OS MUJAHINDIN DERROTARAM OS SOVIETICOS NA INVASAO AO AFEGANISTAO LEVARAM UMA SURRA

THE SOVIET QUAGMIRE IN AFGHANISTAN (1979-1988)

In Soviet Russia things continued to go from bad to worse.  The Muslim revolution in Iran had quickly spilled over into neighboring Afghanistan in the early 1980s as Afghani Muslims answered the call to jihad (the destruction of Evil) against the Soviets and their puppet Communist regime in Kabul.  Meanwhile America, who did not want the Soviets in Afghanistan where they could put pressures on the Persian Gulf region (the major source of the West’s oil) was supplying the Afghan rebels, the mujahedin, with advanced missiles that could easily kill Soviet tanks and jets.  The Soviets were finding themselves bogged down in a war that even with a massive military presence in the country, they could not bring to a favorable close.  It was as if Afghanistan were the Soviets' 'Vietnam.'  Soon anti-war feelings began to grow within Russian society – and even within the military itself.  Russia was in deep trouble in Afghanistan.

Babrak Karmal, chairman of Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1979-1986)
The Soviets had installed this Afghan Communist leader in Kabul in 1979 in the hopes that he might keep more effective control over
Afghan politics than had his predecessor,  Hafizullah Amin (whom Soviet troops assassinated when they first invaded the country in 1979)
Wikipedia - "Babrak Karmal"

Soviet paratroopers aboard a BMD-1 in Kabul
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"

Soviet helicopters working with Soviet tanks in Afghanistan
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"

Afghan village destroyed by Soviet troops
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"

Reagan listening to the mujahidin's description of Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan - February 1983
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"

Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson in Afghanistan
Wilson was a prime mover in Operation Cyclone, in which the US sent $ millions to support the mujahidin
in their fight against the Soviets (unfortunately much of the money ended up in corrupt Pakistani military hands)
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"
Resistance by conservative Muslim mujahidin however is grinding down the Soviet effort
to maintain Communist control in Afghanistan

Ahmad Shah Massoud - the "Lion of Panjshir"
This engineer turned mujahidin proved to the the most effective of the Afghan resistance commanders
(When the Taliban later took over the country he became their prime opponent; the Taliban
assassinated him just days before the September 11, 2001 attack on the New York Twin Towers)

Afghan mujahidin fighting the Soviet invaders into their country - 1980
Mingam - Gamma/Liaison
Our Times, p. 571
Well armed mujahedin confronting Soviet troops in Afghanistan
Steve MCurry / Magnum
LIFE, p. 349

Soviet Commander Boris Gromov announcing the Soviet troop pullout  from Afghanistan - July 1987
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"

Afghan troops (on the left) watching Soviet troops leaving Afghanistan - 1988
Wikipedia - "Soviet war in Afghanistan"