Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Many historians may ask themselves, “What possessed the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan.” Well, there are many reasons, power, greed, money, and leverage. Was it stupid by the Soviets to do this? Yes, they misunderstood how religious the Muslims were, and how far they’d go to keep Atheists, and other religions out. Anyway, this paper is an overview of the entire event. Things before the invasion of Afghanistan were very chaotic. The Communist party in Afghanistan had just gained control under Muhammad Talki. The rise of Communism in the country sparked religious revolts, because the Communist government promoted Atheism over religion. Naturally, extremist Muslims did not take kindly to this, and they revolted. These Muslims called themselves the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen themselves were a group of Muslim extremists who Over time another Communist Idealist overthrew Talki, this man was Hafizullah Amin. The previous leader had been a Soviet puppet, but Amin had different ideas. He wanted actual independence …show more content…
Such as, bombing the countryside, dropping plastic toys for Afghan children that would explode, and many other things. By the end of the war, a total of one million Afghan civilians were killed, and 5 million were refugees because of the Soviets actions [Kakar]. In the beginning of the war, the Mujahideen were poorly trained, and were easily beaten by the Soviets, though, over time, they gained experience, and the weapons that they used slowly increased in quality. Eventually, with their guerilla tactics, experience, and improved weapons, they were able to fight the Soviets on even ground, and eventually push them back. One of the reasons why the Mujahideen were able to hold out against the Soviets was because of their knowledge of the Afghan countryside. They were able to use this to their advantage by hiding in mountainous