- The Soviets had maintained relations with Afghanistan since the 1950s:they notably helped the power in place to introduce social reforms. Political movements upset the country until the putsch of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), with Marxist tendencies, on April 27, 1978. The Prime Minister, Nur Mohammad Taraki, in close collaboration with the Soviets, undertakes a policy of secularization which provokes the revolt of certain tribes. Regions are totally out of control. He proclaims the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, of which he becomes president.
- From a geopolitical point of view, the USSR wishes to support the regime in place, and thus ensure stability in this region.
December 24, 1979 - April 14, 1988
Characters
Nur Mohammad Taraki
Babrak Karmal
Mikhail Gorbachev
Procedure
On the night of December 24 to 25, 1979, Soviet troops crossed the Afghan border. The soldiers enter Kabul on December 27. The USSR installed Babrak Karmal, a politician trusted by the Soviets, in power. The strategic axes are also controlled by the Red Army.
However, the military situation deteriorated rapidly:small Islamist groups, the mujahideen, set up a guerrilla strategy to fight against the Soviet occupation. They take advantage of the mountainous regions to put the troops of the USSR in difficulty, the latter having not adapted their combat strategy, like the United States in Vietnam.
The image of the USSR was all the more tarnished when it decided to ignore the rapid condemnation of the UN and other Arab countries, which made their voices heard from the start of the conflict. The Moscow Olympics, held in 1980, are boycotted.
We find the pattern of the Cold War in this conflict:the Americans support the mujahideen financially and militarily, through Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. In 1988, after almost ten years of fighting, Mikhail Gorbachev, who had recently come to power, was in a logic of political openness and reform. He decides to withdraw the troops from Afghanistan:the Geneva Accords, signed on April 14, 1988, put an end to the conflict.
Consequences
- The conflict claimed more than 20,000 victims, the majority on the Soviet side. This war, due to the involvement of the United States and the USSR, is one of the last moments of tension of the Cold War.
- A civil war immediately follows the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Islamic groups clash with each other, and the regime in place, supported by the Soviets, falls on April 29, 1992:the intervention of the UN does not allow the capture of Kabul by the Taliban. The country is entering a period of great instability.