Historical Events

Afghanistan · Events 1

1979–1989

The Soviet-Afghan War

In December 1979 the Soviet Union decided on military intervention to prop up a faltering communist government in Afghanistan. Driven by Brezhnev, Andropov, Ustinov and Gromyko, the decision was conceived as a brief stabilization operation, but amid mujahideen resistance and U.S. and Pakistani support it became a decade-long war of attrition.