Causes of the USSR vs. Afghanistan conflict
Although there were many underlying causes leading to the beginning of the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict the main causes of Russia’s 10 year Vietnam were geographical, social, and political. It is difficult to place the whole weight of the war on one factor, it makes more sense that multiple underlying causes lead to the beginning of this bloody conflict because of the complexity and multitudes of parties (including the U.S.) involved in Russia’s attempted occupation of Afghanistan.
I’ll begin with the geographic elements that lead to the beginning of the soviet afghan conflict. CNN writes, “In the 1970’s Afghanistan became a focus for super power rivalry.” This is because Afghanistan was close to the Persian Gulf Oil, and the Indian Ocean ports which made it a prime geographic location for Middle East interests. North of Afghanistan was the Soviet Union’s Central Asian Republics which to Moscow made a peaceful Afghanistan vital. All these factors made Afghanistan prime real-estate for the Russians to want to move in and take over.
In 1978 a military coup instated a new president who looked to the Soviet Union for support, which brings me to my next factor: Political. During the 70’s the cold war was causing intense pressure between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Jon Krakauer author of Where Men Win Glory writes, “The chaos was sparked by accelerating friction between political groups within Afghanistan, but fuel for the conflagration was supplied in abundance and with great enthusiasm by the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union as each maneuvered to gain advantage in the cold war.” Afghanistan’s population although living within Afghanistan did not answer to a central government, but rather to local mullahs and tribal leaders. This made the different Afghan tribes and sects very prone to violence towards each other because in a sense they were their own individual states within the borders of Afghanistan. The Soviets realized that the U.S. had a lot of influence in the Middle East and that the Americans were indirectly supplying ths insurgents with weapons. The soviets sought to regain some of their hold over that area and thought that Afghanistan given its geological location and newly instated soviet friendly president would be the perfect place to start.
The last main factor to the soviet afghan war was the social and customary beliefs of the Afghani people. The newly instated President Mohammed Daoud was pushing to modernize Afghanistan. Krakauer writes, “Presdient Daoud… supported this shift toward secular modernity as long as it didn’t threaten his hold on power.” Krakauer also writes, “In the end, alas, his policies placated a few and managed to antagonize almost everyone else most significantly the Soviets, the urban leftists, and the bearded fundamentalists in the country-side. This means that the Afghan people were not ready for the quick change into the modern world, in fact, they rebelled against it. Daoud’s foolish fashion brought up the PDPA (People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan) which subsequently killed Daoud and his family. Immediately the PDPA took control of the country and within twenty months their ruthless tactics at controlling Afghanistan had sparked an all out civil war. Soon the PDPA was calling on the Soviets for help asking again and again for troops for support in Afghanistan. In 1979 the Soviets dispatched 100,000 troops to Afghanistan to “quell the rebellion, prop up the PDPA, and protect their cold war interests in that region” little did they know they were about to start a costly and pointless war killing hundreds of thousands of young soviet conscripts and over a million Afghanis.
In conclusion there wasn’t a single all encompassing event that lead to the start of this costly war. In truth many different beliefs and objectives all interconnected to form a solid mesh of chaos that would engulf Afghanistan to this day. The main reasons to this conflict are due to the geographic properties of Afghanistan, the political objectives of the Soviet Union, and the customs of the Afghan people. In the end the Soviet vs. Afghanistan war brought a crashing fall to the Iron Curtain at the cost of many Afghan lives.
Although there were many underlying causes leading to the beginning of the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict the main causes of Russia’s 10 year Vietnam were geographical, social, and political. It is difficult to place the whole weight of the war on one factor, it makes more sense that multiple underlying causes lead to the beginning of this bloody conflict because of the complexity and multitudes of parties (including the U.S.) involved in Russia’s attempted occupation of Afghanistan.
I’ll begin with the geographic elements that lead to the beginning of the soviet afghan conflict. CNN writes, “In the 1970’s Afghanistan became a focus for super power rivalry.” This is because Afghanistan was close to the Persian Gulf Oil, and the Indian Ocean ports which made it a prime geographic location for Middle East interests. North of Afghanistan was the Soviet Union’s Central Asian Republics which to Moscow made a peaceful Afghanistan vital. All these factors made Afghanistan prime real-estate for the Russians to want to move in and take over.
In 1978 a military coup instated a new president who looked to the Soviet Union for support, which brings me to my next factor: Political. During the 70’s the cold war was causing intense pressure between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Jon Krakauer author of Where Men Win Glory writes, “The chaos was sparked by accelerating friction between political groups within Afghanistan, but fuel for the conflagration was supplied in abundance and with great enthusiasm by the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union as each maneuvered to gain advantage in the cold war.” Afghanistan’s population although living within Afghanistan did not answer to a central government, but rather to local mullahs and tribal leaders. This made the different Afghan tribes and sects very prone to violence towards each other because in a sense they were their own individual states within the borders of Afghanistan. The Soviets realized that the U.S. had a lot of influence in the Middle East and that the Americans were indirectly supplying ths insurgents with weapons. The soviets sought to regain some of their hold over that area and thought that Afghanistan given its geological location and newly instated soviet friendly president would be the perfect place to start.
The last main factor to the soviet afghan war was the social and customary beliefs of the Afghani people. The newly instated President Mohammed Daoud was pushing to modernize Afghanistan. Krakauer writes, “Presdient Daoud… supported this shift toward secular modernity as long as it didn’t threaten his hold on power.” Krakauer also writes, “In the end, alas, his policies placated a few and managed to antagonize almost everyone else most significantly the Soviets, the urban leftists, and the bearded fundamentalists in the country-side. This means that the Afghan people were not ready for the quick change into the modern world, in fact, they rebelled against it. Daoud’s foolish fashion brought up the PDPA (People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan) which subsequently killed Daoud and his family. Immediately the PDPA took control of the country and within twenty months their ruthless tactics at controlling Afghanistan had sparked an all out civil war. Soon the PDPA was calling on the Soviets for help asking again and again for troops for support in Afghanistan. In 1979 the Soviets dispatched 100,000 troops to Afghanistan to “quell the rebellion, prop up the PDPA, and protect their cold war interests in that region” little did they know they were about to start a costly and pointless war killing hundreds of thousands of young soviet conscripts and over a million Afghanis.
In conclusion there wasn’t a single all encompassing event that lead to the start of this costly war. In truth many different beliefs and objectives all interconnected to form a solid mesh of chaos that would engulf Afghanistan to this day. The main reasons to this conflict are due to the geographic properties of Afghanistan, the political objectives of the Soviet Union, and the customs of the Afghan people. In the end the Soviet vs. Afghanistan war brought a crashing fall to the Iron Curtain at the cost of many Afghan lives.
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