27th of December; LESSONS FROM THE SOVIET-AFGHAN WAR
We reach the 41st anniversary of Russian invasion of Afghanistan in a situation where the country’s wounded body still bleeds.
Even though the Soviet Union has collapsed since many years due to the holly Jihad of the Afghan people, but the people of Afghanistan are still victims of its venomous blade of invasion in different ways. Dozens of Afghans are being killed and wounded every day. poverty still unprecedentedly threatens the lives of people. Corruption is peaking. There is no place where people can feel themselves safe, while absence of good governance is apparent everywhere.
Maybe there are questions with the younger generation regarding the relationship between the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan and the current unbearable endurances of the Afghan people, after all there is a four-decade gap between then and now.
The answer is very simple and it is that the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan paved the road for all the chaos which made the country like a sheep surrounded by wolves. If the Soviet Union, with the assistance from communists did not invade Afghanistan, without a doubt the communist regime would have fallen into the hands of the Afghan people and they would have been able to establish a national Islamic state.
Here, we will shed light on the horrible crimes and brutal killings of the Afghan people by the Soviet Union soldiers and how they entered and exited.
On 27th December 1979, the 40th army of Soviet Union soldiers who were placed in the northern borders of Afghanistan and tasked beforehand, invaded the country by land and air.
General Tokharinova as the commander in chief, General Watkapova as the political chief, and General Loyanova and General Karkain were tasked as army chief and chief of intelligence respectively.
The 40th army was made of a hundred small groups and had four equipped units such as the artillerymen TUNIT rocket unit, engineering and communication unit, and logistic unit. The army had 80000 soldiers in 1979 which increased later and reached 115000 soldiers who were placed in the most strategic places such as the airports of Kabul, Bagram and Sheendand.
There are plenty of evidence that the puppet regimes of Noor Mohammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin (The first and second president of Afghanistan during the communist regime) had invited the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan, especially after the resistance of Herat people on March 15th 1979.
the main elements of the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan were elimination of Hafizullah Amin, who was reportedly seen interested in the opposition of the Soviet Union at the time, fear of establishment of an Islamic state in Afghanistan, its advancement forward-looking ideologies.
The 40th army fought against the Afghan people for nine years which resulted in two million martyrs, hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans, six million emigrants, and half a million disabilities. Besides, it destroyed the political, social, economic and military infrastructure and deprivation of an entire generation from education. All of these paved road for foreign interference in Afghanistan.
Around 620,000 Soviet Union soldiers took their turn in fight against the Afghan people. After 9 years of resistance by the Afghan people, the Soviet Union soldiers finally left Afghanistan with a disgraceful defeat on 15th February 1989. Based on the Soviet Union data, the invasion of Afghanistan coasted them 14,751 deaths, 47,000 wounded, and almost 50 billion US dollars which is not a small amount if we calculate its value according to currency of that time.
Above all, the Soviet Union did pay the price for invading Afghanistan as within a decade after the invasion, the USSR was collapsed and got eliminated from the world geography.
Examples the USSR’s Massacres in Afghanistan:
Even though the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan resulted the loss of two million Afghan lives but we are mentioning some of the brutal killings so the younger generation know what had happened.
On 25th January 1980, 750 residents of Gharshaq village located in the Chahardara district of Kunduz province were massacred by the Soviet Union soldiers.
On 10th February 1980, 250 people were killed by the Soviet Union soldiers in Dasht Archi district of Kunduz province.
On August 12th 1980, when performing the Eid prayer, 1200 residents of Maidan Wardag province were bombarded by the Soviet Union army.
On 9th January 1981, in an airstrike as well as on ground operation, 200 residents of the Khanabad district of Kunduz province were brutally killed which included children, women, and elders.
On 23d June 1981, the Soviet Union army alongside their puppet regime killed hundreds of people in an airstrike in Kandahar.
On July 27th 1982, the Soviet Union soldiers destroyed six villages in Logar province and killed 200 civilians.
On 29th July 1982, 120 youmgsters were brutally shot after they were sieged by the Soviet Union army in Dahana Ghori district of Baghlan province.
On 25th April 1983, due to the combined on the ground and airstrike operation of the Soviet Union army and their internal supporters, thousands of men, women, and children were killed in Herat province.
On December 9th 1983, 250 resident of Ghazni Province were killed in a refinery operation of Soviet Union army.
On 18th March 1984, a unit of Soviet Union commando forces attacked the Chaparhar district of Nangarhar province. They forcefully took the youngsters with them and made them join the army. In an attempt to escape, 75 of them were killed by the Soviet Union army.
On 19th September, 1984, the USSR aircrafts and their local allies bombarded Baghlan province and killed 150 innocent people.
On 21st January, 1985, the Soviet Union army undertoke military operations which ended with killing 542 unarmed people of Chardara district of Kunduz province
On 24th April, 1985, due to airstrikes of the USSR, thousands of people were killed in Qargha district of Laghman province.
On 15th July, 1985, an offense of the USSR army on Panjshir valley resulted in heavy financial losses and casualties to the people.
On 13th June, 1987, airstrikes of the USSR and Najib’s army killed around 100 people in Arghandab district of Kandahar province.
On 11th December, 1987, airstrikes of the Soviet Union army killed 200 men, women and children in Nooristan province (Back then, it was a part of Kunar province).
On 24th January, 1989, around 1200 people were massacred by the USSR army in Southern Salang area.
The Afghan nation fought with the super power of the world with empty hands, which staggered the entire world. They went to war with the USSR for 9 years and caused them defeat. The new generation should appreciate the courage and bravery shown by their fathers.
These were some examples of the USSR massacre and war crimes in Afghanistan. but what should the Afghan nation learn from their history of war and destruction?
Lessons from the Soviet-Afghan War
Sadly, after the defeat of USSR and its puppets, the Mujahiddin were unable to establish an all-inclusive government in 1992. Flames of civil war expanded to all parts of the country. During the civil war in 1990s, neither the people of Afghanistan got a chance to hold the USSR accountable for their doings, nor the international community had any interest to indict the offenders. The allies of Mujahiddin, including European countries, the US and the neighboring countries changed their intentions in order to profit from the new circumstances in Afghanistan.
After the three decades of war and the USSR pullout, Afghanistan is still deprived from freedom and independence. Apparently, the US has decided to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan, according to peace agreement between the US and the Taliban. However, the true policy is still indefinite. There are some elements that are against the peace process and are striving to sabotage. The security condition of the country is therefore worsening day by day,
The Afghan government and the Taliban are therefore obliged not to repeat the failed experience of reconciliation of the Mujahiddin and should reach an agreement by streamlining to peace negotiation process. The long lists of demands from each side only indicate failure and continuity of civil war. The following are issues that should be considered by both sides:
- Both sides should agree on a framework of an interim structure of government which has the support of the international community and is consistent of all sides, including the Taliban.
- Reformation of the constitution should take place during the interim government, and all its related matters should be discussed at that time.
- Violence should be reduced and a comprehensive ceasefire should occur after agreement over the framework of a new interim government.
- Agreement over elections as a part of the constitution in order to establish a new government after the interim government
The people of Afghanistan, and political and social groups consensually request the negotiating team to apprehend the sensitive stage of peace process and should reach an agreement without wasting any time, so that any further destruction and civil war can be avoided.