War

Soviet-Afghan War

Contemporary

The Soviet-Afghan War was fought from December 1979 to February 1989 after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up its faltering communist client government against a growing insurgency of Islamist and nationalist Afghan mujahideen fighters. Soviet forces controlled major cities and lines of communication but struggled for a decade to suppress a rural guerrilla insurgency that operated across difficult mountainous terrain and drew extensive covert support, including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from 1986 onward, funneled through Pakistan by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other states opposed to Soviet expansion. The war became a prolonged and costly quagmire for the Soviet Union, inflicting tens of thousands of Soviet casualties and far greater Afghan losses, including millions of refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran. Mikhail Gorbachev ordered a full Soviet withdrawal, completed in February 1989, and the war's cost is widely cited among the contributing pressures on the Soviet Union's eventual collapse, while the power vacuum left in Afghanistan fed directly into the civil war and rise of the Taliban that followed.

Facts

Start Year

1979 1

End Year

1989 1

Combatants

Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan versus the Afghan mujahideen, backed by Pakistan, the United States and others 1

Outcome

Mujahideen victory; Soviet withdrawal by February 1989 and the fall of the PDPA government in 1992 1

Classification

Conflict Type

Insurgency or Counterinsurgency 1

Soviet-Afghan War

7 entries

Weapon Family

Weapon Type or Class

Introduced Era

Service Status

Operator

Manufacturer

Connections

Associated With

AK-74

The AK-74, chambered for a new small caliber round, was the Soviet infantry rifle of the Soviet-Afghan War

Dragunov Sniper Rifle

Soviet marksmen carried the Dragunov sniper rifle during the Soviet-Afghan War

Stinger Missile

US-supplied FIM-92 Stinger missiles given to the mujahideen from 1986 sharply reduced Soviet air superiority and are widely credited with turning the war

Source Wikipedia: Soviet-Afghan War

Stinger Missile

American supplied Stinger missiles, in the hands of Afghan mujahideen, took a heavy toll on Soviet aircraft during the Soviet-Afghan War

Uses

Type 56 Assault Rifle

Source Wikipedia: Type 56 assault rifle

Type 81 assault rifle

Source Wikipedia: Type 81 assault rifle

Zastava M72

Source Wikipedia: Zastava M72

ZSU-23-4 Shilka

Source ZSU-23-4 Shilka (Wikipedia)

Showing 51 to 54 of 54 in Uses, page 2 of 2.

In the Other Atlases

Same As

Soviet-Afghan War

Also in History Atlas: the same subject.

Source Wikipedia: Soviet-Afghan Wartier 4

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Soviet-Afghan War

Wikipedia

Lead section (start year)
the conflict resulted in the deaths of one to three million Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees
Lead section (end year)
the conflict resulted in the deaths of one to three million Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees
Lead section (combatants)
the conflict resulted in the deaths of one to three million Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees
Lead section (outcome)
the conflict resulted in the deaths of one to three million Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees
Lead text
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.
Infobox: date
25 December 1979 - 15 February 1989 ()

2K11 Krug

9K32 Strela-2

Blowpipe Missile

FIM-43 Redeye

FIM-92 Stinger

R-17 Elbrus

Stinger Missile

Associated With

Uses

Same As