadows are located higher up.

The climate of the country is subtropical to sharply continental, due to the dryness coupled with the fluctuating daily and seasonal air temperature. July is the hottest month in most of the country, when the average monthly temperature ranges from 30° to 52° Celsius [86° to 122° Fahrenheit]. The maximum summer temperature of exposed surfaces reaches 70° Celsius [158° Fahrenheit]. January is the coldest month, except in the mountains, where February is the coldest month. Then, the average monthly temperature ranges from -2° to -14° Celsius [28° to 7° Fahrenheit]. Snow cover in the valleys and plains is 10 to 15 centimeters [4 to 6 inches] and up to two meters (six and a half feet) in the mountains. Blizzards can last for several days.

Strong winds prevail in the mountain valleys, particularly within the mountainous section of the Termez-Kabul road, where winds reach 50 meters per second [112 miles per hour]. Heavy wind squalls often sweep mountain tops and mountain passes.
The conduct of classic military operations and combat, using the existing regulations and manuals of the Soviet Armed Forces, was practically impossible in light of the extremely difficult physical and geographic conditions.

The economic infrastructure and limited extent of development of the theater also prevented the conduct of large-scale, intensive military actions in the country. Industrialization of the country was just beginning, with some 200 to 300 plants and factories that produced less than was necessary for the normal functioning of the country. The annual production of electric energy fluctuated between .8 and 1.1 billion kilowatt hours, while gas production fluctuated between 2.5 and 3 billion cubic meters [88 to 106 billion cubic feet]. Annual coal production was between .15 and 2 million tons. Steel production was from .9 to 1.1 billion tons, and cement production was from .1 to .2 million tons.

There was no military industry in the country. During the war, the government built military maintenance and repair facilities, including an automobile repair plant and repair shops for armored vehicles, wheeled vehicles, artillery, and small arms.5 However, the output from these facilities was decidedly inadequate and unable to support the combat readiness requirements for armaments and military equipment.

 

Over 85 percent of the population of Afghanistan was involved in agriculture. This included farming and animal herding by nomads and semi-nomads. Farming took place along river valleys and by oases. There, they raised wheat, corn, barley, rice, lentils, peas, beans, cotton, sugar beets, and other crops. Edible crops are grown across the Bactrian plain, while cotton is grown in the north of the country. Sheep raising is the most developed and widely spread form of livestock production. The number of animals is strictly limited by the available forage and the very limited number of veterinarians. Horses and large-horned cattle are raised in the northern region of the country. Camels are raised in the south on the plains and flat lands. During a good harvest year in peacetime, Afghanistan's agriculture was only capable of providing the minimum necessary food and resources for the local economy. In wartime, however, Afghanistan was unable to provide the necessary materials to support armed forces. Generally speaking, Afghanistan's economy, which was geared primarily for export, was not able to support military actions by a large contingent of forces committed into Afghanistan for operations and combat.

Afghanistan's population is about 17 million people. The average population density is some 25 people per square kilometer [65 people per square mile]. The population density increases around the cities of Kabul and Herat, where it is 300 and 150 people per square kilometer, respectively [777 and 387 people per square mile, respectively]. On the other hand, in the southern deserts and the central and northeast mountain areas, there are practically no people at all.6

Afghanistan has over 20 nationalities belonging to various language groups. The Pushtun are the largest group, consisting of approximately nine million people. The Tadjiks have over four million people, the Uzbeks about one and a half million people, the Hazara about 1,400,000 people, and the Turkmens about 1,100,000 people.7 About 85 percent of the population are peasants. No more than 600,000 people work in industry. Spiritual leaders constitute a large group of the social strata. The majority of the population is settled; however, some three million people are nomads. The educational level of the country is very low, with some 80 percent illiterate. The overwhelming part of the population are Muslim, with 90 percent of these Sunni and 10 percent Shia.

 

The history of Afghanistan is one of resistance to various conquerors, armed bands, and coups d'etat. It is interesting that Alexander the Great, while conducting his conquest toward the east, took five years to break the resistance of the Pushtun tribes.8 Ten centuries later, Arab conquerors met the desperate resistance of the Afghan tribes. Six times they launched an offensive against Kabul and the area of the central plateau. Each time, they were forced to withdraw, having suffered heavy casualties.

Ahmad Shah Durrani founded the first, central, independent government on the territory of contemporary Afghanistan in 1747. Ahmad Shah expanded his government and the boundaries of his realm into the Durrani Empire by conquering the Punjab, Kashmir, Sind, Sirhind, Baluchistan, Khurasan, Balkh, and several other regions bordering on the southern bank of the Amu Darya. The khans of the Abdali tribe took the ruling positions in the newly formed government. The subordinate Afghan tribes retained their family/tribal structure. All internal questions of tribal life were settled at a jirgah--a council of tribal members. The majority of the tribes were exempt from paying taxes because they furnished soldiers to the Shah. These military levies led to the increased militarization of the tribes. The khans of the tribes used this militarization in their attempts to break away from the central power. This was the primary reason for all the rebellions and mutinies that marked the history of Afghanistan from the end of the eighteenth century to the start of the nineteenth century. As a result, the heirs of Ahmad Shah spent most of their gains, and in 1818, the Durrani Empire split up into four kingdoms: Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, and Peshawar.

In the 1830s, the Kabul Kingdom began expansion, but this was interrupted by the English invasion of 1838. The First Anglo-Afghan War, 1838 to 1842, began when an English corps entered southeast Afghanistan and, by 1839, occupied Kandahar, Gazni, and Kabul. However, the Afghans resented the foreign conquerors and began guerrilla warfare against the British. This led to a massive rebellion in Kabul in November 1841 that resulted in the destruction of the occupation army and the death of Shah Shuja, the British-supported figure head. The remaining English forces withdrew at the end of 1842.

Dost Mohammad was the leader of the unified forces of the Afghan government in their common armed conflict and victory over the aggressor. In 1855, he annexed Kandahar into the Kingdom of Kabul, and in 1863 he annexed Herat. His successor, Emir Sher Ali, who ruled from 1863 to 1879, continued the centralization of power by annexing Badakshah-the northern region of Afghanistan up to the southern bank of the Amu Darya. Sher Ali strengthened the central power of the government and significantly increased the strength of the army, which showed a determined resistance to the second British invasion of 1878 to 1880.

As before, a British occupation corps (over 36,000 strong) invaded Afghanistan and seized Kandahar in January 1879. The British did this to force Emir Yaqub Khan to sign the Gandamak agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Afghanistan subordinated itself to the British government and ceded the regions of Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi to the British.9 These conditions were unacceptable to the government in Kabul [the king] and the people of Afghanistan. The treaty elicited a powerful popular insurrection against the British that began in September of 1879. On 27 July 1880, Afghan forces annihilated a British Brigade at Maiwand, near the city of Kandahar. Simultaneously, the British garrison in Kabul was caught in the grip of a siege by some 100,000 Afghan rebels.10 England was forced to abandon her plans for the conquest of Afghanistan and withdraw her forces from the country. However, London managed to exploit a change of government and signed an agreement with the new Emir, Abdur Rahman, on 12 November 1893. This agreement left Britain in control of Afghanistan's foreign affairs. More importantly, the agreement set Afghanistan's eastern boundary-a boundary that exists today.11

Toward the close of the nineteenth century and in the early part of the twentieth century, Afghanistan established a relatively centralized government with a standing regular army and defined economic and political relations with neighboring countries, including Russia. Afghanistan remained neutral during World War I (1914 to 1918), despite the efforts of the German and Austrian missions, sent to Kabul in 1915 and 1916, to bring Afghanistan into the war on their side.

In February 1919, Emir Amanullah Khan decided to take advantage of the results of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the civil war in Russia. He declared Afghanistan's independence on 28 February. This served as the cause for the Third Anglo-Afghan War (3 May to 3 July 1919) in which the 340,000-man British Army met the 40,000 Afghan Army.12 At first, the British forces prevailed in the Battle for the Khyber Pass. On a different axis, through Waziristan, advancing Afghan forces were checked at the Thal fortress on 27 May. Simultaneously, the Pushtun tribes along the border rose in revolt. This uprising reinforced the independence movement in India. These uprisings forced London to seek a truce, which they signed in Rawalpindi on 8 August 1919. Preliminary peace talks continued, and the final peace treaty between Great Britain and Afghanistan was signed in November 1921.

The victory of the Afghan people in this war and the Red Army's destruction of British interventionists in the Caspian Sea region led to a significant [international] step as the fledgling Russian Soviet Republic recognized the sovereignty of Afghanistan on 27 March 1919. On 28 February 1921, the Soviet-Afghan Treaty of Friendship was signed in Kabul. This was the first treaty that Afghanistan had signed with a great power as an equal. On 24 June 1931, Afghanistan and the USSR concluded an agreement on neutrality and mutual nonaggression. The term of the treaty was for ten years and was renewable. It was renewed four times, the last time being in December 1975.

The progressive reform of Afghanistan continued from 1919 through 1928. In 1923, the government proclaimed the state's first constitution. This constitution was not supported by the tribal leaders, clergy, and peasants. This led to an uprising against the government at the end of 1928 and a military coup in October 1929. General Mohammad Nadir Shah, the former Minister of War, was crowned king and established a new ruling dynasty.13 His new constitution of 1931 reinforced and supported the participation of the tribal aristocracy in government.

 

On 7 September 1939, after the beginning of the Second World War (1939 to 1945), the Afghan government announced its neutrality and maintained this stance throughout the war. At the same time, the economic situation in the country became progressively worse. This led to the growth of an antigovernment mood, especially among the young and the embryonic national bourgeoisie, which in turn led to the founding of various opposition parties and groups. This led to a series of regime plots, government negotiations, and the resulting plunge into the abyss of civil war.14

In the mid 1960s, the progressive [communist] part of the officer corps of the Armed Forces of Afghanistan clandestinely formed the Army Revolutionary Organization with the goal of overthrowing the monarchy. In July 1973, the army launched a coup d'etat that overthrew the monarchy and established a republic. Mohammad Daoud headed the new government, but he was unable to bring stability to the country. This led to conspiracies by former high-placed officials, generals, and officers. Their attempts failed and the organizers were executed. The country and army were buried in an avalanche of persecution and repression.15

In January 1965, the illegal Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was founded. It was headed by Nur Mohammad Taraki, and one of the members of the central committee was Babrak Karmal. From the very first day, there were serious differences between these two leaders that led to Karmal's expulsion from the central committee. His place was taken by Hafizullah Amin. As a result, the party was split into two factions, both of which fought independently for their goals. However, Daoud's opposition politics against both factions of the PDPA and also the repression of PDPA members quickly led the factions to bury their differences and reunite to fight the regime. On 27 April 1978, the PDPA seized control of the country. The prime minister and head of state was N. M. Taraki; his vice president was B. Karmal.

The reforms that Taraki undertook were not supported by members of the government, the army, or the people.16 Waves of unrest rocked the new administration and brought new leaders to the surface; one of the more active was Hafizullah Amin. On 14 October 1979, there was a coup d'etat and a usurpation of power. N. M. Taraki was brutally murdered by Amin's supporters. A new wave of repression poured over the army and country. However, this did not guarantee the viability of the new regime, which was secretly opposed within the government and openly opposed by armed opposition groups. Moreover, this armed opposition began to grow in strength and spread throughout the country.

Originally, the Islamic fundamentalist movement provided the foundation for the armed opposition. The Islamic fundamentalist movement arose in the mid-1960s and promoted the rebirth of Islam, based on its original principles and cleansed of its later developments. 17 In 1968, supporters of the fundamentalists joined together in the Union of Muslim Youth. This union's mission was to combat any member of the country's ruling clique who pandered to the modernization of Islam or the penetration of the country with communist ideas. The union established their program and became a permanent resistance in irreconcilable opposition to all the successive regimes that ruled Afghanistan for short or long periods of time.

In June of 1975, the fundamentalists attempted to overthrow the regime of M. Daoud. They started the insurgent movement in the Panjshir valley, some 100 kilometers north of Kabul, and in a number of other provinces of the country. However, the government forces easily smashed the insurgency, and a sizable portion of the insurgents left the country and settled in Pakistan, where they had complete freedom of action. In May 1978, the insurgents founded their first base in Pakistan to train armed bands for combat in Afghanistan. Afterwards, similar centers were founded in Iran and also in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The primary source of manpower for these armed bands was the many Afghan refugees who, by the fall of 1979, numbered several hundred thousand.18

Ethnic minorities also provided strong armed resistance groups that wanted to seize some power and control from the majority Pashtun. Through the efforts of the fundamentalist and ethnic groups, armed insurrection flared in Nuristan in October 1978 and then in Herat in March 1979. In April and May of 1979, the rebellion spread to Baglan, Oruzgan, Farah, Badghis, Ghowr, Logar, and so on throughout the provinces of Afghanistan. "Free Nuristan" was proclaimed in the spring of 1979, and by August "Independent Islamic Hazarajat" with its 3,000-strong "Union of Islamic Warriors" sprang into being. The armed insurrection against the central power and various nationalities began, and, as a result, many regions of the country came under the complete control of the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen established "Islamic Committees" backed by their armed might to rule these areas. Reinforced resistance groups went on the offensive and advanced on the cities of Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Khost. In the summer and fall, powerful unrest shook the cities of Ghazni, Gardez, Asmar, and others. In June through August, the Mujahideen repeatedly made attempts to seize Kabul, its environs, and the capital airport.19 Civil war raged throughout the country in 1978 and 1979. Neither of the opposing sides could attain a quick victory over the other without significant help from the outside. Under these circumstances, the ruling circles in Kabul looked to the Soviet Union for help.

 

Soviet-Afghan military cooperation has a long history. As far back as 1919, the Soviet government gave Afghanistan gratuitous aid in the form of a million gold rubles, small arms, ammunition, and a few aircraft to support the Afghan resistance to the British conquerors.20 In 1924, the USSR again gave military aid to Afghanistan. They gave them small arms and aircraft and conducted training in Tashkent for cadre officers from the Afghan Army. Soviet-Afghan military cooperation began on a regular basis in 1956, when both countries signed another agreement. The Soviet Minister of Defense was now responsible for training national military cadres. In 1972, up to 100 Soviet consultants and technical specialists were sent on detached duty to Afghanistan to train the Afghan armed forces. In May 1978, the governments signed another international agreement, sending up to 400 Soviet military advisers to Afghanistan.21

The DRA and Moscow signed a Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness, and Cooperation in Moscow in December 1978. The treaty allowed the government of Afghanistan to request that the government of the Soviet Union send forces into Afghanistan and provided the legal basis for such an action. The government of N. M. Taraki repeatedly requested the introduction of Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 1979. He requested Soviet troops to provide his security and to increase the effectiveness of the fight against the Mujahideen. On 14 April the Afghan government requested that the USSR send 15 to 20 helicopters with their crews to Afghanistan, and on 16 June the Soviet government responded and sent a detachment of tanks, BMPs, and crews to guard the government of Afghanistan in Kabul and to secure the Bagram and Shindand airfields.

In response to this request, an airborne battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel A. Lomakin, arrived at the Bagram airfield on 7 July. They arrived without their combat gear disguised as technical specialists. They were the personal bodyguard for Taraki. The paratroopers were directly subordinated to the senior Soviet military adviser and did not interfere in Afghan politics.22

After a month, the DRA requests were no longer for individual crews and subunits, but were for regiments and larger units. On 19 July, the Afghan government requested that two motorized rifle divisions be sent to Afghanistan. The following day, they requested an airborne division in addition to the earlier requests. They repeated these requests and variants to these requests over the following months right up to December 1979. However, the Soviet government was in no hurry to grant these requests.

In the first days of December, the Soviet Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union D. F. Ustinov, informed a very small group of necessary personnel in the Ministry of Defense of the possibility that the political leadership of the country might decide to send Soviet Forces into Afghanistan. On the 10th of December, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union received orders to prepare to conduct a parachute landing with an airborne division and to increase the combat readiness of two motorized rifle divisions. This was the beginning of the establishment of the group of forces that would become the 40th Army. General-Lieutenant Yu. V. Tukharinov was designated to command it.23 The Kremlin made the final decision to commit Soviet forces to Afghanistan on 12 December 1979.

On 13 October, an operational group was formed in the Ministry of Defense. It was headed by the first deputy to the chief of the General Staff, General of the Army S. F. Akhromeyev.24 Its function was to coordinate the activities of the representatives of all the Soviet departments, forces of the 40th Army, and Soviet apparat should major forces be committed to Afghanistan. The operations group left immediately for Afghanistan.

 

On 13 December, Colonel-General Yu. P. Maksimov, the Commander of the Turkestan Military District, approved the plan for the introduction of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces (LCOSF) into Afghanistan and sent it to the Commander of the 40th Army, General-Lieutenant Yu. V. Tukharinov. At the same time, officers from the general staff and Turkestan Military District formed a skeleton command and staff element for the embryonic 40th Army. Members of the Military Council included the Chief of Political Affairs, General-Major A. V. Toskaev; Chief of Staff, General-Major L. N. Lobanov; and Chief of Intelligence, General-Major A. A. Korchagin. Not wasting any time, they began intensive preparations for the impending intervention. The preparations were practically open as the force depended on the mobilization of assigned reservists. On the training areas, there was an uninterrupted movement of assigned combat subunits, while in the area around Termez, troops prepared to cross the Amu Darya river.

A general directive for total mobilization and an increase in readiness was not issued. The forces were brought up to readiness by separate orders after the receipt of appropriate oral orders from the Minister of Defense of the USSR. In all, about 100 large units, units, and institutions were brought up to full TO&E manning. Over 50,000 officers, sergeants, and soldiers were mobilized from the reserve. Divisions and regiments were filled out first, and then the combat service support and repair units and other support units of the 40th Army were filled out. Some of these support units were already moving with the intervention force before they were completely filled. This was the largest mobilization in the Turkestan and Central Asian Military Districts since the Great Patriotic War.25 The Minister of Defense set the time to cross the international border at 1500 hours Moscow time (1630 hours Kabul time) on 25 December.

Everything was ready at the appointed time. The day before, the First Deputy to the Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union S. D. Sokolov, arrived from Moscow and moved into the command post of the 40th Army. Colonel-General Yu. P. Maksimov, the commander of the Turkestan Military District, was also there. The crossing of the Amu Darya river began in the evening twilight. A BMP-mounted motorized rifle battalion (MRB), serving as the advanced guard for its parent motorized rifle regiment (MRR), began to cross the pontoon bridge. The motorized rifle division26 (MRD) to which the MRR belonged had built the bridge practically on the move. The battalion moved deeper into Afghanistan. Behind it, the main body of the division followed all night long.

At 1900 hours on 26 December, the division was issued new, unexpected orders-change the direction of march and move to Kabul to arrive by 1700 hours on the following day.27 At that time, the main body of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division had landed at Kabul airfield and an airborne regiment had landed at Bagram airfield. The airborne division was commanded by Colonel I. F. Ryabchenko. The Soviet forces and advisers already in country reinforced the security of important administrative centers, airfields, and radio and television stations. At 1930 hours, the 103rd Guards Airborne Division, commanded by Colonel Ryabchenko, seized all the key political and military installations in Kabul and the surrounding area. This denied entry of Amin supporters to the capital. On the night of 27 December, a Soviet Motorized Rifle Division28 crossed into western Afghanistan. By 28 December, its regiments had taken control of the city of Herat.

 

By mid-January 1980, the main body of the 40th Army was located in Afghanistan. The 40th Army consisted of two motorized rifle divisions, an airborne division, an air assault brigade, and two separate motorized rifle regiments. Within the first six months of 1980, the 40th Army was reinforced with another motorized rifle division and two separate regiments.29 At that time, the overall number of Soviet forces reached 81,800 personnel, of which 61,800 were in combat units of the ground forces and air force. After that, the size of the LCOSF continually grew. Thus, the war required a lot of men and materiel, not only to initially enter the war in Afghanistan, but also to support the essential changes that came with the revision of the theory and practice of preparing the commanders, staffs, and forces for this kind of war.

In light of the defining military-political missions and ongoing combat, the conduct of the Soviet-Afghan War can be divided into four phases.

 

Phase One (December 1979 to February 1980)

This phase began with the entry of Soviet forces into Afghanistan, their stationing in garrisons, and their final organization for securing bases and various installations. During this phase, the enemy deployed comparatively powerful forces against the Soviet forces. The Soviet forces did not avoid direct conflict with them. The Soviet forces, fighting alongside DRA forces, took the most difficult missions for themselves. The Afghan forces were poorly trained to conduct independent actions and played a secondary role in the fulfillment of operational and tactical missions.

 

Phase Two (March 1980 to April 1985)

Active combat characterizes this phase. Soviet forces undertook combat on a wide scale, mainly employing only Soviet forces, but also conducting joint actions with regiments and divisions of the DRA. By the start of this phase, the enemy, having suffered heavy losses, was switching to guerrilla tactics and moving into the mountains. Principally, these tactics consisted of avoiding combat with superior Soviet forces; conducting surprise action against small groups; and refusing to fight conventional, positional warfare while conducting widespread maneuver using autonomous groups and detachments. If the Mujahideen were unable to avoid combat, they reverted to close combat where it was difficult, if not impossible, to use air strikes and artillery fire against their dug-in firing positions. Under these circumstances, the Soviet forces attempted to conduct "combat operations" with a clear superiority in forces and means.

 

Phase Three (April 1985 to January 1987)

During this phase, the Soviets conducted a two-step conversion from primary active combat to supporting Afghan forces with aviation, artillery, and engineer subunits. Soviet motorized rifle, airborne, and tank subunits mainly became the reserve to raise the morale and warrior spirit of the Afghan forces. Soviet Spetsnaz30 forces continued to operate to stop the supply of weapons and ammunition from across the border. During this phase, Soviet authorities withdrew six Soviet regiments into the Soviet Union.31

During the third phase of the war, the brunt of the fighting was transferred to the Afghan forces. Soviet forces withdrew from large-scale operations and primarily conducted small-sized ambushes based on intelligence reports. However, from time to time, Soviet forces conducted large-scale operations. Basic missions during this period were LOC security, security of key military and civil installations, and convoy escort.

 

Phase Four (January 1987 to February 1989)

This phase was marked by Soviet forces' participation in the Afghan government's program of national reconciliation. During this time, the Soviet forces conducted virtually no offensive actions and went into combat only when attacked by the Mujahideen or when supporting combat by Afghan forces. During this phase, the Soviet forces prepared for their total withdrawal.

The military-political missions assigned to the Soviet forces over the various phases of the war in Afghanistan were also among the important factors that impacted on the formation and development of this part of the military art. Other factors include the special conditions of the country during the 40th Army's stay, the 40th Army organization, the weapons and tactics of the enemy, and the combat capabilities of our own divisions, regiments, and subunits.

 

Editors' comments: The explanation of Afghan history is couched in Marxist-Leninist terms and reflects the thinking that drew Soviet forces into the Afghan civil war and kept them there. Thus, the Afghans had a "Marxist-Leninist revolution" (actually a coup d'etat) that had to be defended against "Chinese and Western intervention." The United States had lost its influence and listening posts in Iran with the downfall of the Shah. The Soviet leadership was convinced that the United States was trying to move into Afghanistan to make up for this loss. When Amin made some tentative moves for economic assistance from the United States, the Soviet leadership felt threatened and acted. Soviet Spetsnaz killed Amin and installed Babrak Karmal in power. This was a coup de main disguised as an invited intervention. The Soviet need to cast history in "scientific" Marxist-Leninist terms detracted from their ability to understand Afghanistan and to make rational foreign-relations decisions concerning their neighboring state.

The Soviet state had a long, close relationship with Afghanistan beginning shortly after the Bolshevik revolution. Soviet diplomats, economic advisers, military advisers, scholars, and engineers were continually resident in or visiting Afghanistan. Afghan students attended Soviet universities, military academies, and training courses. The Soviet Union had an unparalleled opportunity to study Afghanistan. What is amazing is how the need to see everything through Marxist-Leninist filters and the Soviet compartmentalization of information blurred the General Staff perception of the realities of Afghanistan. This perception continues to the present day.

Despite the Marxist-Leninist ideological slant and the over-arching political issues associated with the war, this General Staff study is remarkably free from discussion of the political issues that surrounded the war. International politics are given a light treatment, and the book concludes with a summary that includes the betrayal of the soldiers by their own political masters. For all of that, the book is a military study that is uncommonly clean of the political factor for a book written by officers heavily schooled in the Marxist-Leninist tradition.

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