Russia vs Afghanistan War (1 Viewer)

[Rutledge]

What say we start a thread on this conflict?

It’s really an amazing story. A motley array of rag tag citizen soldiers chases out one of the supposed mightiest armies in the world. Below are a few stats I found of interest from Wiki.

noteworthy: See how many Russian helicopters were destroyed 333 - by a military without an Air Force or even much heavy weaponry!. (Oh yes, I guess we did help out a bit with the generous gifting of stronger missiles.)

And see also, nearly 150 Russian tanks destroyed! And yet the Afghans had no tanks themselves.

Also, terribly sadly, note the ~5 million Afghan citizens killed or wounded by the oh so bold and brave Russian army.

Anyway, please post up your own info on this conflict. And, please do not post anything about other wars or conflicts or otherwise off topic here. If you do I’ll request moderators delete them.

Soviet forces (official): 14,453 killed (total) or 9,500 killed in combat[SUP][26][/SUP] 4,000 died from wounds[SUP][26][/SUP] 1,000 died from disease and accidents[SUP][26][/SUP] 53,753 wounded[SUP][26][/SUP] 264 missing[SUP][27][/SUP] 451 aircraft (including 333 helicopters) 147 tanks 1,314 IFV/APCs 433 artillery guns and mortars 11,369 cargo and fuel tanker trucks Another source puts Soviet dead between 13,833 and 26,000 killed (total).[SUP][28][/SUP] Afghan forces: 18,000 killed[SUP][29][/SUP]

Mujahideen:At least 90,000 casualties, including 57,000 killed[SUP][30][/SUP][SUP][31][/SUP] Pakistan: 300+ killed 1 F-16 fighter jet shot down[SUP][32][/SUP] Iran: 2 AH-1J helicopters shot down Unknown number killed[SUP][33][/SUP]

Civilians (Afghan): 562,000[SUP][34][/SUP]–2,000,000 killed[SUP][35][/SUP][SUP][36][/SUP] 5 million refugees outside Afghanistan 2 million internally displaced persons Around 3 million Afghans wounded (mostly civilians)[SUP][37][/SUP]

 

[Rutledge]

https://www.voanews.com/europe/women-recall-hell-soviet-war-afghanistan

Outtakes


While the war grew unpopular at home, Soviet troops and support staff in Afghanistan mostly focused on survival rather than politics. While Afghans largely saw Moscow's involvement as a hostile foreign intervention, the Soviets thought they were doing the right thing.....


When she asked officials about benefits for veterans and other personnel in Afghanistan, she faced hostility and insults. She said one told her: "How do I know what you were actually up to over there?" In 2006, Russian lawmakers decided that civilians who worked in Afghanistan were not entitled to war benefits. Women have campaigned unsuccessfully to reinstate them.....


Smolina, who lives in Sweden, is wary of disclosing all the details about her own Afghan experiences after facing a backlash from other veterans about her publications.

"Our society is not ready yet to hear the truth. There is still a lingering effect from the harsh Soviet past," she said. "In Soviet society, you were not supposed to speak out."

Facts!

 

[OzDigger]

An interesting conflict. A number of Movies were based on the War including: The Living Daylights, Charlie Wilson's War and The Beast (of War) below:

 

[Rutledge]

Just some of the horrible crimes engaged in by Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan (1979–1989)
Soviet–Afghan War § Destruction in Afghanistan


An Afghan village destroyed by the Soviets in the 1980s
Scholars Mohammad Kakar, W. Michael Reisman and Charles Norchi believe that the Soviet Union was guilty of committing a genocide in Afghanistan.[157][158] The army of the Soviet Union killed large numbers of Afghans to suppress their resistance.[157] Up to 2 million Afghans were killed by the Soviet forces and their proxies.[159] In one notable incident the Soviet Army committed mass killing of civilians in the summer of 1980.[160] In order to separate the mujahideen from the local populations and eliminate their support, the Soviet army killed and drove off civilians, and used scorched earth tactics to prevent their return. They used booby traps, mines, and chemical substances throughout the country.[160] The Soviet army indescriminately killed combatants and noncombatants to ensure submission by the local populations.[160] The provinces of Nangarhar, Ghazni, Lagham, Kunar, Zabul, Qandahar, Badakhshan, Lowgar, Paktia and Paktika witnessed extensive depopulation programmes by the Soviet forces.[158] The Soviet forces abducted Afghan women in helicopters while flying in the country in search of mujahideen. In November 1980 a number of such incidents had taken place in various parts of the country, including Laghman and Kama. Soviet soldiers as well as KhAD agents kidnapped young women from the city of Kabul and the areas of Darul Aman and Khair Khana, near the Soviet garrisons, to rape them.[161] Women who were taken and raped by Russian soldiers were considered 'dishonoured' by their families if they returned home.[162] Deserters from the Soviet Army in 1984 also confirmed the atrocities by the Soviet troops on Afghan women and children, stating that Afghan women were being raped.[163] The rape of Afghan women by Soviet troops was common and 11.8 percent of the Soviet war criminals in Afghanistan were convicted for the offence of rape.[164] There was an outcry against the press in the Soviet Union for depicting the Russian "war heroes" as "murderers", "aggressors," "rapists" and "junkies."[165]

 

[Rutledge]

How did the Soviets lose in Afghanistan?


- Gorbachev announced that Soviet troops would begin to be pulled back. They completed it in mid'89. Since Soviet Union pulled back their troops abandoning their mission to establish a friendly rule in Afghanistan, it was loss for them. In a year, the Soviet Union itself was dissolved and this war also played a role.

- But in general the question is simple. The Soviet Union was embarrassingly forced to U-turn on Afghanistan in 1988 after nearly 10 years of bitter fighting. It is often cited that the U.S, European and Chinese support for the Mujahideen resistance was what maimed the Russian Bear. Whilst that is to a degree true, many of the reasons for the Soviet failure was by their own hand.

- However these units brought heavy, undiscriminating attitude and disdain for the locals and well, like all conquering heroes, they have literally alienated all and everyone equally, causing more issues then solving. In this configuration, short of genocide of Afghan people, there was no way for this army to win this war. They came, they made mess, they left….Legacy of USSR

So tough guy Russia defeated the big bad Nazis (all by themselves), but couldnt defeat a rag tag non-army of citizen soldiers. Riiighhgggggttttt

 

[Rutledge]

Some examples of might Russian military might!