Soviet Lessons for NATO in Afghanistan

摘要

Despite stationing over 120,000 troops in Afghanistan, and incurring more than 50,000 casualties including 15,000 dead, why did the Russians lose in Afghanistan? Does their experience have any relevance for the international forces in the country today? The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Day 1979 to reinstate a pro-Moscow regime following the assassination of President Nur Mohammed Taraki in Kabul that October. Within two days after Moscow's airborne troops arrived in Kabul, President Hafizullah Amin had, in turn, been assassinated and a pro-Soviet regime installed under President Babrak Karmal.