24–27 Dec 1979 — As Soviet airborne divisions land in Kabul, Soviet special forces kill the Afghan president in his palace. The occupation that follows will last nine years and hollow out the Soviet state.
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Afghanistan’s communist party took power in 1978 without a Soviet invasion. Its leaders imposed land and literacy programs on a rural, religious society through coercion and executions, helping provoke a revolt that threatened their government. They asked Moscow for troops. Soviet leaders refused repeatedly: Kosygin warned that “we would be fighting the people.” Yet the prospect of losing the client, and concern after Iran’s revolution about Islamist influence reaching Soviet Central Asia, eventually outweighed those objections. In December 1979 Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.
Why it happened — Afghanistan: the trap of the client state. Kabul’s communists seized power in 1978 on their own, then imposed land and literacy reforms by force. Their policies helped ignite resistance in a…
The turn — Able Archer 83, 2–11 November 1983. From 2–11 November 1983, NATO practiced escalation in Able Archer 83, using procedures that included new codes and radio silence. Soviet…
What it changed — Afghanistan bleeds the metropole. Afghanistan consumed Soviet lives and resources. The official military death toll was about 15,000; some post-Soviet researchers suggest it may…
