"The decision to send Soviet troops into Afghanistan was to some extent criminal" - interview with Boris Gromov

On May 15, 1988, the operation to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan began, which ended in February 1989. The operation was led by General Boris Gromov. For uninitiated people, the withdrawal operation itself may seem like an unremarkable event. In fact, the Soviet command was faced with a very difficult task: in fact, in the conditions of focal hostilities, to carry out the withdrawal from Afghanistan of many thousands of military contingent, having achieved, if not a complete absence of losses, then their possible minimization. And the withdrawal of troops itself did not mean simply getting into a car or plunging an airplane with a machine gun and a duffel bag and getting to the Soviet border. It was necessary to organize the removal of personnel, material base, developing optimal logistics in fact in a war.

On Yuri Kostin's channel YouTube a video was released in which an interview with General Boris Gromov is presented. Hero of the Soviet Union talks about how he assesses the decision to withdraw the Soviet contingent from Afghan territory.

Kostin:

Knowing the situation from the inside, not only as a military officer, a general who took part and commanded our troops there, studied documents and wrote a book about Afghanistan, do you think this decision was stupid or criminal?

Boris Gromov:

I believe that it was absolutely inadequate, it was wrong and to some extent criminal.

The general notes that intelligence reports on the state of affairs in Afghanistan were on the table of the top leadership every day.

General Gromov:

They already had experience, and all of this together made it possible for themselves to reach and understand whether this is correct or not.

Interview with Boris Gromov in Yuri Kostin's program "Personal Connections":

Comments

[AC130 Gunship]

Although I personally am not a supporter of Gorby, he took two very serious steps: withdrew the troops from Afgan (the exact data on the losses and Soviet citizens wounded there are still classified) and signed an agreement with Reagan in the 86th year on medium and short-range missiles. In the mid-80s, a huge number of Pershing with nuclear warheads was deployed around the USSR. Turkey, Italy, Frg. The C5A delivered new missiles on several flights a week. We were on reconnaissance, led these planes. The Pershing had a flight time of 8 minutes. Nobody would have time to fart. Gorby is great.

[meandr51]

Gorby has been hindering the withdrawal of troops from Afgan for 4 years. It was he and Shevardnadze. Almost everyone else was already in favor of the conclusion. Why, if he is such a "humanist"? Only because he wanted to destroy the USSR with additional damage.
As for the Pershing, they were withdrawn not thanks to Gorby, but thanks to the missile submarines, which passed all American barriers and took up combat positions along the American coasts. Flight time is 5 minutes. No one would have had time to fart at the Pentagon. If I had time, it would hardly have helped ... Mining was also carried out with knapsack nuclear weapons near the American missile silos. The charges were triggered by seismic sensors when the Minutemans were launched. There was an interview with the saboteur on TV. Then the charges were removed. The Americans never noticed anything.
So well done Gorby is only for traitors to the Motherland.

[viva_cuba]

Was there an interview on RenTV?

[dgonni]

And yes! It all started with our pioneers. But the states quickly leveled out. And even Andropov said at a meeting of the Central Committee that we lost here.
Physically, given the reaction time, our missile defense system lost the first strike.
What about the Afghan after Chernobyl? These are the two weights that the union and chopped up.
Now, if only Chernobyl could be closed politically!
But it was impossible.
The darkness of the people. Apartments and this is a tough question!
Payouts. Oil is going down.
Gold and foreign exchange is exported.
Wherein!
In principle, it is correct, economists propose to build enterprises for the production of consumer goods.
From cars to sneakers.
About three years old and it would have shot!
But the reality turned out to be stronger.
Over a lot of equipment was purchased for new enterprises, which were supposed to cover consumer demand in a couple of years.
But the union fell earlier.
I remember that the frg line was just delivered. And it is about drills and equipment in the same steppe. Stupidly bought schA lemon bucks.
Despite the fact that it cost a hundred and did not even have time to set it up!
I bought the company back again! Well at that moment.

[Sarboz]

Quote: AC130 Ganship

Although I personally am not a supporter of Gorby, he took two very serious steps: withdrew the troops from Afgan (the exact data on the losses and Soviet citizens wounded there are still classified) and signed an agreement with Reagan in the 86th year on medium and short-range missiles.

Both of these moves by Gorbachev are equally criminal.
Accurate data on our losses in Afghanistan by name is in the Book of Memory, published in 1995-1999. A huge amount of work has been done. There is no secret loss data.

[nikvic46]

The generals were returning from Afghanistan to their comfortable apartments. Most Afghans had to deal with Gorbachev's bureaucratic slush. Many generals were not bothered about what would happen to the state. Personal resentment overshadowed everything. And then they settled well. Not all of course. Afghanistan will be ours for a long time. pain.

[Evgenijus]

Was the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan legal? Thousands of young guys have been killed and these old people still want to fight at the expense of other people's lives? What have we forgotten there, in this Afghan?

[Egoza]

Quote: Evgenijus

Was the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan legal?

The USSR introduced a military contingent to Afghanistan on December 25, 1979. ... The USSR motivated its actions by the fact that the Soviet military contingent was introduced at the request of the Afghan government and in accordance with the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation of December 5, 1978.

[Egoza]

Probably the most accurate explanation of the actions of the USSR can be found in this article. Although, of course, the dead are insanely sorry.
PETER GONCHAROV: "THE COMMISSION OF TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN MAY BE CONSIDERED A MISTAKE, BUT IT WAS UNAVAIDED"
https://mgimo.ru/afghan/132584.html

[Boris55]

Quote: Evgenijus

Thousands of young guys have been killed and still want to ...

Quote: Egoza

Although, of course, the dead are insanely sorry.

As the political commissars said then: if we don't wake up there, the USA will be there.

And so it happened - the hunchback, in fact, brought minke whales there, who flooded our country with drugs, from which people died and continue to die by orders of magnitude more than in that war ... So compare and think which is better ...

[Evgenijus]

Yeah, by agreement ...
First, they slammed the leader in a foreign country, like the Americans in Libya, the leader of the dark-skinned Gaddafi, and then we wonder at the impudence of the Americans in foreign countries.

[Sergej1972]

And the head of this government, who asked for help, Hafizullah Amin, was killed.

[knn54]

History does not tolerate the subjunctive mood.
Yeltsin's guilt is no less than Gorbachev's.
If Russia had supported the Najibullah regime at least until 1993, everything could have been different.
Unfortunately, after 1979, the USSR ceased to be the best friend of the Arabs.
Today, the Afghans do not hold anger at the Russians, which is important.

[Sarboz]

Quote: knn54

If Russia had supported the Najibullah regime at least until 1993, everything could have been different.

Absolutely right. Yeltsin, under pressure from the United States, cut off the supply of ammunition and food. Thus, he finally betrayed our friends, abandoned by Gorbachev to the mercy of fate. I still remember with pain in my heart the eyes of the sarbozes of the KHAD operabat who saw us off on February 14, 1989, slender boys no more than 160 cm tall, and God forbid weighing 50 kg. How many survived after the arrival of the fundamentalists? A Khadian for them was like a commissar or a border guard for the Nazis.

[K-50]

"The decision to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan was to some extent criminal."

It was a crime to send troops there !!!
What have they changed there?
How Afghans lived in the "dark ages" and remained to live.
Well, they built schools, roads, hospitals for them, did it change something?
No!!!
Because you do not need to climb to others with your own vision of how to live!
To appreciate what the USSR did for Afgan, they have to live for several more centuries, to get out of their denseness by themselves.
The life and health of the boys laid for this, the material resources are thrown out in the tun.

[Sergej1972]

A large number of roads, houses, factories, hospitals, schools and the whole Polytechnic Institute of the USSR were built in Afghanistan during the reign of the king, in the 60s and early 70s. Soviet people in Afghanistan during this period, one might say, were loved and respected.

[Private89]

To understand it was necessary or not to send troops, you need to have all the completeness of intelligence for that period. We do not have them at our disposal. Well, if someone on VO possesses them, they can share them. Even if this was not correct, I think no one has the right to disdain or condemn those soldiers who performed their military duty.

[tatra]

Yes, the enemies of the communists do not need any proof, they evaluate all the facts in the history of their country depending on how beneficial it is to them. So, the entry of the USSR into the Afghan war was analogous to the entry of the Russian Empire into the First World War, for the sake of helping "friendly regimes. world, in which 3 million Russian citizens died, the Bolsheviks were obliged to continue participating in the First World War, and the communists had no right to involve the USSR in the Afghan one.

[steelmaker]

When mediocrities do not know what to do, they always say: "Why do we need this?" Therefore, Putin gave the Chinese the Damansky Island and, in addition, a thousand km., Medvedev Norway 80 thousand square meters. km of the sea zone, EBN generally squandered all the Russian lands to the republics. We don’t need that! For this reason, Donbass and Transnistria are now in limbo. Mediocrities rule! And mediocrities cannot solve problems, they only create them! We left Afgan, but the problem remained and it looks like a lot of Russian blood will be shed there!

[serg.shishkov2015]

Afghan will always be our pain ... and these disputes - were they introduced correctly, why were they withdrawn? - will be for a long time. Guys! You have NOT lost your war!

[Revival]

"The operation was led by General Boris Gromov.
Boris Gromov:
I believe that it was absolutely inadequate, it was wrong and to some extent criminal. "

Yep ...

He led a criminal operation knowing about it ...

[iouris]

The very personality of B. Gromov "to some extent."

[Mikhail Ya2]

And in my opinion it was very lucky that they brought it out on time. Imagine what would have happened there after the collapse of the USSR. Who would the future citizens of other countries be subordinate to?

[Sergej1972]

All troops abroad after the collapse of the USSR automatically became part of the RF Armed Forces. The situation would be the same as with the troops in Germany.

[Mikhail Ya2]

And citizens of other republics, it would be necessary to return and demobilize

[Alex_You]

The decision to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan was to some extent criminal

And the decision to enter such was not?

[Maks1995]

Yeah, 30 years have passed, now "it was somewhat criminal"
And he himself contributed to Yeltsin, and corruption, and the famous Kuznetsov ...

[Voenlet63]

It is criminal to give the Soviet republics of Turkestan to the Westerners and not to smash the criminal Pakistan, the jackal of the West.