The Soviet invasion of its neighbour Afghanistan in December 1979 sparked a bloody nine-year conflict in that country until Soviet forces withdrew in 1988-89 dooming the communist Afghanistan government to defeat at the hands of the Mujahideen the Afghan popular resistance backed by the USA & other powers. The Soviet invasion had enormous implications on the global stage; it prompted the US Senate to refuse to ratify the hard-won SALT II arms-limitation treaty & the USA & 64 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For Afghanistan the invasion served to prolong the interminable civil war that pitted central government against the regions & faction against faction. The country remains locked in conflict over 30 years later with no end in sight. Featuring specially drawn mapping & drawing upon a wide range of sources this succinct account explains the origins history & consequences of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan thereby shedding new light on the more recent history
- & prospects
- of that troubled country.