The Soviet–Afghan War lasted over nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. The USSR waged a war of imperialism in Afghanistan to prop up a genocidal Communist dictatorship installed in 1978 which led to the deaths of 1.5 million Afghans. 1/3rd of the nation was made homeless and over 5 million more were made refugees. The Afghan resistance prevailed and prevented the Russian takeover of the country. Afghanistan is one of the most mined countries in the world. According to UNICEF, tens of thousands have been killed since 1989 by unexploded bombs and landmines. The Soviet invaded countries of Afghanistan, Cambodia and Angola are the top 3 most landmine infested countries in the world. After the end of the Soviet occupation, a civil war emerges between rival factions of the Mujihadeen, plunging the country further into chaos. With a country ripped the shreds, people looked to the Taliban to bring stability. Osama Bin Laden uses his status as a war hero to rally recruits for Al-Qaeda. A Taliban-Al-Qaeda alliance is formed with Afghanistan being the base for Osama Bin Laden's Sunni terrorist organization. Afghanistan the mid-1990s has become the center of terrorism. The 9/11 attacks led to the War on Terror and new period of war and unrest in Afghanistan. The significance of this war lies in the Russian occupation destabilized Afghanistan and created fertile breeding ground for Islamic extremists. ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are a result of the occupation. Prior to the arrival of Soviet troops, the pro-Soviet Nur Mohammad Taraki government took power in a 1978 coup and initiated a series of radical modernization reforms throughout the country. Vigorously suppressing any opposition from among the traditional Muslim Afghans, the government arrested thousands and executed as many as 27,000 political prisoners. By April 1979 large parts of the country were in open rebellion and by December the government had lost control of territory outside of the cities. In response to Afghan government requests, the Soviet government under leader Leonid Brezhnev first sent covert troops to advise and support the puppet Afghani government, but on December 24, 1979, began the first deployment of the 40th Army. Arriving in the capital Kabul, they staged a coup, killing the Afghan President, and installing a rival Afghan socialist (Babrak Karmal). In January 1980, foreign ministers from 34 nations of the Islamic Conference adopted a resolution demanding "the immediate, urgent and unconditional withdrawal of Soviet troops" from Afghanistan, while the UN General Assembly passed a resolution protesting the Soviet intervention by a vote of 104–18. Afghan insurgents began to receive massive amounts of aid, military training in neighboring Pakistan and China, paid for primarily by the United States and Arab monarchies in the Persian Gulf. Soviet troops occupied the cities and main arteries of communication, while the mujahideen waged guerrilla war in small groups operating in the almost 80 percent of the country that escaped government and Soviet control.[38] Soviets used their air power to deal harshly with both rebels and civilians, leveling villages to deny safe haven to the enemy, destroying vital irrigation ditches, and laying millions of land mines. By the mid-1980s the Soviet contingent was increased to 108,800 and fighting increased throughout the country, but the military and diplomatic cost of the war to the USSR was high.[9] By mid-1987 the Soviet Union, now under reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev, announced it would start withdrawing its forces. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989. There have also been numerous reports of chemical weapons being used by Soviet forces in Afghanistan, often indiscriminately against civilians.[97][161][162] A declassified CIA report from 1982 states that between 1979 and 1982 there were 43 separate chemical weapons attacks which caused more than 3000 deaths. By early 1980, attacks with chemical weapons were reported in "all areas with concentrated resistance activity". A great deal of damage was done to the civilian children population by land mines. A 2005 report estimated 3–4% of the Afghan population were disabled due to Soviet and government land mines. In the city of Quetta, a survey of refugee women and children taken shortly after the Soviet withdrawal found child mortality at 31%, and over 80% of the children refugees to be unregistered. Of children who survived, 67% were severely malnourished, with malnutrition increasing with age.

• published: 29 Jan 2016
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