What were the effects of the Soviet Afghan war?

In the brutal nine-year conflict, an estimated one million civilians were killed, as well as 90,000 Mujahideen fighters and 18,000 Afghan troops. The country was left in ruins. Several million Afghans had either fled to Pakistan for refuge or had become internal refugees.

How did the Afghanistan war affect the country?

The war has exacerbated the effects of poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, lack of access to health care, and environmental degradation on Afghans’ health.

How did the Soviet Afghan war impact the fall of the Soviet Union?

The war impacted Soviet politics in four reinforcing ways: (1) Perception effects: it changed the perceptions of leaders about the efficacy of using the military to hold the empire together and to intervene in foreign countries; (2) Military effects: it discredited the Red Army, created cleavage between the party and …

How did the Soviet-Afghan war impact the Cold War?

As the cold war heated back up after the invasion of Afghanistan, both sides engaged in a series of tit-for-tat escalations of tensions. The Soviets emplaced intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBM) in eastern Europe and the United States responded by deploying its own IRBM systems in West Germany.

What caused the downfall of the Soviet Union?

Gorbachev’s decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Why did Soviet Union invade Afghanistan?

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 24 1979 under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty. The treaty was signed in 1978 and the two countries agreed to provide economic and military assistance.

Why did the Soviets invade Afghanistan?

Did the Soviet Afghan war cause the collapse of the Soviet Union?

As Soviet leaders realized by the mid-1980s, a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan would likely trigger a U.S. withdrawal from the region—which it did. In addition, the war in Afghanistan did not cause the collapse of the Soviet Union. Instead, Moscow’s ideology and system failed.

What did the Soviet Union do to Afghanistan?

The 1979 invasion triggered a brutal, nine-year civil war and contributed significantly to the USSR’s later collapse. On Christmas Eve 1979, the Soviet Union began an invasion of Afghanistan, its Central Asian neighbor to the south. First, it air-dropped elite troops into principal Afghan cities.

What were the effects of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan?

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Effects. The war had far-reaching effects on Afghanistan, Soviets, and US. Several million Afghans had either fled to Pakistan for refuge or had become internal refugees. Millions had died from starvation or from the bombings and raids.

Why did the Soviet Union go to war in Afghanistan?

At the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. This event began a brutal, decade-long attempt by Moscow to subdue the Afghan civil war and maintain a friendly and socialist government on its border.

What percentage of Afghanistan’s population was killed in the war?

Between 6.5%–11.5% of Afghanistan’s population is estimated to have perished in the conflict. The war caused grave destruction in Afghanistan, and it has also been cited by scholars as a contributing factor to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, in hindsight leaving a mixed legacy to people in both territories.

What is the legacy of the war in Afghanistan?

It has left a mixed legacy in the former Soviet Union and in Afghanistan. Additionally, U.S. policies in the war are also thought to have contributed to a “blowback” of unintended consequences against American interests, which led to the United States entering into its own war in Afghanistan in 2001.