UNLIMITED

BBC History Magazine

WAR WITHOUT END

Within days, 50,000 Soviet troops were in Afghanistan, where they would remain for almost a decade

On 3 August 1978, the central council of the Islamic Society of Afghanistan (Jamiati-Islami) wrote an impassioned plea to Kurt Waldheim, secretary-general of the United Nations. In their letter, they decried Afghanistan’s political leaders, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), as a “power-thirsty gang” intent on destroying Afghanistan’s political and social fabric and lacking any respect for humanitarian norms or human rights. The Council demanded UN intercession, warning that “the continued survival of this group will endanger the peace of this region of the world”.

This warning soon came true. On 24 December 1979, the Soviet Politburo issued a public directive justifying the deployment of Soviet troops into Afghanistan to support their allies, the same PDPA. The Soviets, the Politburo claimed, sought “to give international aid to the friendly Afghan people” and to prevent “anti-Afghan actions from neighbouring countries”. Within days, 50,000 Soviet troops were on the ground in Afghanistan. They would remain there for almost a decade as part of Soviet efforts to keep their local allies in power.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was one of the moments that defined the 1980s. It took place against the backdrop of the global Cold War, in which the Soviet Union and the United States (as well as China) vied for supremacy. Indeed, so international was the Cold War during the 1970s and early 1980s that, while US and Soviet leaders pursued talks on limiting strategic arms and the balance of power in Europe, Soviet forces backed independence movements in southern and eastern Africa as American troops withdrew from Vietnam.

While Vietnam remains the most enduringly remembered

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine3 min read
Encounters
DIARY HISTORY COOKBOOK Victorian Christmas pudding CITIES Delhi, India When the Luftwaffe targeted Britain's cities, it was all too clear to many parents that their children needed to be sent to safety – but this act often caused heartbreaking schism
BBC History Magazine11 min read
Still The Greatest?
In a much-publicised poll in 2002, the BBC asked viewers to rank figures from British history, as part of the television series 100 Greatest Britons. The poll was in no way scientific, but simply reflected votes – more than 1.6 million of them – from
BBC History Magazine7 min read
Who killed James III?
On 11 June 1488, a Scottish king gathered his army and marched to a field south of Stirling known as Sauchieburn. This man was James III – great-great-great-great grandson of Robert the Bruce, famed for his pivotal victory over the English at nearby

Related Books & Audiobooks