War · 1979–1989
Soviet–Afghan War
Kabul, Afghanistan
In December 1979 Soviet forces entered Afghanistan to prop up its communist government against rebel mujahideen, who were backed above all by Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Fighting raged through the 1980s, mostly in the countryside; the war killed an estimated one to three million Afghans and drove millions more to flee as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran.
The Soviet Union, which lost an estimated 14,453 to 26,000 soldiers, withdrew in February 1989.
Why it mattered
The war added to the strains on the Soviet Union in its final years, and in Afghanistan fighting continued after the withdrawal until the Taliban seized Kabul and most of the country in 1996.
Related
- The world in 1960: The Year of Africa chapter
- Soviet–Afghan War 24 December 1979 – 15 February 1989
- China's reform and opening-up previous moment · 1978 onwards
- The Iranian Revolution next moment · 1978–1979