In 1979, the leadership of the USSR, in order to stop the development of civil war in neighboring Afghanistan, sent a limited contingent of troops there. This caused a violent reaction in the West: in particular, as a sign of protest, the United States and some other countries announced a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, which took place in 1980. The Soviet side lost about 15,000 soldiers in this war. To what extent was the entry of Soviet troops justified?
Background to the conflict
Before the introduction of its military forces, the Soviet side maintained friendly relations with Afghanistan. And the internal disorder that began on Afghan territory alarmed the country's political leadership. Conflicts with the Islamic opposition gradually escalated into civil war. Did the current situation affect the interests of the USSR? But Soviet politicians acted very carefully. The Afghan leadership repeatedly asked for help, but the Soviet side was in no hurry to intervene in the internal conflict of Afghanistan, fearing to receive the status of an aggressor. At one of the meetings, Leonid Brezhnev said: “It is not at all appropriate for us to be drawn into this war now.”
Motives of the Soviet leadership
The conflict grew at a tremendous pace. And already at the beginning of December 1979, the authorities decided to send in Soviet troops, allegedly based on contractual relations providing for good neighborliness and mutual assistance. The official reason for making such a decision was the desire to help friendly people. But was it really so? The Soviet leadership feared that the coming to power of Islamic radicals with an anti-Soviet attitude would lead to a complete loss of control over the southern borders. Pakistan, whose political regime at that time was largely supervised by the US authorities, also caused concern. Thus, the territory of Afghanistan served as a “layer” between the USSR and Pakistan. And the loss of control over Afghan territory could provoke a serious weakening of state borders. That is, friendly mutual assistance was just a cover under which the Soviet government skillfully hid the true motive of its actions.
On December 25, Soviet troops entered Afghan territory, initially small units. No one expected that hostilities would drag on for a decade. In addition to military support, the leadership pursued the goal of eliminating Amin, the then-current leader of the PDPA, and replacing him with Karmal, who was close to the Soviet regime. Thus, the Soviet authorities planned to completely regain control over Afghan territory.
To what extent were the actions of the Soviet government justified?
The USSR spent about 2-3 billion US dollars annually on the Afghan conflict. The Soviet Union could afford this at the peak of oil prices, which was observed in 1979-1980. However, between November 1980 and June 1986, oil prices fell almost 6 times! Participation in the Afghan conflict has become prohibitively expensive in a virtually drained economy.
By the end of 1989, articles critical of the government appeared in the press. The authorities decided to conduct an official assessment of the actions related to the introduction of troops into Afghanistan. As a result, the researchers delivered their verdict, which was in the nature of a moral and political condemnation of the actions taken. Soon, the UN General Assembly provided a similar assessment.
Two decades later, when the Soviet Union was no longer on the world map, American intelligence agencies admitted that they played a significant role in involving the USSR in a military conflict. Thus, the former director of the CIA admitted in his memoirs that the Americans began to provide military assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen even before the entry of Soviet troops, provoking the decision of the Soviet leadership.
The Afghan War is a military conflict on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). A limited contingent of Soviet troops took part in this conflict. The conflict took place between the Afghan government forces and the armed forces of the Afghan Mujahideen, which were supported by NATO, and primarily the United States, which actively armed the enemies of the Afghan regime.
Background to the Afghan War
The war itself, which lasted from 1979 to 1989, is defined in historiography by the presence of a limited contingent of the USSR Armed Forces on the territory of Afghanistan. But the beginning of the entire conflict must be considered 1973, when King Zahir Shah was overthrown in Afghanistan. Power passed to the regime of Muhammad Daoud, and in 1978 the Saur (April) Revolution took place, and the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, became the new government. Afghanistan began to build socialism, but all construction took place in an extremely unstable internal situation.
The leader of the PDPA was Nur Mohammad Taraki. His reforms were extremely unpopular in a country where traditionally the majority were rural residents. Any dissent was brutally suppressed. During his reign, he arrested thousands of people, some of whom were executed.
The main opponents of the socialist government were radical Islamists, who declared a holy war (jihad) against it. Mujahideen detachments were organized, which later became the main opposing force - the Soviet army fought against it.
The majority of Afghanistan's population was illiterate, and it was easy for Islamist agitators to turn the population against the new government.
Beginning of the war
Immediately after coming to power, the government was faced with the outbreak of armed uprisings organized by Islamists. The Afghan leadership was unable to cope with the situation and turned to Moscow for help.
The issue of assistance to Afghanistan was considered in the Kremlin on March 19, 1979. Leonid Brezhnev and other members of the Politburo opposed armed intervention. But over time, the situation at the borders of the USSR worsened, and opinion changed radically.
On December 12, 1979, a resolution was adopted by the CPSU Central Committee on the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. Formally, the reason was repeated requests from the Afghan leadership, but in fact these actions were supposed to prevent threats of foreign military intervention.
It must be remembered that, in addition to tense relations with the Mujahideen, there was no unity in the government itself. The internal party struggle, which reached its climax in September 1979, became particularly irreconcilable. It was then that the leader of the PDPA, Nur Mohammad Taraki, was arrested and killed by Hafizullah Amin. Amin took Taraki's place and, while continuing to fight against the Islamists, intensified repression within the ruling party.
According to Soviet intelligence, Amin tried to come to an agreement with Pakistan and China, which our experts considered unacceptable. On December 27, 1979, a detachment of Soviet special forces captured the presidential palace, Amin and his sons were killed. Babrak Karmal became the new leader of the country.
Progress of the war
As a result, our soldiers found themselves drawn into the outbreak of a civil war and became its active participants.
The entire war can be divided into several stages:
1st stage: December 1979 - February 1980. Introduction of the 40th Soviet Army of General Boris Gromov into Afghanistan, placement in garrisons, organization of security of strategic objects and locations.
2nd stage: March 1980 - April 1985. Conducting active large-scale combat operations. Reorganization and strengthening of the armed forces of the DRA.
3rd stage: May 1985 - December 1986. Reduction of active hostilities and transition to supporting the actions of Afghan government troops. Assistance was provided by aviation and sapper units. Organization of counteraction to the delivery of weapons and ammunition from abroad. Six regiments were withdrawn to their homeland.
4th stage: January 1987 - February 1989. Assisting the Afghan leadership in pursuing a policy of national reconciliation. Continued support for military operations carried out by government forces. Preparations for the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
In April 1988, an agreement was signed in Switzerland between Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve the situation around the DRA. The Soviet Union pledged to withdraw its troops within nine months, and the United States and Pakistan were to stop supporting the mujahideen. In April 1988, in accordance with the agreement, Soviet troops were completely withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Losses in the Afghan War
At the moment, it is known that the losses of the Soviet army amounted to 14 thousand 427 people, the KGB - 576 people, the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 28 people (dead and missing). There were 53 thousand people wounded and shell-shocked during the fighting.
The exact data on Afghans killed in the war is unknown. According to various sources, these losses could range from 1 to 2 million people. From 850 thousand to one and a half million people became refugees and settled mainly in Pakistan and Iran.
After the end of the war
The Mujahideen did not take part in the Geneva negotiations and did not support these decisions. As a result, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, hostilities did not stop, but even intensified.
The new leader of Afghanistan, Najibullah, could barely hold back the onslaught of the Mujahideen without Soviet help. There was a split in his government, many of his associates joined the ranks of the opposition. In March 1992, General Dostum and his Uzbek militia abandoned Najibullah. In April, the Mujahideen captured Kabul. Najibullah hid for a long time in the UN mission building, but was captured by the Taliban and hanged.
The United States of America provided great assistance in supporting the counter-revolution in Afghanistan. They were the initiators and organizers of many international protests against the Soviet Union.
Back in 1980, an Islamic conference was organized, at which 34 foreign ministers demanded the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. At the instigation of the United States, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution protesting against Soviet intervention. American President D. Carter advocated a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The United States and the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf organized unprecedented assistance to Afghan militants. With their money, Mujahideen were trained in Pakistan and China. Actively participated in operations against Soviet CIA forces.
Throughout the entire period of hostilities, the United States supplied the Mujahideen with a variety of modern weapons (recoilless rifles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and others).
And the republican system was established. This was the impetus for the start of the civil war between various socio-political and nationalist forces in the country.
In April 1978, the People's Democratic Party (PDPA) came to power in Afghanistan. The radicalism of the new Afghan leadership, the hasty destruction of the centuries-old traditions of the people and the foundations of Islam, strengthened the population's resistance to the central government. The situation was complicated by foreign interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. The USSR and some other countries provided assistance to the Afghan government, and NATO countries, Muslim states and China provided assistance to the opposition forces.
By the end of 1979, the situation in the country had become sharply complicated, and the threat of overthrowing the ruling regime loomed. In this regard, the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) has repeatedly appealed to the USSR with a request to send military units to the country. The Soviet side initially rejected this form of intervention, but, in the context of the worsening Afghan crisis, on December 12, 1979, the leadership of the USSR, fearing the transfer of hostilities to the territory of the Central Asian republics, decided to send troops to provide military assistance to the government of Afghanistan. The decision was made at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in accordance with Article 4 of the Soviet-Afghan "Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation", concluded on December 5, 1978, and formalized by a secret resolution of the CPSU Central Committee.
The entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan was considered by the political leadership of the USSR as a short-term measure aimed at ensuring the security of the southern borders of the Soviet Union.
The main task of the limited contingent of Soviet troops (OCSV) was to create a “cordon sanitaire” at the borders of the USSR in the face of the looming threat of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism on the territory of the Soviet Muslim republics.
On December 16, 1979, an order was given to separate the field administration of the 40th Army from the administration of the Turkestan Military District (TurkVO) and its complete mobilization. The first deputy commander of the TurkVO troops, Lieutenant General Yuri Tukharinov, was appointed commander of the army. Formations and units of the 40th Army were fully mobilized 10-12 days before entry.
The commissioning and deployment of OKSV in the DRA began on December 25, 1979. By mid-January 1980, the introduction of the main forces of the 40th Army was basically completed. Three divisions (two motorized rifle and one airborne), an air assault brigade, two separate regiments and other units were introduced into Afghanistan.
Subsequently, the combat strength of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan was constantly updated in order to strengthen it. The largest number of OKSV (1985) was 108.7 thousand people, including 73.6 thousand people in combat units. The composition of the OKSV mainly included: the command of the 40th Army, three motorized rifle and one airborne divisions, nine separate brigades and seven separate regiments, four front-line regiments and two army aviation regiments, as well as rear, medical, repair, construction and other units and divisions.
The general management of OKSV was carried out by the operational group of the USSR Ministry of Defense, which was headed by Marshal of the USSR Sergei Sokolov, and since 1985 - Army General Valentin Varennikov. Direct control of the combat and daily activities of the OKSV was carried out by the commander of the 40th Army, who was subordinate to the command of the TurkVO troops.
Soviet troops in Afghanistan guarded and defended national economic facilities, airfields, and roads vital for the country, and carried out transport convoys with cargo through the territory under the control of the armed opposition.
To reduce the military activity of the opposition, OKSV conducted active military operations of various scales using the entire arsenal of conventional weapons, and carried out air strikes on opposition bases. In accordance with the decision of the political leadership of the USSR, Soviet troops, in response to numerous attacks on their garrisons and transport columns by opposition units, began to carry out military operations together with Afghan units to search for and eliminate the most aggressive armed groups of the enemy. Thus, the Soviet troops brought into Afghanistan found themselves involved in an internal military conflict on the side of the country's government against the opposition forces, to whom Pakistan provided the greatest assistance.
The presence of Soviet troops in Afghanistan and their combat activities are conventionally divided into four stages.
Stage 1: December 1979 - February 1980. The entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, their placement in garrisons, the organization of protection of deployment points and various objects.
Stage 2: March 1980 - April 1985. Conducting active combat operations, including large-scale ones, together with Afghan formations and units. Work to reorganize and strengthen the armed forces of the DRA.
3rd stage: May 1985 - December 1986. The transition from active combat operations primarily to supporting the actions of Afghan troops with Soviet aviation, artillery and engineer units. Special forces units fought to stop the delivery of weapons and ammunition from abroad. The withdrawal of six Soviet regiments to their homeland took place.
Stage 4: January 1987 - February 1989. Participation of Soviet troops in the Afghan leadership's policy of national reconciliation. Continued support for the combat activities of Afghan troops. Preparing Soviet troops for the return to their homeland and implementing their complete withdrawal.
Even after sending troops to Afghanistan, the USSR continued to look for opportunities for a political resolution of the intra-Afghan conflict. Since August 1981, he tried to ensure the negotiation process of the DRA with Pakistan and Iran, and since April 1986, to promote a systemic policy of national reconciliation.
On April 14, 1988, in Geneva (Switzerland), representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the USSR and the USA signed five fundamental documents on the settlement of the political situation around Afghanistan. These agreements regulated the process of withdrawal of Soviet troops and declared international guarantees of non-interference in the internal affairs of the republic, the obligations of which were assumed by the USSR and the USA. Deadlines for the withdrawal of Soviet troops were set: half of the limited contingent was withdrawn by August 15, 1988, the remaining units - after another six months.
On May 15, 1988, the withdrawal of OKSV began, which was completed on February 15, 1989. The withdrawal of troops was led by the last commander of the 40th Army, Lieutenant General Boris Gromov.
About 620 thousand military personnel completed military service in Afghanistan, including 525.2 thousand people in the OKSV.
The losses of the 40th Army personnel were: killed and killed - 13,833 people, including 1,979 officers and generals, wounded - 49,985 people. During the fighting in Afghanistan, in addition, 572 military personnel of state security agencies, 28 employees of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as 190 military advisers, including 145 officers, were killed. Due to injuries, 172 officers stopped serving in the Armed Forces. 6,669 Afghans became disabled, including 1,479 people disabled in the first group.
For military and other merits, over 200 thousand people were awarded orders and medals, 86 were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 28 of them posthumously.
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The advantageous geopolitical position of this small and poor country in the center of Eurasia has determined that world powers have been fighting for control over it for several hundred years. In recent decades, Afghanistan has been the hottest spot on the planet.
Pre-war years: 1973-1978
Officially, the civil war in Afghanistan began in 1978, but events that occurred several years earlier led to it. For many decades, the government system in Afghanistan was a monarchy. In 1973, statesman and general Muhammad Daoud overthrew his cousin King Zahir Shah and established his own authoritarian regime, which neither local Islamists nor communists liked. Daoud's attempts at reform failed. The situation in the country was unstable; conspiracies were constantly being organized against the Daoud government, and in most cases they were suppressed.
The rise to power of the left party PDPA: 1978-1979
Ultimately, in 1978, the leftist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) carried out the April or, as it is also called, the Saur Revolution. The PDPA came to power, and President Mohammed Daoud and his entire family were killed in the presidential palace. The PDPA proclaimed the country the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. From that moment on, a real civil war began in the country.
Afghan War: 1979-1989
The opposition of local Islamists to the PDPA authorities, constant riots and uprisings became a reason for the PDPA to turn to the USSR for help. Initially, the Soviet Union did not want armed intervention. However, the fear that forces hostile to the USSR would come to power in Afghanistan forced the Soviet leadership to send a limited contingent of Soviet troops to Afghanistan.
The Afghan war for the USSR began with the fact that Soviet troops eliminated a PDPA figure who was undesirable to the Soviet leadership Hafizullah Amina, who was suspected of having ties to the CIA. Instead, he began to lead the state Barak Karmal.
The USSR hoped that the war would not be long, but it dragged on for 10 years. Government troops and Soviet soldiers were opposed by the Mujahideen - Afghans who joined armed forces and adhered to radical Islamic ideology. The Mujahideen were supported by part of the local population, as well as foreign countries. The United States, with the help of Pakistan, armed the Mujahideen and provided them with financial assistance as part of Operation Cyclone.
In 1986, the new President of Afghanistan became Mohammad Najibullah, and in 1987 the government set a course for national reconciliation. Around the same years, the name of the country began to be called the Republic of Afghanistan, and a new constitution was adopted.
In 1988-1989, the USSR withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, this war turned out to be essentially meaningless. Despite the large number of military operations carried out, it was not possible to suppress the opposition forces, and the civil war in the country continued.
The Afghan government's fight against the mujahideen: 1989-1992
After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the government continued to fight the Mujahideen. Foreign supporters of the Mujahideen believed that the ruling regime would soon fall, but the government continued to receive assistance from the USSR. In addition, Soviet military equipment was transferred to government troops. Therefore, hopes for a quick victory of the Mujahideen were not justified.
At the same time, after the collapse of the USSR, the government's position worsened, Russia stopped supplying weapons to Afghanistan. At the same time, some prominent military personnel who previously fought on the side of President Najibullah went over to the side of the opposition. The president completely lost control over the country and announced that he agreed to resign. The Mujahideen entered Kabul, and the PDPA regime finally fell.
"Internecine" Mujahideen wars: 1992-2001
Having come to power, the Mujahideen field commanders began to fight among themselves. The new government soon collapsed. Under these conditions, the Islamist Taliban movement was formed in the south of the country under the leadership of Muhammad Omar. The Taliban's opponent was an association of warlords called the Northern Alliance.
In 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul, executed former President Najibullah, who was hiding in the UN mission building, and proclaimed the state of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which almost no one officially recognized. Although the Taliban did not completely control the country, they introduced Sharia law in the captured territory. Women were prohibited from working and studying. Music, television, computers, the Internet, chess, and fine arts were also banned. Thieves had their hands cut off and stoned for infidelity. The Taliban were also characterized by extreme religious intolerance towards those who adhered to other faiths.
The Taliban granted political asylum to the former leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden, who initially fought against the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, and then began the fight against the United States.
NATO in Afghanistan: 2001–present
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York, a new stage of the war began, which continues to this day. The United States suspected the number one terrorist Osama bin Laden of organizing terrorist attacks and demanded the Taliban to hand him over and the leadership of al-Qaeda. The Taliban refused to do this, and in October 2001, American and British troops, with the support of the Northern Alliance, launched an offensive operation in Afghanistan. Already in the first months of the war, they managed to overthrow the Taliban regime and remove them from power.
A NATO contingent, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), was deployed in the country, and a new government emerged in the country, headed by Hamid Karzai. In 2004, after the adoption of a new constitution, he was elected president of the country.
At the same time, the Taliban went underground and began guerrilla warfare. In 2002, international coalition troops carried out Operation Anaconda against al-Qaeda militants, as a result of which many militants were killed. The Americans called the operation successful, but at the same time, the command underestimated the strength of the militants, and the actions of the coalition troops were not properly coordinated, which caused many problems during the operation.
In subsequent years, the Taliban gradually began to gain strength and stage suicide attacks, in which both contingent personnel and civilians died. At the same time, ISAF forces began to gradually advance to the south of the country, where the Taliban had gained a foothold. In 2006-2007, fierce fighting took place in these areas of the country. Due to the escalation of the conflict and increased hostilities, civilians began to die at the hands of coalition soldiers. In addition, disagreements began between the allies. In addition, in 2008, the Taliban began to attack the Pakistani supply route for the contingent, and NATO turned to Russia with a request to provide an air corridor to supply troops. In addition, that same year there was an assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai, and the Taliban released 400 members of the movement from Kandahar prison. Taliban propaganda among the local population has led to civilians becoming dissatisfied with NATO's presence in the country.
The Taliban continued to wage guerrilla warfare, avoiding major clashes with coalition troops. At the same time, more and more Americans began to speak out for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
A major American victory was the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. That same year, NATO decided to gradually withdraw troops from the country and transfer responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local authorities. In the summer of 2011, the withdrawal of troops began.
In 2012, US President Barack Obama reported that the Afghan government controls areas in which 75% of the Afghan population lives, and by 2014 the authorities will have to control the entire territory of the country.
February 13, 2013. After 2014, between 3 and 9 thousand American soldiers should remain in Afghanistan. In the same year, a new international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, which does not involve military operations, should start.
The war in Afghanistan lasted almost 10 years, more than 15,000 of our soldiers and officers died. The number of Afghans killed in the war, according to various sources, reaches two million. And it all started with palace coups and mysterious poisonings.
On the eve of the war
A “narrow circle” of members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, which makes decisions on particularly important issues, gathered in the office Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev in the morning of December 8, 1979. Those especially close to the Secretary General included USSR KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov, the country's Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, the party's chief ideologist Mikhail Suslov and Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov. This time, the situation in Afghanistan, the situation in and around the revolutionary republic was discussed, and arguments for sending Soviet troops into the DRA were considered.
It is worth recalling that Leonid Ilyich by that time had achieved the highest earthly honors on 1/6 of the planet, as they say, “I have achieved the highest power.” Five golden stars shone on his chest. Four of them are stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union and one of Socialist Labor. Here is the Order of Victory - the highest military award of the USSR, a diamond symbol of Victory. In 1978, he became the last, seventeenth cavalier to be awarded this honor, for organizing a radical change in World War II. Among the holders of this order are Stalin and Zhukov. In total there were 20 awards and seventeen gentlemen (three were awarded twice; Leonid Ilyich managed to surpass everyone here too - in 1989 he was deprived of the award posthumously). A marshal's baton, a golden saber, and a design for an equestrian statue was being prepared. These attributes gave him the undeniable right to make decisions at any level. Moreover, the advisers reported that Afghanistan could be turned into a “second Mongolia” in terms of loyalty to socialist ideals and controllability. To establish his leadership talent, party comrades advised the Secretary General to get involved in a small, victorious war. People were saying that dear Leonid Ilyich was aiming for the title of Generalissimo. But on the other hand, things were really not calm in Afghanistan.
The fruits of the April Revolution
On April 27-28, 1978, the April Revolution took place in Afghanistan (in the Dari language, this palace coup is also called the Saur Revolution). (However, since 1992, the anniversary of the April Revolution has been cancelled; instead, the Day of Victory of the Afghan people in jihad against the USSR is now celebrated.)
The reason for the opposition's protest against the regime of President Muhammad Dawood was the murder of a communist figure, a newspaper editor named Mir Akbar Khaibar. Daoud's secret police were accused of the murder. The funeral of an opposition editor turned into a demonstration against the regime. Among the organizers of the riots were the leaders of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, Nur Mohamed Taraki and Babrak Karmal, who were arrested on the same day. Another party leader, Hafizullah Amin, was placed under house arrest for subversive work even before these events.
So, the three leaders are still together and they don’t have any particular disagreements, all three are under arrest. Amin, with the help of his son, then gave the order to the loyal PDPA (People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan) troops to start an armed uprising. There was a change of government. The President and his entire family were killed. Taraki and Karmal were released from prison. As we see, the revolution, or what we call a revolution, was easy. The military took the palace and eliminated the head of state, Daoud, and his family. That's all - power is in the hands of the “people”. Afghanistan was declared a Democratic Republic (DRA). Nur Mohammed Taraki became the head of state and prime minister, Babrak Karmal became his deputy, and the post of first deputy prime minister and foreign minister was offered to the organizer of the uprising, Hafizullah Amin. There are three of them so far. But the semi-feudal country was in no hurry to become imbued with Marxism and introduce the Soviet model of socialism on Afghan soil with dispossession, seizure of land from landowners, and the establishment of committees of the poor and party cells. Specialists from the Soviet Union were met with hostility by the local population. Local unrest began, turning into riots. The situation worsened, the country seemed to go into a tailspin. The triumvirate began to crumble.
Babrak Karmal was the first to be cleaned out. In July 1978, he was removed from office and sent as ambassador to Czechoslovakia, from where, knowing the complexity of the situation at home, he was in no hurry to return. A conflict of interests began, a war of ambitions between the two leaders. Soon, Hafizullah Amin began to demand that Taraki renounce power, although he had already visited Havana and Moscow, was warmly received by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, and enlisted his support. While Taraki was traveling, Amin prepared to seize power, replaced officers loyal to Taraki, brought troops subordinate to his clan into the city, and then, by decision of an extraordinary meeting of the Politburo of the PDPA Central Committee, Taraki and his associates were removed from all posts and expelled from the party. 12 thousand Taraki supporters were shot. The case was set up like this: arrest in the evening, interrogation at night, execution in the morning. Everything is in Eastern traditions. Moscow respected traditions until it came to eliminating Taraki, who did not agree with the decision of the Central Committee to remove him from power. Having failed to achieve abdication through persuasion, again in the best traditions of the East, Amin ordered his personal guard to strangle the president. This happened on October 2, 1979. Only on October 9 was it officially announced to the people of Afghanistan that “after a short and serious illness, Nur Mohammed Taraki died in Kabul.”
Bad - good Amin
The murder of Taraki plunged Leonid Ilyich into sadness. He was nevertheless informed that his new friend died suddenly, not as a result of a short illness, but was treacherously strangled by Amin. According to the recollections of the then Head of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR (foreign intelligence) Vladimir Kryuchkov“Brezhnev, being a man devoted to friendship, took Taraki’s death seriously and, to some extent, perceived it as a personal tragedy. He still had a feeling of guilt for the fact that it was he who supposedly did not save Taraki from imminent death by not dissuading him from returning to Kabul. Therefore, after everything that happened, he did not perceive Amin at all.”
Once, while preparing documents for a meeting of the Politburo commission of the CPSU Central Committee on Afghanistan, Leonid Ilyich told the employees: “Amin is a dishonest person.” This remark was enough to start looking for options to remove Amin from power in Afghanistan.
Moscow, meanwhile, received conflicting information from Afghanistan. This is explained by the fact that it was mined by competing departments (KGB, GRU, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Department of the CPSU Central Committee, various ministries).
The commander of the Ground Forces, Army General Ivan Pavlovsky, and the chief military adviser in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Lev Gorelov, using GRU data and information obtained during personal meetings with Amin, reported to the Politburo their opinion of the leader of the Afghan people as “a faithful friend and reliable ally of Moscow in the task of turning Afghanistan into an unshakable friend of the USSR." "Hafizullah Amin is a strong personality and should remain at the head of the state."
The KGB foreign intelligence channels reported completely opposite information: “Amin is a tyrant who unleashed terror and repression against his own people in the country, betrayed the ideals of the April Revolution, entered into a conspiracy with the Americans, is pursuing a treacherous line of reorienting foreign policy from Moscow to Washington, that he simply a CIA agent.” Although no one from the leadership of the KGB foreign intelligence service has ever presented real evidence of the anti-Soviet, treacherous activities of the “first and most faithful disciple of Taraki,” “leader of the April Revolution.” By the way, after the murder of Amin and his two young sons during the storming of the Taj Beg Palace, the widow of the revolutionary leader with her daughter and youngest son went to live in the Soviet Union, although she was offered any country to choose from. She said then: “My husband loved the Soviet Union.”
But let us return to the meeting on December 8, 1979, at which a narrow circle of the Politburo of the Central Committee gathered. Brezhnev is listening. Comrades Andropov and Ustinov argue for the need to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The first of them is the protection of the southern borders of the country from encroachments by the United States, which plans to include the Central Asian republics in its zone of interests, the deployment of American Pershing missiles on the territory of Afghanistan, which threatens the Baikonur Cosmodrome and other vital facilities, the danger of separation of the northern provinces and their annexation to Pakistan. As a result, they decided to consider two options: eliminate Amin and transfer power to Karmal, and send part of the troops to Afghanistan to carry out this task. Summoned to a meeting with the “small circle of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee” Chief of the General Staff Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov for an hour he tries to convince the country's leaders of the harmfulness of the very idea of sending Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The marshal failed to do this. The next day, December 9, Ogarkov was again summoned to the General Secretary. This time in the office were Brezhnev, Suslov, Andropov, Gromyko, Ustinov, Chernenko, who was assigned to keep the minutes of the meeting. Marshal Ogarkov persistently repeated his arguments against the introduction of troops. He referred to the traditions of the Afghans, who did not tolerate foreigners on their territory, and warned about the likelihood of our troops being drawn into hostilities, but everything turned out to be in vain.
Andropov reprimanded the marshal: “You were not invited to listen to your opinion, but to write down the Politburo’s instructions and organize their implementation.” Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev put an end to the dispute: “We should support Yuri Vladimirovich.”
So a decision was made that had a grandiose result that would lead to the final straight of the collapse of the USSR. None of the leaders who made the decision to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan will see the tragedy of the Soviet Union. The terminally ill Suslov, Andropov, Ustinov, Chernenko, having started a war, left us in the first half of the 80s, without regretting what they had done. In 1989, Andrei Andreevich Gromyko will die.
Western politicians also influenced the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. By decision of the NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense on December 12, 1979, a plan was adopted in Brussels for the deployment of new American medium-range missiles Cruz and Pershing 2 in Western Europe. These missiles could hit almost the entire European part of the USSR, and we had to defend ourselves.
Final decision
It was on that day - December 12 - that the final decision was made to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The Special Folder of the CPSU Central Committee contains the minutes of this meeting of the Politburo, written by the Secretary of the Central Committee K.U. Chernenko. It is clear from the protocol that the initiators of the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan were Yu.V. Andropov, D.F. Ustinov and A.A. Gromyko. At the same time, the most important fact was hushed up that the first task that our troops would have to solve would be the overthrow and elimination of Hafizullah Amin and replacing him with the Soviet protege Babrak Karmal. Therefore, the reference to the fact that the entry of Soviet troops into Afghan territory was carried out at the request of the legitimate government of the DRA is hardly justified. All members of the Politburo voted unanimously for the deployment of troops. However, it is noteworthy that the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin was absent from the Politburo meeting, who, knowing the state of the country’s economy and being a highly moral person, categorically spoke out against the introduction of troops into Afghanistan. It is believed that from that moment on he had a complete break with Brezhnev and his entourage.
Twice poisoned Amin
On December 13, an agent of the illegal intelligence service of the KGB, headed by Major General Yuri Drozdov, a certain “Misha”, fluent in Farsi, joined a local special operation to eliminate Amin. His surname Talibov appears in specialized literature. He was introduced into Amin’s residence as a chef, which speaks of the brilliant work of illegal agents in Kabul and General Drozdov himself, a former resident in the United States. For the Afghan operation he will be awarded the Order of Lenin. A glass of poisoned Coca-Cola drink prepared by “Misha” and intended for Amin was accidentally given to his nephew, counterintelligence chief Asadullah Amin. First aid for poisoning was provided to him by Soviet military doctors. Then, in critical condition, he was sent to Moscow. And after being cured, he was returned to Kabul, where he was shot on the orders of Babrak Karmal. The power had changed by that time.
Chef Misha's second attempt will be more successful. This time he did not spare the poison for the entire group of guests. This bowl only passed Amin’s security service, since it was fed separately and the ubiquitous “Misha” with his ladle did not get there. On December 27, Hafizullah Amin hosted a sumptuous dinner on the occasion of receiving information about the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. He was assured that the Soviet leadership was satisfied with the stated version of Taraki’s sudden death and the change in the country’s leadership. The USSR extended a helping hand to Amin in the form of sending troops. Afghanistan's military and civilian leaders were invited to dinner. However, during lunch many guests felt unwell. Some lost consciousness. Amin also passed out. The president's wife immediately called the Central Military Hospital and Clinic of the Soviet Embassy. The first to arrive were military doctors, colonels, therapist Viktor Kuznechenkov and surgeon Anatoly Alekseev. Having determined mass poisoning, they began resuscitation efforts to save Hafizullah Amin, who was in a coma. They finally pulled the president out of the other world.
One can imagine the reaction of foreign intelligence chief Vladimir Kryuchkov to this message. And in the evening, the famous operation “Storm-333” began - the assault on Amin’s Taj Beg palace, which lasted 43 minutes. This assault was included in the textbooks of military academies around the world. The assault to replace Amin with Karmal was carried out by the KGB special groups "Grom" - division "A", or, according to journalists, "Alpha" (30 people) and "Zenith" - "Vympel" (100 people), as well as the brainchild of military intelligence GRU - Muslim battalion (530 people) - 154th special forces detachment, consisting of soldiers, sergeants and officers of three nationalities: Uzbeks, Turkmens and Tajiks. Each company had a Farsi translator, they were cadets of the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. By the way, even without translators, the Tajiks, Uzbeks and some Turkmen spoke Farsi, one of the main languages of Afghanistan. The Soviet Muslim battalion was commanded by Major Khabib Khalbaev. The losses in the KGB special groups during the storming of the palace were only five. In the “Muslim battalion,” six were killed among the paratroopers. - nine people. Military doctor Viktor Kuznechenkov, who saved Amin from poisoning, died. By a closed decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, about 400 people were awarded orders and medals. Colonel Viktor Kuznechenkov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (posthumously).
The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR or other government document on the deployment of troops never appeared. All orders were given verbally. Only in June 1980 did the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee approve the decision to send troops to Afghanistan. The fact of the assassination of the head of state began to be interpreted by the West as evidence of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. This then greatly influenced our relations with the USA and Europe. Meanwhile, the United States nevertheless sent its troops into Afghanistan and the war there continues to this day - 35 years.
Photo at the opening of the article: on the Afghan border/ Photo: Sergey Zhukov/ TASS
