afghanistan Flashcards
economic consequences of the afghanistan war for the USSR (5)
spent 8.2 billion dollars,
ranked 170/174 human development index making it one of the poorest countries in the world
growth rates steadily declining
USA banned exportation of goods to USSR such as grains, high-tech goods
usa funded insurgents (mujahideen)
social consequences of the afghanistan war (6)
fears of islamic radicalisation in russia with the population of muslims increasing from 11.6% to 16.5%
issues with returning the bodies of deceased soldiers, and lack of wheelchairs for returning soldiers sparked public anger
drug addiction issues for USSR soldiers
official figure 15,000 dead from the war but strict censorship meant it was probably more
750,000 to 1 million civilian afghan deaths and millions displaced
more and more opposition growing towards the soviet government with leaflets and protest. Government unable to stop citizens seeing the effects of the war on soldiers eg. PTSD
political consequences of the afghanistan war (7)
salt 2 treaty withdrawn from the senate
war condemned by many countries such as china, saudi arabia, pakistan, china and syria
presidential degree 59 passed which allowed the us to increase spending on nuclear weapons
jan 1980 carter document announced that USSR would intervene if ussr attacked the persian gulf
seen as the end of detente
ussr kept open relations with europe
65 countries boycotted the USSR 1980 olympics led by USA
usa employed nuclear weapons in britain, frg, belguim, netherlands and italy preventing any soviet strategic advantage
succession of new leaders
brezhnev dies 1982
andropov dies 1984
chernenko dies 1985
gorbachev comes into power 1985
delegitimization of the soviet party
academic sakharov publicly denounced the soviet army in afghanistan
also rise of fundamentalism in central asia republics
bad for russias reputation they had defeated germany in ww2 but couldn’t defeat afghan
power and coup in afghanistan
in april 1978 the peoples democratic party PDP prosoviet party came to power, (received aid from Moscow) however they were resisted by many factions within the PDP n because of their policies. Eg. land reform, secular education and womens rights
1979 a faction led b Hafizullah Amin came to power in a coup in September.
Many were joining the Jihadi Mujahedin
Amin increasingly relied on Soviet support and had started contacting the CIA, USSR felt they needed to intervene and replace with more prosoviet leader Kamal
why did the USSR intervene in afghanistan?
did not want the ‘afghan revolution’ defeated and afghanistan turning into shah’s iran
ussr believed the victory of the counter revolution would result in a bloodbath
claimed that they would cease to be a great power if it didnt take decisions that were unpopular but necessary
soviet military operations in afgh.
100,000 soldiers stationed in afghanistan in 1979
27 december soviet troops attacked the presedential palace and executed Amin replacing him with Kamal
afghan army had disintegrated leaving just the soviet army to combat the growing forces of mujahedin
