The hunt for "Stinger"
Before 1979, most people knew about Afghanistan, lost in the mountains of Central Asia, from a textbook of geography, and many did not know at all. And only after the entry of Soviet troops into this very difficult country, interest in Afghanistan greatly increased, not only among the military, but among the broad masses.
Officially, the Soviet army entered 25 in December December 1979 of Afghanistan, and 15 came out in February 1989 of the year. And in just these ten difficult years, about 620 000 Soviet officers and soldiers passed through the crucible of Afghanistan. During the fighting, about 15000 soldiers were killed.
Once in this country, located in Central Asia, one of the important fronts opened - the front of a secret war between the USA and the Soviet Union, where the special services of these two powerful powers opposed each other. Of course, the United States had its own specific interest in this region, and the entry of Soviet units into Afghanistan became for the administration of the White House a somewhat unexpected surprise.
1985 year ... The situation in neighboring Afghanistan required decisive action. The command of the Soviet troops continued a very active use of its elite units - special forces. Control over all major transport routes on Afghan territory was conducted by two special forces brigades that entered Afghanistan without too much fuss, very quietly and professionally. Jihad, which inflamed the CIA with Saudi Arabia, forced the Islamic militants to unite in a huge army. The USSR, or rather its military command, decided to engage special forces in direct clashes, although the direct purpose of these detachments was a war in the rear, conducting sabotage actions. However, the situation was such that special forces began to use differently.
When the US Congress decided to allocate additional funds for the purchase weapons for the Mujahideen, the war in Afghanistan has entered a new phase.
Arms entered Afghanistan through Pakistan, from where huge caravans of arms began to cross the Afghan-Pakistani border. The path of these caravans began to block the Soviet special forces, and helped him in this aviation. The aircraft caused great trouble to the Mujahideen, Soviet helicopters found themselves even in the most remote corners of Afghanistan. After much deliberation, the White House in the framework of the operation, which has the very familiar name “Cyclone”, decided to start deliveries of MANPADS - man-portable air defense systems “Stinger” of the “air-to-air” class. Translated from English, the name of this missile means "wasp": it was it that was intended for the deadly bites of Soviet aviation. The Americans hoped with the help of Stinger to force the Communists to leave Afghanistan.
Difficult days began for Soviet aviation: helicopters fell, exploding in the air. Backward and illiterate Mujahideen did not make any special effort for this - they simply pulled the trigger.
The antidote to the wasp sting could be found only by getting at least one copy of this deadly complex.
A little information. "Stinger" - English Stinger FIM-92 is a portable anti-aircraft missile system. This weapon is designed to hit air targets that are at low altitude. The developer is General Dynamics. In the US, it has been in service since 1981. Stinger is equipped with ground-to-air missiles, very easy to use. The principle of operation is very simple - shot and forgot, and then the rocket itself will find the desired target.
In the autumn of 1986, three Soviet Mi-24 helicopters were shot down by stingers. The Americans were delighted, because the rocket paid for itself completely: at the cost of 68 thousand dollars, they caused millions of damage. According to certain sources, CIA residents met with Osama bin Laden, who was then in Saudi Arabia, who, on the advice of his friends, who worked in Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services, was the first to introduce the idea of arming the Mujahideen Stingers. It was he who became the largest recipient of American-made weapons, although today in the US, for obvious reasons, they don’t want to recall this.
However, then, al-Qaeda, as such, even in the project did not exist. Bzhezinsky himself personally met with Bin Laden, from which a quite obvious conclusion can be drawn - the elusive leader of al-Qaida was a product of the American special services. But this is a completely different topic ... The special forces threw all their forces to search for at least one instance of this "wasp", sat in ambushes for weeks, several dozen caravans with weapons were crushed, but the "stinger" was still elusive ...
All military units and units located on the territory of Afghanistan were ordered to get it by all means, even to the point of buying it from dushmans. For the "stinger" was awarded a monetary reward, and the first to seize him, will be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. But the task so far turned out to be impossible. Hunting for caravans transporting weapons was arranged - after all, the stinger production should have been direct evidence of the Americans' participation in the war and in the supply of weapons, but to no avail.
January 5 Day 1987 of the year began as usual. Major Sergeyev, the deputy commander of the 7 Battalion, together with Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun, the commander of the most successful detachment, flew out to reconnoitre the area in the Meltanay Gorge, the most difficult to reach area of Kandahar. Sergeyev was the first to notice the people gathered below, firing a machine gun at them, he indicated the direction of the second helicopter flying next. In response, they shot from the ground. The shots left behind two smoke tails. Sergeev and Kovtun did not even immediately guess that they were shooting at them from the "stinger", they thought that a grenade launcher. And when the battle on the ground had already started, under the onslaught of the special forces, the spooks began to withdraw. Kovtun noticed that one of the militants ran out of cover and ran to the gorge. He just had a strange look: an incomprehensible object in his hand, and a pipe behind his back. Kovtun, who shot very well, put a dushman in the back of the head with one shot. And running up, I realized that the trophy that he had got had a trademark and a complete set of instructions on the use of MANPADS - the “stinger”. The capture was immediately reported to the command, but none of the participants in that operation received the promised award or title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The names of Kovtun and Sergeyev today cite as an example young commandos, because they did not serve at all for these awards and titles ...
The Russians found a way to protect themselves from homing missiles, but at what price they got it ...
After Afghanistan, Sergeev served in special forces units, troops, in which he continued his service during the Chechen war. Here he was wounded, he was then saved, but the wounds made themselves felt all the time after the war. In 2008, Sergeev passed away.
The United States, which was very worried about the further fate of its rocket, began an action of buying up its rockets from Afghanistan, and they paid fifty and sometimes a hundred thousand dollars for each copy. The Americans thus managed to get back about two hundred of their "stingers". Moreover, the rockets were in such excellent condition that almost all of them worked flawlessly on the landfills.
More than ten years ago, the White House sent troops to Afghanistan in response to September's 11. The Afghan war, in which the Soviet troops participated, also lasted more than ten years. Today, there are about 100 thousand American soldiers in Afghanistan, exactly as many as there were Soviet soldiers in the eighties.
Even today, Americans are very afraid of their “stinging wasps”, which the Taliban can use against the US air force. Today, like thirty-three years ago, the troops occupying the country control only a small part of Afghanistan. Politicians continue to have heated debates about how to cope with international terrorism, because, in fact, today's shahids and mojaheds are the children of the very same dushman enemies since our Afghan war.
Historians are wondering, by the efforts of which particular superpower, the crisis that arose around Afghanistan in the seventies was largely born. However, even today all security prospects in Afghanistan look rather dubious.
More than ten years have passed since the terrorist attack in America, and all this time the United States waged war in this faraway country, trying, according to White House officials, to make the world more protected from terrorist groups and protect the interests of ordinary American citizens. The current US president plans to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan before 2014. And this means only one thing: it's time to sum up ...
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