¶ … Soviet-Afghanistan War that took place between 1979 and 1988. The writer explores the tactics used by the Soviet Small Unit operations and discusses why the attempts were not successful. There were six sources used to complete this paper.
Many people refer to the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan as the Russian Viet Nam. The reason that this nickname has been attached to this war is because it was in many ways similar to the Viet Nam conflict with the United States. In that situation the United States was a monstrous force to be reckoned with compared to the armed service abilities of Viet Nam. In the Soviet Afghanistan war it was similar in that Russia was a monster in size when compared to Afghanistan. In each case the smaller nation dug in their heels and refused to be intimidated by the larger nation. In the Afghanistan war with the Soviet Union there was a focus on small unit operations. Those operations, for the most part were not successful and it only served to strengthen the resolve of the Afghanistan Taliban members. There are several reasons the strength and power of the Soviet Union failed to unseat and destroy the Taliban but the most significant factor was the rough terrain and the fact that the home team was familiar with it while the "visiting team" was not. In addition the Soviet Forces were more concerned with the political ramifications that would follow the invasion, unlike the American efforts in the same area. America went in with one mission, seek and destroy the Taliban organization and take out the members. In contrast to the Soviet's seeming half hearted attempt America went in with a single minded mission and used that to accomplish the objectives in short order.
Might Meets Heart
Experts have likened the Soviet -- Afghanistan conflict to "power meeting warrior society" in that the heart and soul of the Afghanistan rebels went into fighting the large and powerful efforts of the Soviet Union in that war.
"The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a repeat of their invasion of Czechoslovakia. For months after the invasion, hardly a political or military expert in the world doubted that Afghanistan was now forever incorporated as a part of the Soviet Empire and that nothing short of a large-scale global war could alter the status quo. And global war was most unlikely as both super powers intended to avoid it. Some Westerners recalled the British experiences in Afghanistan and waited for a Soviet "Vietnam" to emerge, but most Westerners believed that the Soviets would ultimately prevail. Some even projected their European fears to southern Asia and envisioned a bold Soviet strategic thrust from southern Afghanistan to the shores of the Persian Gulf, to challenge Western strategic interests and disrupt Western access to critical Middle Eastern oil (THE SOVIET WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: HISTORY AND HARBINGER OF FUTURE WAR?
byGeneral (Ret) Mohammad Yahya Nawroz, Army of Afghanistan & LTC (Ret) Lester W. Grau, U.S. Army http://www.bdg.minsk.by/cegi/N2/Afg/Waraf.htm)."
The early stages of the war saw Afghanistan military resistance to small units of Soviet soldiers storming chosen locations for take over attempts. One of the mistakes made on the part of the Soviet Union was the false belief that the smaller nation would be intimidated by the Soviet Union's advances and they would give in. Because the Soviet Union believed this it sent small units in to do the work. The response by the Afghanistan civilians and military alike was a surprising problem for the Soviet Union and it gave Afghanistan resistance time to regroup and bury into the hills of the nation that they knew and loved (THE SOVIET WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: HISTORY AND HARBINGER OF FUTURE WAR?
byGeneral (Ret) Mohammad Yahya Nawroz, Army of Afghanistan & LTC (Ret) Lester W. Grau, U.S. Army http://www.bdg.minsk.by/cegi/N2/Afg/Waraf.htm).
" In defiance of the wisdom of conventional warfare, the citizens armed themselves, gathered into loose formations and began to attack and sabotage the superior occupying force's personnel, installations, depots and transport with any available weapons (to include flintlock muskets). Open resistance flared so quickly that only two months after the invasion,...
(Harvey, 2003) the suspicion of the United States of the "Soviet Expansionist tendencies" had increased by the 1970s and Harvey states as well that "The pervasive mentality of Washington officials during these years was dominated by the communist domino theory which led many Washington politicians to believe that the Soviet Union sought to take over the entire world." (2003) the United States had always received a safeguard provided by
S. forces were made to operate on ground and targeted operations were planned against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters. There were significant individually planned battles and skirmishes between the U.S. army and Taliban often resulting in heavy losses to both sides. A tactic that Taliban often used in such conditions was the suicide attacks and planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that left the soldier carrying vehicles destroyed. The U.S. utilized
The task of stabilizing a collapsed Pakistan may well be beyond the means of the United States and its allies. Rule-of-thumb estimates suggest that a force of more than a million troops would be required for a country of this size. Thus, if we have any hope of success, we would have to act before a complete government collapse, and we would need the cooperation of moderate Pakistani forces (Kagan
The Karzai government adopted a five-point plan for accountability. It refused amnesty for gross violators of human rights abuses. An action plan was created by Afghan officials and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, with the support of the United Nations and the international community. The plan consisted of a five-part strategy for peace, justice and reconciliation in Afghanistan. It contained measures to concretely recognize and remember the sufferings
(Reese, Killgore & Ritter 22) Another well documented myth is that Iraq and some active terrorist organization, of which Iraq is not one, have benefited from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, through the proliferation of Soviet weapons scientists and their knowledge. A another fear of WMD proliferation was through Soviet "brain drain." Yet there has been no open-source evidence indicating that WMD materials or knowledge has reached terrorist hands from
The Red Army lost numerous men and machinery, and ultimately, the cost was too much for the Soviets to bear. The Soviets finally began to withdraw troops in the spring of 1988, and removing all troops by early 1989. They left the country in political and personal chaos, with infighting between ethnic groups and religious sects. Author Esposito continues, "Within a brief period after the Soviet withdrawal, the great
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