Afghanistan: Current Operational Lessons from the Soviet Experience. ACSC Quick-Look 05-01
Abstract
Afghanistan's harsh geography and climate has always made it difficult to conquer and even harder to occupy. Its diverse and warlike people know how to fight and when not to fight. On 27 April 1978, Afghan Communists launched a successful coup intended to transform Afghanistan from a diverse tribal society into a unified Communist state. The government's attacks on landlords, religious leaders, and tribal elders reinforced the Afghan tendency to oppose any form of central government. Despite increasing Soviet aid, it appeared in late 1979 that the Afghan Communist government would fall. The Soviet Union did not want a Communist government on its borders to be overthrown because of the potential internal domino effects, especially in Moslem-dominated regions of the Soviet Union. Fortunately, the Soviet forces had effective models for coping with such situations. Twice before Soviet forces led coups to secure the capitals followed by major force deployments to occupy cities and intimidate the population. The strategy worked almost flawlessly when the Soviet Union launched a coup on 27 December 1979. However, the follow-on armored thrusts intended to secure major population centers backfired in the face of spontaneous popular resistance. Afghan fighters depended on the local people for food, information, and support, so the Soviets planned to use terror to convince Afghans to stop supporting the insurgents. Their use of terror received much media coverage, and the United States, Great Britain, and other nations began providing support to the Afghan resistance. As internal and international pressures increased, the Soviets began to rely on Special Forces and air power to achieve a military solution. But the resistance's international supporters began supplying them with surface-to-air missiles, which in one stroke made the Soviet use of air power impossible. The author presents the relevance of lessons learned in the Afghanistan-USSR war to current operations in Ira7
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA431196
Entities
People
- Matthew Caffrey
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College