The war of the USSR and the USA in Afghanistan: what is the difference?
In November 2001, after the bombardment of Al-Qaida and the Taliban, US forces launched ground operations in Afghanistan. This was the start of the longest and probably the most hopeless war for the Americans that they were waging outside their country.
Over the ten years that military operations have lasted, coalition troops have lost thousands of people killed, and cash costs amounted to more than 500 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the goals that were set during the most large-scale counter-terrorist operation have not yet been achieved. The situation is such that the Americans are forced, having transgressed through their pride, to turn to the experience of the Soviet troops.
There are many similarities between the Soviet war (1979-1989) and the American war, although there are also differences. And the most important of these differences is that the Soviet command sent its troops to Afghanistan to ensure the protection of the friendly state regime and prevent the country from leaving its sphere of interests. The Americans sent their army to destroy the terrorists. And if in the first case we are talking about a global confrontation, which later turned into a so-called cold war, then in the second - this is a response to the events that took place on September 11.
Having transferred to the territory of Afghanistan, the Soviet command did not consider the question of deploying its military units, since it was confident that soon they would be able to quickly crush the souls and return to the place of permanent deployment. But, as it soon turned out, spooks are just a small part of the problem, behind them are enormous forces of the United States of America, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Israel, Egypt and a large number of other states that willingly seized the opportunity to start a war against the USSR declaring it an evil empire, and then winning. And at that time, the situation was such that Afghanistan was not left unattended. Thus, a small part of the Islamic East and the imperialist West opposed the small Soviet military contingent. Today, events develop in a completely opposite order. The Taliban are already in the minority, while the coalition forces have the support of virtually the entire world, including Russia. The numbers speak for themselves - on the side of the Americans were military units in approximately 50 countries.
There are common features of these two wars. Thirty years ago, the advanced units of the Soviet troops that entered Kabul, first of all, undertook the liquidation of Amin, who at that time occupied leading posts in the government. He was suspected of collaborating with the American CIA. Instead, the post was taken by Babrak Karmal, who received detailed instructions from the Soviet leadership on the proper governance of the country. The beginning of the invasion of the US-NATO troops was also marked by a loud political assassination. The most famous and respected field commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, who had every chance to become a real leader, was eliminated. According to rumors, representatives of the Taliban were involved in his murder, but even in the country itself, few people believe it. Of course, it is known that he actively opposed the radical part of the leadership, but it is also known that he would never give consent to the deployment of a foreign military contingent on the territory of the country, which he himself spoke about more than once.
At that time, Masud did not suit anyone: neither the American leadership, nor the black mullahs, nor even their closest associates, who very much wanted to engage in looting. And the way the assassination attempt was organized and how all the traces were destroyed, clearly indicates that real professionals were involved in its preparation and conduct.
But in any case, everything went further according to the old scenario: Washington put forward its protégé Karzai for the post of head of state, and then took a huge number of measures to legitimize it in the eyes of the local population.
The military councils, which were created in the early years, actively tried to instill in Afghans their standards regarding the structure of the state and public life. Despite the futility of their attempts, the Americans tried again and again to impose democratic values on the local population. But after all, they did not take into account the fact that most Afghans do not care about the ideas of communism or the principles of Western democracy, and any foreign intervention is categorically rejected.
That is why a decade ago, like thirty years ago, the appearance of Soviet and then American troops on the territory of Afghanistan became a powerful incentive for the development of the partisan movement. And the paradox is that the more coalition forces were in Afghanistan, the more difficult the military-political situation became. This is evidenced by the statistics of terrorist acts, the dynamics of losses, as well as a map of those territories that were in the conflict zone. Therefore, many experts are unanimous in their opinion that if the US government does not change the tactics of behavior, then no positive changes are expected in Afghanistan.
The Soviet contingent also failed to defeat the Mujahideen, although it also achieved some success: after the Soviet troops left the state, the Najibullah regime for three years held offensive against partisan units and collapsed only when the collapse of the Soviet Union was announced, and B. Yeltsin ceased all support for the Afghan government.
There is one more fundamental difference in this: the USSR practically succeeded in achieving its goal, while the Americans have nothing. A completely natural question arises: why the US-NATO troops, with such huge support from most of the countries of the world, cannot defeat a small number of Islamist fanatics? Moreover, recent events - the killing of the brother of the Afghan president during the events in Kandahar, the attacks of guerrilla groups on important strategic facilities located in the very center of Kabul, the elimination of the American helicopter with the identification colors of special forces - show that the character is already for coalition forces and for the ruling regime.
And the reason for all this lies in the fact that the Americans relied too heavily on their military power. Of course, they can be understood; American military equipment and weapons have no equal in the world. However all this weapon can only be useful in open battle conditions. And to use even the latest weapons or means of communication in the fight against the shadows does not make any sense.
In this state, consisting of a large number of ethnic groups and not having the traditions of central government, where everyone is for himself, and today's friend and ally tomorrow can turn into the worst enemy - any attempts to restore order by traditional methods are absolutely useless. That is why Vasiliy Kravtsov, one of the best experts on the Afghan state, a former KGB officer, is confident that the solution of the Afghan conflict is an intellectual task, but not a military one.
Five years after the outbreak of hostilities, the Soviet leadership, seeing that it was impossible to reverse the situation in its favor with the help of forceful methods, decided to move to a reconciliation strategy. The Americans remembered much later, and besides, they also advised Karzai to conduct the corresponding law on national reconciliation through parliament. But the problem is that thirty years ago, Afghan society and guerrilla groups were ready for political compromise. The ruling party numbered about 200 thousands of people in their ranks - this could provide a real power base. Do not forget about the existence of an even larger youth democratic organization. Thus, a vertical of power was built, which was capable of working, as well as the formation, training and arming of the armed forces were carried out, and control was exercised over practically the entire territory of the state. Moreover, the president himself was a strong ruler who had some respect among numerous tribes and national minorities. Even today, many say that Najibullah would have been the perfect ruler in modern Afghanistan.
Finally, the Soviet government did a lot in the socio-economic sphere. Even in those years when the hottest battles were fought, there were a large number of Soviet specialists in Afghanistan who helped develop these areas. A large number of children of Afghans, who, returning to their homeland, became allies of the authorities studied in Soviet universities.
To date, this solution is the only correct one. If hostilities are not accompanied by supporting infrastructure that can change not only the appearance of the state, but also the mentality of its inhabitants, then the Taliban will soon be able to re-enter the Afghan capital.
Americans have every reason to sound the alarm. The president of Afghanistan has lost all his authority with the local population. And he is not able to manage anything. And those billions of dollars that are allocated to the implementation of support, disappear without a trace, the level of corruption is growing every day. In this situation, it is not surprising that guerrilla groups enjoy increasing support from the population.
The commander of the coalition forces, S. McChrystal, admitted that neither he nor his colleagues had any idea about the true state of affairs, they did not know history states, and the new commander, General D. Allen, even announced that his troops would leave Afghanistan not in the 2014 year, but much later. And this despite the fact that the American president claimed the opposite.
Many experts believe that the Americans are keeping their troops in the region not at all to fight the Taliban or al Qaeda. Their main task is to control Pakistan, which has a significant number of nuclear weapons, and Iran. In addition, there is also China, which is a direct competitor to the States. And it is precisely being on Afghan territory that provides an excellent opportunity for the American leadership to follow all the states where there is American interest.
Answer the question of how to treat the Russian government to the military presence of Americans in Afghanistan definitely will not work. On the one hand, there is some discomfort from this neighborhood. On the other hand, if the coalition troops leave, the radicals will soon return, and this will not contribute to the stabilization of society. Such a scenario for Russia is also unacceptable.
But Afghanistan cannot be left unattended, as a military conflict cannot be called an anti-terrorist struggle. History has proven that the Taliban is an ideology, behind which stands a number of powerful Arab countries that have their own interest.
Thus, in the Afghan conflict, the interests of many nations of the world are intertwined, and how to solve it? Unknown ...
In the meantime, 12 February 2012 was held in Tajikistan, an event dedicated to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Afghanistan, which was attended by about 200 military internationalists, employees of diplomatic departments and military personnel of the Ministry of Defense.
It is planned that a rally will be held on February 15 and flowers will be laid at the monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union A. Mironenko, and will also visit the relatives of their fallen comrades.
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