Losses of the parties in the Afghan war. How many Soviet soldiers died in the Afghan war

The fighting of the Mujahideen against Soviet soldiers was particularly brutal. For example, the authors of The Battles That Changed the Course of History: 1945-2004 make the following calculations. Since the opponents considered the Russians "invaders and invaders", then when counting the killed about 5 thousand a year - 13 people died in the Afghan war a day. There were 180 military camps in Afghanistan, 788 battalion commanders took part in hostilities. On average, one commander served in Afghanistan for 2 years, therefore, in less than 10 years, the number of commanders changed 5 times. If you divide the number of battalion commanders by 5, you get 157 combat battalions in 180 military camps.
1 battalion - at least 500 people. If we multiply the number of towns by the size of one battalion, we get 78.5 million people. For troops fighting the enemy, rear is needed. Auxiliary units include those who deliver ammunition, replenish provisions, guard roads, military camps, heal the wounded, and so on. The ratio is approximately three to one, that is, another 235.5 million people a year were in Afghanistan. Adding two numbers, we get 314,000 people.

According to this calculation of the authors of "Battles that changed the course of history: 1945-2004", for 9 years and 64 days in total, at least 3 million people took part in hostilities in Afghanistan! Which seems to be absolute fantasy. Approximately 800 thousand took part in active hostilities. The losses of the USSR - not less than 460,000 people, of which 50,000 were killed, 180,000 were wounded, 100,000 were blown up by mines, about 1,000 people are listed as missing, more than 200,000 people infected with serious diseases (jaundice, typhoid fever). These numbers show that the data in the newspapers are understated by 10 times.

It must be admitted that both the official loss data and the cited figures of individual researchers (probably biased) are unlikely to correspond to reality.

And the republican system was established. This served as the impetus for the start of a civil war between various socio-political and nationalist forces in the country.

In April 1978, the People's Democratic Party (PDPA) came to power in Afghanistan. The radicalism of the new Afghan leadership, the hasty breaking of the centuries-old traditions of the people and the foundations of Islam, increased the resistance of the population to the central government. The situation was complicated by foreign interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. The USSR and some other countries provided assistance to the Afghan government, and NATO countries, Muslim states and China - to the opposition forces.

By the end of 1979, the situation in the country had deteriorated sharply, and the threat of the overthrow of the ruling regime loomed. In this regard, the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) has repeatedly appealed to the USSR with a request to send military units to the country. The Soviet side at first rejected this form of intervention, but, amid the aggravation of the Afghan crisis, on December 12, 1979, the leadership of the USSR, fearing the transfer of hostilities to the territory of the Central Asian republics, decided to send troops to provide military assistance to the Afghan government. The decision was made at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in accordance with Article 4 of the Soviet-Afghan "Treaty on Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation", concluded on December 5, 1978, and formalized by a secret resolution of the CPSU Central Committee.

The introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan was viewed by the political leadership of the USSR as a short-term measure aimed at ensuring the security of the southern borders of the Soviet Union.

The main task of the limited contingent of Soviet troops (OCSV) was to create a "cordon sanitaire" near the borders of the USSR in the face of the impending threat of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism on the territory of the Soviet Muslim republics.

On December 16, 1979, an order was issued to detach from the administration of the Turkestan Military District (TurkVO) the field administration of the 40th Army and to fully mobilize it. The first deputy commander of the TurkVO troops, Lieutenant General Yuri Tukharinov, was appointed commander of the army. The formations and units of the 40th Army were fully mobilized 10-12 days before entering.

The commissioning and placement of OKSV in the DRA was carried out from December 25, 1979. By mid-January 1980, the entry of the main forces of the 40th Army was basically completed. Three divisions (two motorized rifle and one airborne), an airborne assault brigade, two separate regiments and other units were introduced into the territory of Afghanistan.

Subsequently, the combat composition of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan was constantly updated in order to strengthen it. The largest number of OKSV (1985) was 108.7 thousand people, including 73.6 thousand people in combat units. The composition of the OKSV mainly included: the management of the 40th Army, three motorized rifle and one airborne divisions, nine separate brigades and seven separate regiments, four front-line regiments and two regiments of army aviation, as well as logistic, medical, repair, construction and other units. and divisions.

The general leadership of the OKSV was carried out by the operational group of the USSR Ministry of Defense, headed by Marshal of the USSR Sergei Sokolov, since 1985 by General of the Army Valentin Varennikov. Direct control of the combat and daily activities of the OKSV was carried out by the commander of the 40th Army, subordinate to the command of the troops of the TurkVO.

Soviet troops in Afghanistan guarded and defended national economic facilities, airfields, roads vital for the country, guided transport convoys with cargo through the territory under the control of the armed opposition.

To reduce the military activity of the opposition, the OKSV conducted active hostilities of various scales using the entire arsenal of conventional weapons, and carried out air strikes on opposition bases. In accordance with the decision of the political leadership of the USSR, in response to the numerous shelling of their garrisons and transport convoys by opposition detachments, Soviet troops began to conduct, together with Afghan units, military operations to search for and eliminate the most aggressive armed groups of the enemy. Thus, the Soviet troops deployed to Afghanistan found themselves involved in an internal military conflict on the side of the country's government against the opposition forces, which were most assisted by Pakistan.

The stay of Soviet troops in Afghanistan and their combat activities are conventionally divided into four stages.

1st stage: December 1979 - February 1980. The introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, their deployment in garrisons, the organization of the protection of deployment points and various objects.

2nd stage: March 1980 - April 1985. Conducting active hostilities, including large-scale ones, together with Afghan formations and units. Work on the reorganization and strengthening of the armed forces of the DRA.

3rd stage: May 1985 - December 1986. The transition from active hostilities mainly to support for the actions of the Afghan troops by Soviet aviation, artillery and sapper units. Special forces units fought to prevent the delivery of weapons and ammunition from abroad. The withdrawal of six Soviet regiments to their homeland took place.

4th stage: January 1987 - February 1989. The participation of Soviet troops in the Afghan leadership's policy of national reconciliation. Continued support for the combat activities of Afghan troops. Preparing Soviet troops for their return to their homeland and the implementation of their complete withdrawal.

Even after the introduction of troops into Afghanistan, the USSR continued to look for opportunities for a political solution to the intra-Afghan conflict. Since August 1981, he tried to ensure the negotiation process of the DRA with Pakistan and Iran, since April 1986 - to promote a systemic policy of national reconciliation.

On April 14, 1988, in Geneva (Switzerland), representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the USSR and the United States signed five fundamental documents on the settlement of the political situation around Afghanistan. These agreements regulated the process of the withdrawal of Soviet troops and declared international guarantees of non-interference in the internal affairs of the republic, the obligations of which were assumed by the USSR and the USA. Deadlines were set for the withdrawal of Soviet troops: half of the limited contingent was withdrawn by August 15, 1988, the rest of the units - after another six months.

On May 15, 1988, the withdrawal of the OKSV began, which ended on February 15, 1989. The withdrawal of troops was led by the last commander of the 40th Army, Lieutenant General Boris Gromov.

About 620 thousand servicemen passed military service in Afghanistan, including 525.2 thousand people in the OKSV.

The losses of servicemen of the 40th Army were: killed and deceased - 13 833 people, including 1,979 officers and generals, wounded - 49 985 people. In addition, during the hostilities in Afghanistan, 572 servicemen of state security agencies, 28 employees of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as 190 military advisers, including 145 officers, were killed. Due to injuries, 172 officers stopped their service in the Armed Forces. 6669 "Afghans" became invalids, including 1479 invalids of the first group.

For military and other services, over 200 thousand people were awarded orders and medals, 86 were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 28 of them were posthumous.

(Additional

The favorable geopolitical position of this small and poor country in the center of Eurasia has predetermined the fact that for several hundred years the world powers have been fighting for control over it. In recent decades, Afghanistan has been the hottest spot on the planet.

Prewar years: 1973-1978

Officially, the civil war in Afghanistan began in 1978, but it was led by events that had occurred several years earlier. For many decades, the state system in Afghanistan was a monarchy. In 1973, statesman and general Muhammad Daoud overthrew his cousin King Zahir Shah and established his own authoritarian regime, which neither local Islamists nor communists liked. Daoud's attempts to carry out reforms have failed. The situation in the country was unstable, conspiracies were constantly organized against the Daoud government, in most cases they were suppressed.

The coming to power of the left PDPA party: 1978-1979

Finally, in 1978, the left-wing People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) carried out the April or, as it is also called, the Saur revolution. The PDPA came to power, and President Mohammed Daoud and his entire family were killed in the presidential palace. PDPA proclaimed the country the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. From that moment on, a real civil war began in the country.

Afghan War: 1979-1989

The opposition of local Islamists to the PDPA authorities, constant riots and uprisings became the reason for PDPA to turn to the USSR for help. Initially, the Soviet Union did not want military intervention. However, the fear that forces hostile to the USSR would come to power in Afghanistan forced the Soviet leadership to enter into a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

The Afghan war for the USSR began with the fact that the Soviet troops eliminated the PDPA leader who was objectionable to the Soviet leadership Hafizullah Amin, who was suspected of having links with the CIA. Instead, he began to lead the state Barak Karmal.

The USSR hoped that the war would not be long, but it dragged on for 10 years. The government troops and Soviet soldiers were opposed by the Mujahideen - Afghans who joined the armed formations and adhere to a radical Islamic ideology. Support for the Mujahideen was provided by part of the local population, as well as foreign countries. The United States, with the help of Pakistan, armed the mujahideen and provided them with financial assistance in the framework of Operation Cyclone.

In 1986, the new president of Afghanistan was Mohammad Najibullah, and in 1987 the government set a course for national reconciliation. Around the same years, the name of the country began to be called the Republic of Afghanistan, a new constitution was adopted.

In 1988-1989, the USSR withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, this war turned out to be essentially meaningless. In spite of a large number of of the conducted military operations, it was not possible to suppress the opposition forces, and the civil war in the country continued.

The fight of the Afghan government against the mujahideen: 1989-1992

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the government continued to fight the mujahideen. Foreign supporters of the mujahideen believed that the ruling regime would soon fall, but the government continued to receive assistance from the USSR. In addition, Soviet military equipment was transferred to the government forces. Therefore, the hopes for a quick victory of the Mujahideen did not come true.

At the same time, after the collapse of the USSR, the government's position worsened, Russia stopped supplying weapons to Afghanistan. At the same time, some prominent military personnel who previously fought on the side of President Najibullah went over to the side of the opposition. The President completely lost control over the country and announced that he agreed to step down. The Mujahideen entered Kabul, and the PDPA regime finally fell.

"Internecine" wars of the Mujahideen: 1992-2001

Having come to power, the field commanders of the Mujahideen began to fight among themselves. The new government soon fell apart. In these conditions, the Islamist Taliban movement was formed in the south of the country under the leadership of Muhammad Omar... The adversary of the Taliban was an association of field commanders called the Northern Alliance.

In 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul, executed former President Najibullah, who was hiding in a UN mission building, and declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which virtually no one officially recognized. Although the Taliban did not fully control the country, they introduced Sharia law in the occupied territory. Women were forbidden to work and study. Music, television, computers, the Internet, chess, and the visual arts were also banned. Thieves' hands were cut off, they were stoned for infidelity. The Taliban were also characterized by extreme religious intolerance towards those who adhered to other faiths.

Taliban grant political asylum to former leader of al-Qaeda terrorist organization Osama bin Laden, who initially fought against the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, and then began a fight against the United States.

NATO in Afghanistan: 2001 - present

After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, a new stage of the war began in New York, which continues to this day. The United States suspected terrorist number one Osama bin Laden in organizing the terrorist attacks and demanded the Taliban to extradite him and the leadership of Al-Qaeda. The Taliban refused to do so, and in October 2001, US and British forces, backed by the Northern Alliance, launched an offensive in Afghanistan. Already in the first months of the war, they succeeded in overthrowing the Taliban regime and removing them from power.

The NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) contingent was deployed in the country, a new government appeared in the country, led by Hamid Karzai... In 2004, after the adoption of a new constitution, he was elected president of the country.

At the same time, the Taliban went underground and started a guerrilla war. In 2002, the troops of the international coalition carried out Operation Anaconda against al-Qaeda militants, as a result of which many of the militants were killed. The Americans called the operation successful, at the same time the command underestimated the forces of the militants, and the actions of the coalition forces were not coordinated properly, which caused many problems during the operation.

In subsequent years, the Taliban began to gradually gain strength and organize suicide attacks, in which both contingent soldiers and civilians were killed. At the same time, ISAF forces began to gradually move to the south of the country, where the Taliban were entrenched. In 2006-2007, fierce hostilities were conducted in these regions of the country. Due to the escalation of the conflict and the intensification of hostilities, civilians began to die at the hands of coalition soldiers. In addition, disagreements began between the allies. In addition, in 2008, the Taliban began to attack the Pakistani supply route, and NATO asked Russia to provide an air corridor for supplying troops. In addition, in the same year, there was an assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai, and the Taliban released 400 members of the movement from the Kandahar prison. The propaganda of the Taliban among the local population led to the fact that civilians began to show dissatisfaction with NATO's presence in the country.

The Taliban continued to wage guerrilla warfare, avoiding major clashes with coalition forces. At the same time, more and more Americans began to speak out for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

A major American victory was the elimination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. In the same year, NATO decided to gradually withdraw the contingent from the country and to transfer responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local authorities. In the summer of 2011, the withdrawal of troops began.

In 2012, the President of the United States Barack Obama reported that the Afghan government controls the areas in which 75% of the population of Afghanistan lives, and by 2014 the authorities will have to control the entire territory of the country.

February 13, 2013. After 2014, between 3 and 9 thousand American soldiers should remain in Afghanistan. In the same year, a new international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan should start, which does not imply the conduct of hostilities.

Afghan war 1979-1989 - long-term political and armed confrontation between the parties: the ruling pro-Soviet regime of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) with the military support of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan (OKSVA) - on the one hand, and mujahideen ("dushmans"), with a part of Afghan society sympathetic to them, with political and financial support of foreign countries and a number of states of the Islamic world - on the other.

The decision to send troops of the USSR Armed Forces to Afghanistan was made on December 12, 1979 at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in accordance with the secret resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU No. 176/125 "To the position in" A "", "in order to prevent aggression from outside and strengthen the southern borders friendly regime in Afghanistan ”. The decision was taken by a narrow circle of members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (Yu. V. Andropov, D. F. Ustinov, A. A. Gromyko and L. I. Brezhnev).

To achieve these goals, the USSR sent a group of troops into Afghanistan, and a detachment of special forces from among the emerging KGB special unit "Vympel" killed the current President H. Amin and everyone who was with him in the palace. By Moscow's decision, the new leader of Afghanistan was a protege of the USSR, former Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Afghanistan in Prague B. Karmal, whose regime received significant and versatile - military, financial and humanitarian - support of the Soviet Union.

Background

"Big game"

Afghanistan is located in the heart of Eurasia, which allows it to play an important role in relations between neighboring regions.

From the beginning of the 19th century, a struggle for control over Afghanistan began between the Russian and British empires, which was called the "Great Game" (eng. TheGreatGame).

Anglo-Afghan wars

The British tried to forcefully establish domination over Afghanistan, sending their troops from neighboring British India in January 1839. This is how the first Anglo-Afghan war began. Initially, success accompanied the British - they managed to overthrow Emir Dost Mohammed and put Shuja Khan on the throne. The reign of Shuja Khan, however, did not last long and in 1842 he was overthrown. Afghanistan concluded a peace treaty with Britain and retained its independence.

Meanwhile, the Russian Empire continued to actively advance south. In the 1860-1880s, the annexation of Central Asia to Russia was mainly completed.

The British, worried about the rapid advance of Russian troops to the borders of Afghanistan, began the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1878. A stubborn struggle lasted two years and in 1880 the British were forced to leave the country, but at the same time leaving the loyal Emir Abdur-Rahman on the throne and thus retaining control over the country.

In the 1880-1890s, the modern borders of Afghanistan were formed, determined by joint agreements between Russia and Britain.

Independence of Afghanistan

In 1919, Amanullah Khan proclaimed the independence of Afghanistan from Great Britain. The third Anglo-Afghan war began.

The first state to recognize independence was Soviet Russia, which provided Afghanistan with significant economic and military assistance.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Afghanistan was a backward agrarian country with a complete lack of industry, an extremely poor population, more than half of which were illiterate.

Republic of Daoud

In 1973, during the visit of the King of Afghanistan Zahir Shah to Italy, a coup d'etat took place in the country. Power was seized by a relative of Zahir Shah, Mohammed Daoud, who proclaimed the first republic in Afghanistan.

Daoud established an authoritarian dictatorship and tried to carry out reforms, but most of them ended in failure. The first republican period in the history of Afghanistan is characterized by strong political instability, rivalry between pro-communist and Islamist groups. The Islamists raised several uprisings, but all of them were suppressed by government forces.

Daoud's reign ended with the Saur revolution in April 1978, as well as the execution of the president and all members of his family.

Saur revolution

On April 27, 1978, the April (Saur) revolution began in Afghanistan, as a result of which the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) came to power, proclaiming the country the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA).

Attempts by the country's leadership to carry out new reforms that would make it possible to overcome the backlog of Afghanistan met with resistance from the Islamic opposition. Since 1978, even before the introduction of Soviet troops, a civil war began in Afghanistan.

In March 1979, during the mutiny in the city of Herat, the first request from the Afghan leadership for direct Soviet military intervention followed (there were about 20 such requests in total). But the commission of the Central Committee of the CPSU on Afghanistan, created back in 1978, reported to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the obvious negative consequences of direct Soviet intervention, and the request was rejected.

However, the Herat revolt forced the reinforcement of Soviet troops near the Soviet-Afghan border, and by order of Defense Minister D.F.Ustinov, preparations began for a possible landing of the 105th Guards Airborne Division into Afghanistan.

The further development of the situation in Afghanistan - armed demonstrations of the Islamic opposition, mutinies in the army, internal party struggles and especially the events of September 1979, when the leader of the PDPA N. Taraki was arrested and then killed on the orders of H. Amin, who removed him from power - caused serious concern among the Soviet manuals. It watched Amin's activities at the head of Afghanistan with caution, knowing his ambitions and cruelty in the struggle to achieve personal goals. Under H. Amin, terror unfolded in the country not only against the Islamists, but also against the PDPA members who were Taraki's supporters. The repressions also affected the army, the main support of the PDPA, which led to the fall of its already low morale and caused mass desertions and revolts. The Soviet leadership feared that a further exacerbation of the situation in Afghanistan would lead to the fall of the PDPA regime and the coming to power of forces hostile to the USSR. Moreover, the KGB received information about Amin's connections with the CIA in the 1960s and about secret contacts of his emissaries with American officials after the assassination of Taraki.

As a result, it was decided to prepare the overthrow of Amin and replace him with a more loyal Soviet leader. As such, B. Karmal was considered, whose candidacy was supported by the chairman of the KGB, Yu. V. Andropov.

When developing the operation to overthrow Amin, it was decided to use the requests of Amin himself for Soviet military assistance. In total, from September to December 1979, there were 7 such calls. In early December 1979, the so-called "Muslim battalion" was sent to Bagram - a special task force of the GRU - specially formed in the summer of 1979 from Soviet military personnel of Central Asian origin to guard Taraki and carry out special tasks in Afghanistan. In early December 1979, the Minister of Defense of the USSR D.F.Ustinov informed a narrow circle of officials from among the top military leadership that in the near future, obviously, a decision would be made on the use of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. From December 10, on the personal order of D.F.Ustinov, the deployment and mobilization of units and formations of the Turkestan and Central Asian military districts was carried out. Chief of the General Staff N. Ogarkov, however, was against the introduction of troops.

According to V. I. Varennikov, in 1979 the only member of the Politburo who did not support the decision to send Soviet troops to Afghanistan was A. N. Kosygin, and from that moment A. N. Kosygin had a complete break with Brezhnev and his entourage ...

On December 13, 1979, the Operational Group of the Ministry of Defense for Afghanistan was formed, headed by the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army S. F. Akhromeev, which began work in the Turkestan Military District on December 14. On December 14, 1979, a battalion of the 345th Guards Separate Parachute Regiment was sent to Bagram, to reinforce the battalion of the 111th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 105th Guards Airborne Division, which since July 7, 1979 was guarded in Bagram by the Soviet military -transport aircraft and helicopters.

At the same time, B. Karmal and several of his supporters were secretly brought to Afghanistan on December 14, 1979 and were in Bagram among Soviet servicemen. On December 16, 1979, an attempt was made to assassinate Amin, but he survived, and B. Karmal was urgently returned to the USSR. On December 20, 1979, a "Muslim battalion" was transferred from Bagram to Kabul, which entered the guard brigade of Amin's palace, which greatly facilitated the preparation for the planned assault on this palace. For this operation, 2 KGB special groups also arrived in Afghanistan in mid-December.

Until December 25, 1979, in the Turkestan military district, the field administration of the 40th combined-arms army, 2 motorized rifle divisions, an army artillery brigade, an anti-aircraft missile brigade, an airborne assault brigade, combat and logistics support units were prepared for entering Afghanistan, and in the Central Asian military district - two motorized rifle regiments, a mixed air corps administration, 2 fighter-bombers, 1 fighter-bombers, 2 helicopter regiments, aviation technical and airfield support units. Three more divisions were mobilized as a reserve in both districts. More than 50 thousand people from the Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan were called up to complete the units, about 8 thousand cars and other equipment were transferred from the national economy. It was the largest mobilization deployment of the Soviet Army since 1945. In addition, the 103rd Guards Airborne Division from Belarus was also prepared for the transfer to Afghanistan, which was transferred to airfields in the Turkestan Military District on December 14.

By the evening of December 23, 1979, it was reported about the readiness of troops to enter Afghanistan. On December 24, D.F. Ustinov signed Directive No. 312/12/001, which stated:

The directive did not provide for the participation of Soviet troops in hostilities on the territory of Afghanistan; the procedure for the use of weapons, even for self-defense purposes, was not determined. True, on December 27, DF Ustinov's order appeared to suppress the resistance of the rebels in cases of attack. It was assumed that Soviet troops would become garrisons and take under protection important industrial and other facilities, thereby freeing up parts of the Afghan army for active operations against opposition units, as well as against possible external interference. The border with Afghanistan was ordered to cross at 15:00 Moscow time (17:00 Kabul) on December 27, 1979. But on the morning of December 25, the 4th battalion of the 56th Guards Airborne Assault Brigade crossed the built pontoon bridge across the border river Amu Darya, which was tasked with capturing the high-mountain Salang pass on the Termez-Kabul road in order to ensure the unhindered passage of Soviet troops.

In Kabul, units of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division by noon on December 27 completed the landing method and took control of the airport, blocking the Afghan aviation and air defense batteries. Other units of this division were concentrated in designated areas of Kabul, where they received tasks to blockade the main government agencies, Afghan military units and headquarters, and other important facilities in the city and its environs. After a clash with Afghan servicemen, the 357th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 103rd Division and the 345th Guards Parachute Regiment were established over the Bagram airfield. They also provided security for B. Karmal, who was brought back to Afghanistan on December 23 with a group of his closest supporters.

The assault on Amin's palace

On the evening of December 27, Soviet special forces stormed Amin's palace, and during the assault, Amin was killed. State institutions in Kabul were captured by Soviet paratroopers.

On the night of December 27-28, B. Karmal arrived in Kabul from Bagram and the radio of Kabul broadcast the appeal of this new ruler to the Afghan people, in which the "second stage of the revolution" was proclaimed.

Main events

In July 1979, a battalion from the 111th Parachute Regiment (111 pdp) 105th Airborne Division (105 airborne), the 103rd airborne division also arrived in Kabul, in fact, after a regular reorganization in 1979 - a separate battalion 345 opdp... These were the first military units and units of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan.

The first "Muslim battalion" arrived in Afghanistan from 9 to 12 December - 154 ooSpN 15obrSpN.

December 25 columns of the 40th Army (40 A) The Turkestan Military District is crossing the Afghan border on a pontoon bridge over the Amu Darya River. H. Amin expressed gratitude to the Soviet leadership and ordered the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the DRA to provide assistance to the troops being deployed.

• January 10-11 - an attempt at an anti-government mutiny by artillery regiments of the 20th Afghan division in Kabul. During the battle, about 100 rebels were killed; Soviet troops lost two killed, and two more were wounded. At the same time, a directive from the Minister of Defense D. Ustinov appeared on the planning and beginning of hostilities - raids against rebel units in the northern regions of Afghanistan adjacent to the Soviet border, by the forces of an equally reinforced battalion and the use of the army's firepower, including the Air Force, to suppress resistance.

• February 23 - tragedy in a tunnel on the Salang pass. During the passage of the tunnel by subdivisions 186 sms and 2 zrbr in the complete absence of the commandant's service, a traffic jam formed in the middle of the tunnel due to an accident. As a result, 16 Soviet servicemen suffocated 2 zrbr... There is no data on the suffocated Afghans.
• February-March - the first major operation to suppress an armed rebellion in a mountain regiment in Asmara, Kunar province of the OKSV units against the Mujahideen - the Kunar offensive. On February 28-29, units of the 317th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division in the Asmara region entered heavy bloody battles, as a result of the blocking of the 3rd Parachute Battalion by the dushmans in the Asmara Gorge. 33 people were killed, 40 were wounded, one serviceman was missing.
• April - US Congress authorizes $ 15,000,000 of "direct and overt aid" to the Afghan opposition.

First military operation in Panjshir.

• May 11 - the death of the 1st motorized rifle company of the 66th OMRB (Jalalabad) near the village of Khara, Kunar province.
• June 19 - the decision of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee to withdraw some tank, missile and anti-aircraft missile units from Afghanistan.
• August 3 - a battle near the village of Shaesta. The 783rd separate reconnaissance battalion of the 201st Motorized Rifle Division was ambushed in the Mashhad Gorge - the Kishim region near the town of Faizabad, 48 servicemen were killed, 49 were wounded. It was one of the bloodiest episodes in the history of the Afghan war.
• August 12 - the arrival of the special forces of the KGB of the USSR "Karpaty" in the country.
• September 23 - Lieutenant General Boris Tkach is appointed Commander of the 40th Army.

• September - fighting in the Lurkokh mountain range in the Farah province; death of Major General Khakhalov.
• October 29 - the entry of the second "Muslim battalion" (177 ooSpN) under the command of Major Kerimbayev ("Kara-Major").
• December - the defeat of the opposition base point in the Darzab region (Jowzjan province).

• April 5 - during the military operation in the west of Afghanistan, Soviet troops mistakenly invaded Iranian territory. Iranian military aircraft destroyed two Soviet helicopters.
• In May-June, the fifth Panjshir operation was carried out, during which a mass landing was carried out for the first time in Afghanistan: in the first three days alone, over 4,000 airborne personnel were parachuted. All in all, about 12,000 servicemen of various types of troops took part in this confrontation. The operation took place simultaneously for the entire 120 km into the depth of the gorge. As a result of this operation, Panjshir was taken.
• November 3 - tragedy at the Salang pass. As a result of a traffic jam outside the tunnel, more than 176 people died.
• November 15 - meeting of Yu. Andropov and Zia ul-Haq in Moscow. The Secretary General had a private conversation with the Pakistani President, during which he briefed him on “ new flexible policy of the Soviet side and understanding of the need for the fastest resolution of the crisis". The meeting also discussed the feasibility of the stay of Soviet troops in Afghanistan and the prospects for the participation of the Soviet Union in the war. In exchange for the withdrawal of troops from Pakistan, it was required to abandon aid to the rebels.

• 2 January - in Mazar-i-Sharif, the Mujahideen abducted a group of 16 Soviet "civilian specialists".
• February 2 - The hostages abducted in Mazar-i-Sharif and in the village of Vakhshak in northern Afghanistan were released, but six of them died.
• March 28 - meeting of the UN delegation headed by Perez de Cuellar and D. Cordovez with Y. Andropov. Andropov thanks the UN for “ understanding the problem"And assures the intermediaries that he is ready to undertake" certain steps”, But doubts that Pakistan and the US will support the UN proposal regarding their non-interference in the conflict.
• April - Operation to defeat opposition units in the Nijrab Gorge, Kapisa province. Soviet units lost 14 people killed and 63 wounded.
• May 19 - Soviet Ambassador to Pakistan V. Smirnov officially confirmed the aspiration of the USSR and Afghanistan " schedule the withdrawal of the contingent of Soviet troops».
• July - Mujahideen attack on Khost. An attempt to blockade the city was unsuccessful.
• August - the hard work of D. Cordovez's mission to prepare agreements for a peaceful settlement of the Afghan problem is almost completed: an 8-month program for the withdrawal of troops from the country has been developed, but after Andropov's illness, the issue of the conflict was removed from the agenda of the Politburo meetings. Now it was only about “ dialogue with the UN».
• Winter - hostilities intensified in the region of Sarobi and the Jalalabad Valley (in the reports, the province of Laghman is most often mentioned). For the first time, armed opposition units remain on the territory of Afghanistan for the entire winter period. The creation of fortified areas and bases of resistance began directly in the country.

• January 16 - Mujahideen shot down a Su-25 aircraft from Strela-2M MANPADS. This is the first case of successful use of MANPADS in Afghanistan.

• April 30 - in the Khazar gorge, during a large-scale military operation in the Panjshir gorge, the 1st battalion of the 682nd motorized rifle regiment was ambushed and suffered heavy losses.
• October 27 - Mujahideen shoot down an Il-76 transport aircraft over Kabul from Strela MANPADS.

• April 21 - Death of the Maravara company.
• April 26 - the uprising of Soviet and Afghan prisoners of war in the Badaber prison, located in Pakistan.
• May 25 - Kunar Operation. Battle near the village of Konyak, Pechdara gorge, Kunar province of the 4th company, 149th Guards. Motorized rifle regiment. Caught in the ring of the surrounded mujahideen and Pakistani mercenaries - "Black Storks", the guardsmen of the 4th company and the forces of the 2nd battalion attached to it lost 23 dead and 28 wounded.
• June - Army operation in Panjshir.
• Summer is a new course of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee towards a political solution to the "Afghan problem".
• October 16-17 - Shutulian tragedy (20 dead, several dozen wounded)
• The main task of the 40th Army is to cover the southern borders of the USSR, for which new motorized rifle units are involved. The creation of support fortifications in hard-to-reach regions of the country began.
• On November 22, 1985, while performing the mission, the outpost of the Motor-Maneuvering Group (MMG) of the Panfilov border detachment of the Eastern border district of the KGB of the USSR was ambushed. 19 border guards were killed in the battle near the Afrij village in the Zardev gorge of the Badakhshan province. These were the largest losses of border guards in one battle in the 1979-1989 Afghan war.

• February - at the XXVII Congress of the CPSU M. Gorbachev makes a statement about the beginning of the development of a plan for a phased withdrawal of troops.
• April 4-20 - Operation to defeat the Javar base: a major defeat for the Mujahideen. Unsuccessful attempts by Ismail Khan's detachments to break through the "security zone" around Herat.
• May 4 - at the 18th plenum of the Central Committee of the PDPA, M. Najibullah, who had previously headed the Afghan counterintelligence KHAD, was elected to the post of General Secretary instead of B. Karmal. The plenary session proclaimed the policy of solving the problems of Afghanistan by political methods.
• June 16 - Military operation "Maneuver" - Takhar province. A prolonged battle on Mount Yafsadzh of the 783rd ORB of the 201st Motorized Rifle Division - the Jarav gorge, in which 18 scouts were killed and 22 were wounded. This was the second tragedy of the Kunduz Intelligence Battalion.
• July 28 - M. Gorbachev publicly announced the imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan of six regiments of the 40th Army (about 7000 people). Later, the withdrawal date will be postponed. There is a debate in Moscow about whether to withdraw the troops completely.
• August - Massoud defeats the government forces base in Farhar, Takhar province.
• August 18-26 - Military operation "Trap" under the command of General of the Army V. I. Varennikov. The assault on the fortified area "Kokari-Sharshari" in the province of Herat.
• Autumn - reconnaissance group of Major Belov of 173 ooSpN 22obrSpN captures the first batch of three Stinger MANPADS in the Kandahar region.
• October 15-31 - tank, motorized rifle, anti-aircraft regiments were withdrawn from Shindand, motorized rifle and anti-aircraft regiments were withdrawn from Kunduz, and anti-aircraft regiments were withdrawn from Kabul.
• November 13 - at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev noted: “ We have been fighting in Afghanistan for six years. If we do not change our approaches, then we will fight for another 20-30 years.". Chief of the General Staff Marshal Akhromeev said: “ There is not a single military task that has been set, but not solved, but there is no result.<…>We control Kabul and the provincial centers, but we cannot establish power in the occupied territory. We lost the fight for the Afghan people". At the same meeting, the task was set to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan within two years.
• December - an extraordinary plenum of the Central Committee of the PDPA proclaims a policy of national reconciliation and advocates an early end to the fratricidal war.

• January 2 - an operational group of the USSR Ministry of Defense, headed by the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, General of the Army V.I.Varennikov, is sent to Kabul.
• February - Operation Strike in Kunduz province.
• February-March - Operation Flurry in Kandahar province.
• 8 March - shelling of the city of Pyanj in the Tajik SSR by the Mujahideen.
• March - Operation Thunderstorm in Ghazni province.
• March 29, 1986 - during the hostilities of the 15th brigade, when the Jalalabad battalion, with the support of the Assadabad battalion, defeated a large mujahideen base in Karer.

Operation Circle in Kabul and Logar provinces.

• April 9 - Mujahideen attack on the Soviet border post. When repelling the attack, 2 Soviet servicemen are killed, 20 Mujahideen are killed.
• April 12 - The defeat of the Milov rebel base in the province of Nangarhar.
• May - Operation Volley in the provinces of Logar, Paktia, Kabul.

Operation South 87 in Kandahar province.

• Spring - Soviet troops begin to use the Barrier system to cover the eastern and southeastern sections of the state border.
• November 23 - Operation Magistral to unblock the city of Khost begins.

• January 7-8 - battle at altitude 3234.
• April 14 - with the mediation of the UN in Switzerland, the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan signed the Geneva Agreements on a political settlement of the situation around the situation in the DRA. The USSR and the USA became the guarantors of the agreements. The Soviet Union pledged to withdraw its contingent within a 9-month period starting on May 15; The US and Pakistan, for their part, had to stop supporting the mujahideen.
• June 24 - opposition detachments captured the center of the Wardak province - the city of Maidanshehr. In September 1988, Soviet troops near Maidanshehr conducted an operation to destroy the Khurkabul base area.
• August 10 - Mujahideen took Kunduz

• January 23-26 - Operation Typhoon, Kunduz province. The last military operation of the SA in Afghanistan.
• February 4 - The last division of the Soviet Army left Kabul.
• February 15 - Soviet troops are completely withdrawn from Afghanistan. The withdrawal of the troops of the 40th Army was led by the last commander of the Limited military contingent, Lieutenant General B.V. Gromov, who, according to the official version, was the last to cross the border river Amu Darya (Termez). He said: "Not a single Soviet soldier was left behind my back." This statement did not correspond to reality, since both Soviet servicemen who were captured by the Mujahideen and border guards who covered the withdrawal of troops and returned to the territory of the USSR only in the afternoon of February 15 remained in Afghanistan. The border troops of the KGB of the USSR carried out the tasks of protecting the Soviet-Afghan border by separate units on the territory of Afghanistan until April 1989.

results

• Colonel-General Gromov, the last commander of the 40th Army (led the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan), in his book "Limited contingent" expressed the following opinion regarding the victory or defeat of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan:

Indeed, the Mujahideen, prior to the start of the withdrawal of the OKSVA in May 1988, never managed to carry out a single major operation and did not succeed in occupying a single large city. At the same time, Gromov's opinion that the 40th Army was not given the task of military victory does not agree with the assessments of some other authors. In particular, Major General Yevgeny Nikitenko, who in 1985-1987 was the deputy chief of the operations department of the 40th Army headquarters, believes that throughout the war the USSR pursued unchanging goals - suppressing the resistance of the armed opposition and strengthening the power of the Afghan government. Despite all efforts, the number of opposition formations only grew from year to year, and in 1986 (at the peak of the Soviet military presence) the Mujahideen controlled more than 70% of the territory of Afghanistan. According to Colonel-General Viktor Merimsky, the former deputy. Head of the Operational Group of the USSR Ministry of Defense in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the leadership of Afghanistan actually lost the fight against the rebels for their people, could not stabilize the situation in the country, although they had 300 thousand military formations (army, police, state security).

• After the outbreak of the Afghan war, several countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Humanitarian implications

The result of hostilities from 1978 to 1992 was the flow of refugees to Iran and Pakistan, a considerable percentage of whom remain there to this day. The photo of Sharbat Gula, featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1985 under the title "Afghan Girl", has become a symbol of the Afghan conflict and refugee problems around the world.

The bitterness of the belligerents reached extreme limits. It is known that the Mujahideen subjected prisoners to torture, among which such as the "red tulip" is widely known. The weapons were used so widely that many of the villages were literally built from rockets left over after the departure of the Soviet army, residents used rockets to build houses, as ceilings, window and door beams, but the US administration's statements about the use of the 40th Army Chemical Weapons, announced in March 1982, have not been documented.

Losses of the parties

The exact number of Afghans killed in the war is unknown. The most common figure is 1 million deaths; available estimates range from 670,000 civilians to 2 million in total. According to Harvard professor M. Kramer, American researcher of the Afghan war: "During the nine years of the war, more than 2.5 million Afghans (mostly civilians) were killed or maimed, several million more ended up in the ranks of refugees, many of whom left the country." ... Apparently, there is no precise division of victims into government army soldiers, mujahideen and civilians.

Losses of the USSR

Total - 13 833 people. These data first appeared in the Pravda newspaper in August 1989. Subsequently, the total figure increased slightly, presumably due to the deaths from the consequences of injuries and illnesses after being discharged from the armed forces. As of January 1, 1999, the irretrievable losses in the Afghan war (killed, died from wounds, diseases and in accidents, missing) were estimated as follows:

• Soviet Army - 14,427
• KGB - 576
• Ministry of Internal Affairs - 28

Total - 15,031 people. Sanitary losses - almost 54 thousand wounded, shell-shocked, traumatized; 416 thousand cases.

According to the testimony of a professor at the Military Medical Academy of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Sidelnikov, the final figures do not include servicemen who died of wounds and diseases in hospitals on the territory of the USSR.

In the study of the Afghan war, conducted by officers of the General Staff under the guidance of prof. Valentina Runova, an estimate of 26,000 dead is given, including those killed in action, those who died from wounds and diseases, and those who died in accidents. The breakdown by year is as follows:

Of the approximately 400 servicemen listed as missing during the war, a certain number of prisoners were taken by Western journalists to Western Europe and North America. According to the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in June 1989 there were about 30 people living there; three people returned to the Soviet Union after the statement of the USSR Prosecutor General that the former prisoners would not be subject to criminal prosecution. According to the data of 15.02.2009, the Committee for Internationalist Warriors under the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth (CIS) member states, 270 people remained on the list of Soviet citizens missing in Afghanistan in the period from 1979 to 1989.

The death toll of Soviet generals according to publications in the press, it is usually four deaths, sometimes the figure of 5 deaths and deaths in Afghanistan is called.

Losses in equipment, according to official data, amounted to 147 tanks, 1,314 armored vehicles (armored personnel carriers, BMP, BMD, BRDM), 510 engineering vehicles, 11,369 trucks and fuel tankers, 433 artillery systems, 118 aircraft, 333 helicopters. At the same time, these figures were not specified in any way - in particular, information on the number of combat and non-combat losses of aviation, on the losses of aircraft and helicopters by type, etc. was not published.

Some of the Soviet servicemen who fought in Afghanistan experienced the so-called "Afghan syndrome" - post-traumatic stress disorder. Testing in the early 1990s showed that at least 35-40% of the participants in the war in Afghanistan were in dire need of the help of professional psychologists.

Other losses

According to the Pakistani authorities, in the first four months of 1987, more than 300 civilians were killed as a result of Afghan air raids on Pakistani territory.

Economic losses of the USSR

About 800 million US dollars were spent annually from the USSR budget to support the Kabul government.

In works of culture and art

Fiction

• Andrey Dyshev... Reconnaissance. - M .: Eksmo, 2006 .-- ISBN 5-699-14711-X
• Dyshev Sergey... Lost platoon. - M .: Eksmo, 2006 .-- ISBN 5-699-15709-3
• Mikhail Evstafiev... A stone's throw from paradise. - M .: Eksmo, 2006 - ISBN 5-699-18424-4
• Nikolay Prokudin... Raid battalion. - M .: Eksmo, 2006 - ISBN 5-699-18904-1
• Sergey Skripal, Gennady Rytchenko... A doomed contingent. - M .: Eksmo, 2006 .-- ISBN 5-699-16949-0
• Gleb Bobrov... Soldier saga. - M .: Eksmo, 2007 - ISBN 978-5-699-20879-1
• Alexander Prokhanov... A tree in the center of Kabul. - M .: Soviet writer, 1982 .-- 240 p.
• Svetlana Alexievich... Zinc boys. - M .: Time, 2007. - ISBN 978-5-9691-0189-3
• Frolov I.A. Walking with a flight technician. Helicopter pilot. - M .: EKSMO, 2007 .-- ISBN 978-5-699-21881-3
• Victor Nikolaev... Live in help. Notes of the "Afghan". - M .: Soft Publishing, 2006. - ISBN 5-93876-026-7
• Pavel Andreev... Twelve stories. Afghan War 1979-1989, 1998-2002.
• Alexander Segen... Lost armored personnel carrier. - M .: Armada-Press, 2001, 224 p. - ISBN 5-309-00098-4
• Oleg Ermakov... Afghan stories. The mark of the beast.
• Igor Moiseenko... Shelling sector. - M. Eksmo, 2008

Memoirs

• Gromov B.V."Limited contingent". M., Ed. group "Progress", "Culture", 1994. 352 p. In the book of the last commander of the 40th Army, many documents are given that reveal the reasons for the entry of troops, many events of the war are described.
• Lyakhovsky A.A. The Tragedy and Valor of Afgan M., Iskona, 1995, 720 p. ISBN 5-85844-047-9 Large fragments of the text coincide with the book of Gromov B.V.
• Mayorov A.M. The Truth About the Afghan War Testimonies of the Chief Military Adviser. M., Human Rights, 1996, ISBN 5-7712-0032-8
• A. N. Gordienko Wars of the second half of the 20th century. Minsk., 1999 ISBN 985-437-507-2 A large section of the book is devoted to the prerequisites and the course of hostilities in Afghanistan
• Ablazov V.I."Afghanistan. The Fourth War ", Kiev, 2002; “A cloudless sky over the whole of Afghanistan”, Kiev, 2005; "Long way from Afghan captivity and obscurity", Kiev, 2005
• Bondarenko I. N.“How we built in Afghanistan”, Moscow, 2009
• D. L. Podushkov Confession to yourself (about participation in hostilities in Afghanistan). - Vyshny Volochyok, 2002 .-- 48 p.
• David S. Innsby. Afghanistan. Soviet Victory // The Flame of the Cold War: Victories That Didn't Happen. = Cold War Hot: Alternative Decisuicions of the Cold War / ed. Peter Tsuros, trans. Y. Yablokova. - M .: AST, Lux, 2004 .-- S. 353-398. - 480 p. - (Great confrontations). - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-024051 (alternate history of the war)
• Kozhukhov, M. Yu. Alien stars over Kabul - Moscow: Olympus: Eksmo, 2010-352 p., ISBN 978-5-699-39744-0

In cinematography

• "Hot Summer in Kabul" (1983) - a film directed by Ali Khamraev
• Everything Paid For (1988) - a film directed by Alexey Saltykov
• Rambo 3 (1988, USA)
• "Sergeant" (1988) - a film as part of the film almanac "The Bridge", dir. Stanislav Gaiduk, production: Mosfilm, Belarusfilm
• "Scorched by Kandahar" (1989, director: Yuri Sabitov) - an Afghan Soviet officer decommissioned by injury enters the fight against the mafia and, in the end, at the cost of his own life, exposes the criminals
• "Cargo 300" (1989) - a film of the Sverdlovsk film studio
• "Two Steps to Silence" (1991) - a film directed by Yuri Tupitsky
• "Gorge of Spirits" (1991) - film directed by Sergei Nilov
• "Afghan Breakdown" (1991, USSR-Italy) - a film by Vladimir Bortko about the war in Afghanistan
• "Leg" (1991) - a film directed by Nikita Tyagunov
• "Afghan" (1991) - a film directed by Vladimir Mazur. Contrabalt
• "Afghan-2" (1994) - continuation of the movie "Afghan"
• "Peshawar Waltz" (1994) - a film by T. Bekmambetov and G. Kayumov, according to veterans-"Afghans", one of the most poignant and truthful films about that war, dedicated to the events in Badaber
• "Muslim" (1995) - a film by Vladimir Khotinenko about a Soviet soldier who returned home after 7 years in captivity by the Mujahideen
• "9 company" (2005, Russia-Ukraine-Finland) - a film by Fyodor Bondarchuk
• Soldier's Star (2006, France) is a film by French journalist Christophe de Ponfilli about the history of a Soviet prisoner of war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The prototype of the protagonist was one of the participants in the armed uprising in the Badaber camp
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007, USA) - Based on a true story about how, during the Afghan War, Texas Congressman Charles Wilson organized funding for a covert CIA operation to supply weapons to the Afghan resistance forces (Operation Cyclone)
• "The Kite Runner" (2007)
• "Afghan War" 2009 - documentary-fiction series with elements of historical reconstruction
• "Caravan Hunters" (2010) - a war drama based on the works of Alexander Prokhanov "Caravan Hunter" and "Muslim Wedding".

In music

• "Blue Berets": Our Afghan, Afghan Break, Silver Plane, War is not a walk, Borders
• "Cascade": Cuckoo, We leave at dawn, On the Bagram road, I will return, We are leaving, Warriors-motorists, Who needed this war?
• "Contingent": Cuckoo, Captive, Two meters
• Echo of Afgan: I was killed near Kandahar, Cigarette smoke
• "Lube": For you
• Survival Guide: 1988 - Confrontation in Moscow - Afghan Syndrome
• Igor Talkov: Ballad of an Afghan
• Maxim Troshin: Afghanistan
• Valery Leontiev. Afghan wind (I. Nikolaev - N. Zinoviev)
• Alexander Rosenbaum. Monologue of the pilot "Black Tulip", Caravan, In the Afghani mountains, Rain at the pass, We will be back
• Yuri Shevchuk. War is childish, don't shoot
• Konstantin Kinchev. Tomorrow May Be Late (Nervous Night Album, 1984)
• Egor Letov. Afghan Syndrome
• N. Anisimov. The last monologue of the Mi-8, Song of the helicopter gunner
• M. Bessonov. Heart shrinks to pain
• I. Burlyaev. In memory of Afghan helicopter pilots
• V. Verstakov. Allah Akbar
• A. Doroshenko. Afghan
• V. Gorsky... Afghan
• S. Kuznetsov. An incident on the road
• I. Morozov. Convoy Talukan-Faizabad, Midnight Toast, Helicopter pilots
• A. Smirnov. For KamAZ drivers
• I. Baranov. An incident in battle, In the mountains near Peshawar
• Sprint. Afghanistan
• Not laughing."A fur coat from Afgan", "A bottle", "A love lift"
• Collection of Afghan songs "Time has chosen us", 1988

In computer games

• Squad Battles: Soviet-Afghan War
• Rambo III
• 9 Rota
• The Truth About the Ninth Company
• Front line. Afghanistan 82

About the author: Nikita Mendkovich is an expert at the Center for the Study of Contemporary Afghanistan (CISA).

The problems of the armed confrontation in Afghanistan are still actively discussed in the scientific literature. In particular, the subject of discussion is still the loss in the armed confrontation with the participation of Soviet troops from December 25, 1979 to February 15, 1989. The text below is an attempt to review the estimates of the existing data on the losses of the parties to the conflict.

To begin with, we can state that the statistics of losses of Soviet troops fighting on the side of the Kabul government are in a somewhat better state. The level of the initial registration of losses was quite high: this was facilitated by the order in the armed forces of the USSR, the norms for recording the movement and loss of personnel. In addition, despite the political changes that have affected the post-Soviet space, the level of preservation of military archives is relatively good, which made it possible for specialists from the Ministry of Defense to accurately assess the losses of the past war.

In total, during the period, 620 thousand servicemen, including 525.5 thousand soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army, 21 thousand civil servants, 95 thousand representatives of the KGB (including border troops), internal troops and militia, completed military service in the troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The total death toll for the period of more than nine years of military presence was 15,051 people, including 14,427 soldiers of the armed forces, who died as a result of combat wounds and accidents and diseases. The percentage of combat losses is 82.5%. The number of irrecoverable combat and non-combat losses includes people who died in hospitals and people who died from the consequences of illness after leaving the armed forces. Therefore, apparently, these data on the deaths are almost complete, and one should ignore the higher estimates found in Western literature: the statistics presented here did not include only persons who died before being discharged from the army while being treated in hospitals outside the territory of the DRA.

The statistics of irrecoverable losses also do not include 417 people who disappeared or were captured during the hostilities. As of 1999, 287 people had not been returned to their homeland.

Significant damage to the Soviet group was caused by the so-called. sanitary losses, including persons who dropped out of the war for health reasons. They include both those wounded during the period of hostilities and those who fell ill for reasons not related to wounds and contusions. For the Afghan war, the level of losses associated with "non-combat" factors was extremely high: they accounted for 89% of sanitary losses.

According to the estimates of American researchers in the 1990s, 56.6% of non-combat losses were attributable to infectious diseases, 15.1% - domestic injuries, 9.9% - dermatological diseases, 4.1% - lung diseases. According to Grau and Jorgensen, throughout the war, up to 1/4 of the personnel of the Soviet Army group was incapable of combat. As the authors write: "In October-December 1981, the entire 5th motorized rifle division became ineffective when more than 3 thousand people simultaneously contracted hepatitis." Apparently, the high morbidity is associated with a shortage of clean drinking water, interruptions in the supply of new clothes, which created problems with the washing of uniforms, atypical for European Russia, where most of the fighters came from, and infectious diseases. Due to the radical climate change, almost all newly arrived fighters in the country after a certain time showed symptoms of indigestion. There were frequent cases of dysentery, hepatitis and typhoid fever.

In total, during the presence of the armed forces in the country, 466 thousand servicemen applied for medical assistance. Of these, due to illness, 11,284 people were dismissed from the armed forces, of which 10,751 people were disabled.

The highest irrecoverable losses of the Soviet Army belong to the period from March 1980 to April 1985. The highest average monthly irrecoverable losses also belong to this time. The highest average monthly sanitary losses (and, apparently, the peak of incidence) refer to May 1985 - December 1986.

The situation with the losses of the armed forces of the DRA, anti-government armed formations and civilians is more complicated. The losses of the armed forces subordinate to Kabul are known according to A.A. Lyakhovsky's estimates and amounted from 1979 to 1988: 26595 people - irrecoverable combat losses, 28002 - missing, 285541 - deserted. The abnormally high level of desertion is reflected in many memoir sources and is explained by the chaotic mobilization policy of the DRA government and the low level of ideological work among the personnel. The peak of deadweight combat losses occurred in 1981, when the Afghan armed forces lost 6,721 people killed. The peaks of losses from desertion (more than 30 thousand people a year) were in 1982 and 1988.

On the one hand, this level of losses is significantly higher than that of the Soviet side, which indicates a greater involvement in hostilities, but here it is important to take into account the difference in technical equipment and the number and quality of work of medical personnel, which led to large lethal losses.

The situation is even more complicated when it comes to the losses of the "mujahideen" and the civilian population. Accurate statistics are virtually non-existent. During the period from 1980 to 1990, the UN registered 640 thousand deaths of the inhabitants of Afghanistan, of which 327 thousand people accounted for the male population of the country. However, these data are deliberately incomplete and can be considered only the lower limit of population losses.

First of all, the question of the number of opposition units is confused. The most common estimate in the literature: from 20 to 50 thousand people of permanent composition, and 70-350 thousand people who participated in their activities on an irregular basis. The most well-reasoned is the assessment of Kryle, who, with reference to the recollections of the CIA officers, argued that the United States financed detachments of about 150 thousand fighters out of 400 thousand operating in the country.

How many of them died? The author has not seen any reliable assessments in the literature on military history. Their appearance seems unlikely, if only because of the problems of identifying the belonging of "irregular mujahideen", documenting the current losses of individual units and centralized registration of these data, which was hardly carried out at all during the war.

Apparently, the losses of the opposition units can be taken into account only in the general mass of the population, the estimates of the losses of which are very different. So, as of 1987, according to USAID, 875 thousand people died in Afghanistan, according to the Gallup study - 1.2 million people. The greatest estimate of the total irretrievable losses of the population found in the literature is 1.5-2 million people, but the author thinks they are overestimated. The number of refugees is traditionally estimated at 5.7 million in 1987 and 6.2 million in 1990 in Pakistan, Iran and some other states. However, it is important to note that a significant part of the persons registered as “refugees” were Afghan migrant workers who thus sought to legalize themselves abroad and hoped to receive humanitarian aid. Their number was also high in the pre-war period, so in the early 1970s up to 1 million people left Afghanistan in order to find work. Therefore, it is not easy to estimate the real percentage of those who were forced to leave Afghanistan during the war.

The cited data on the number of parties and losses in the 1979-1989 conflict may be incomplete, however, in the author's opinion, they are at least reasoned, in contrast to a number of clearly overestimated estimates that are used in political speculations around the history of this war.

Of course, any military losses, especially of the irresponsible participants in the conflict, and the population living in the territory where it was deployed, are terrible and from the point of view of simple ethics cannot be justified, and the war itself cannot be justified as the most terrible manifestation of human violence. However, as can be seen from today's events, the level of development of society and international relations still does not exclude the use of this tool for resolving contradictions between states. This means new losses and new human tragedies.

1. Hereinafter, the statistics of Soviet losses are given by: Russia in the wars of the XX century. Losses of the armed forces. Under the general editorship of G.F.Krivosheev. Moscow: Olma-Press, 2001.
2. Report of Professor of the Department of Thermal Injuries of the Military Medical Academy of St. Petersburg Vladimir Sidelnikov // RIA Novosti, February 15, 2007.
3. L. W. Grau, W. A. ​​Jorgensen Medical support in counter-guerrilla war: epidemiologic lesson learned in Soviet-Afghan war
4. A. A. Lyakhovsky Tragedy and Valor of Afgan
5. United Nations Statistics Division
6. J. B. Amstutz Afghanistan. The first five ears of soviet occupation. Washington D. C. 1986. P. 155-156.
7. D. Kryle The War of Charlie Wilson. Translated from English by K. Savelyev. M., 2008.S. 205.
8. D. C. Isby War in a Distant Country: Afghanistan, Invasion and Resistance. London, 1989.
9. MF Slinkin Afghanistan: pages of history (80-90s of the XX century). Simferopol, 2003.S. 119-120.