8 - The USSR in Afghanistan

Summary

Detailing the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan from 1978 to 1989 this chapter provides a list of policy requests from the Soviets to the Afghans and the rate of Afghan compliance from 1978 to 1980. Providing a summary of the Soviet-Afghan counterinsurgency partnership, this chapter discusses several distinctive components of the alliance, including the Soviet takeover of the Afghan state in 1980. Instead of asking its Afghan partners for new reforms, Moscow instead chooses to use internal Soviet agents embedded in Kabul to carry out requests within the Afghan regime. The chapter identifies and details 21 policy requests from 1978 to 1980 that pre-date the Soviet takeover of the Afghan state. Afghan compliance with those requests are remarkably similar with rates of compliance in other interventions, including the US intervention in Afghanistan. Soviet requests include negotiating with local powerbrokers and expanding governance structures.