Personnel losses according to official data. From a certificate from the USSR Ministry of Defense: “In total, 546,255 people passed through Afghanistan. Losses of personnel of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in the Republic of Afghanistan in the period from December 25, 1979 to February 15, 1989. A total of 13,833 people were killed, died from wounds and illnesses, including 1,979 officers (14.3%). A total of 49,985 people were injured, including 7,132 officers (14.3%). 6,669 people became disabled. 330 people are wanted.”
Awards. More than 200 thousand people were awarded orders and medals of the USSR, 71 of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
Afghan figures. Another certificate published in the Izvestia newspaper provides a statement from the Afghan government “about the losses of government troops - during 5 months of fighting from January 20 to June 21, 1989: 1,748 soldiers and officers were killed and 3,483 were wounded.” Recalculating losses for one year from a 5-month period, we find that approximately 4,196 people could have been killed and 8,360 wounded. Considering that in Kabul, both in the Ministry of Defense and in other government bodies, Soviet advisers controlled any information, especially from the front, it is quite obvious that the figures for losses of Afghan military personnel indicated in the newspaper are not only clearly underestimated, but also the ratio between wounded and killed. Nevertheless, even from these fake figures it is possible to approximately determine the actual losses of Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
13 people daily! If we assume that the fighting of the Mujahideen against Soviet troops in the same areas was carried out with even greater ferocity and intensity, as against “non-believers and occupiers,” then we can roughly estimate our losses for the year to be equal to at least 5 thousand killed - 13 people per day . The number of wounded is determined from the ratio of losses according to the certificate of our Ministry of Defense 1:3.6, therefore, their number will be about 180 thousand over ten years of war.
Permanent contingent. The question is, how many Soviet military personnel took part in the Afghan War? From fragmentary information from our Ministry of Defense we learn that there were 180 military camps in Afghanistan and 788 battalion commanders took part in the hostilities. We believe that on average a battalion commander lived in Afghanistan for 2 years. This means that during the 10 years of war, the number of battalion commanders was renewed 5 times. Consequently, there were constantly about 788:5 - 157 combat battalions in Afghanistan each year. The number of military camps and the number of battalions agree quite closely with each other.
Assuming that at least 500 people served in the combat battalion, we get that there were 157 * 500 = 78,500 people in the active 40th Army. For the normal functioning of troops fighting the enemy, auxiliary rear units are necessary (supply of ammunition, fuels and lubricants, repair and technical workshops, guarding caravans, guarding roads, guarding military camps, battalions, regiments, divisions, armies, hospitals, etc. .). The ratio of the number of support units to combat units is approximately 3:1 - this is approximately 235,500 more military personnel. Thus, the total number of military personnel permanently stationed in Afghanistan each year was no less than 314 thousand people.
General figures. So, during the 10 years of the war, at least three million people passed through Afghanistan, of which 800 thousand took part in the hostilities. Our total losses amounted to at least 460 thousand people, of which 50 thousand were killed, 180 thousand wounded, including 100 thousand seriously wounded by mines, 1000 missing, 230 thousand patients with hepatitis, jaundice, and typhoid fever.
It turns out that in official data the terrible figures are underestimated by about 10 times.
The fighting of the Mujahideen against Soviet soldiers was particularly brutal. For example, the authors of the book “Battles that Changed the Course of History: 1945-2004” make the following calculations. Since opponents considered the Russians to be “interventionists and occupiers,” when counting those killed, about 5 thousand per year—13 people died per day in the Afghan war. There were 180 military camps in Afghanistan, 788 battalion commanders took part in military operations. 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 - no less than 500 people. If we multiply the number of towns by the number of one battalion, we get 78,500 thousand people. Troops fighting the enemy need a rear. The auxiliary units include those who transport ammunition, replenish provisions, guard roads, military camps, treat the wounded, and so on. The ratio is approximately three to one, meaning another 235,500 thousand people were in Afghanistan per year. Adding the two numbers together we get 314,000 people.
According to this calculation by the authors of “Battles that Changed the Course of History: 1945-2004”, over 9 years and 64 days, a total of at least 3 million people took part in military operations in Afghanistan! Which seems like absolute fantasy. Approximately 800 thousand participated in active hostilities. The losses of the USSR were at least 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 were infected with serious diseases (jaundice, typhoid fever). These numbers show that the data in the newspapers is underestimated by a factor of 10.
It must be admitted that both the official data on losses and the figures given by individual researchers (probably biased) are unlikely to correspond to reality.
The military conflict in Afghanistan, which began more than thirty years ago, remains the cornerstone of world security today. The hegemonic powers, in pursuit of their ambitions, not only destroyed a previously stable state, but also crippled thousands of destinies.
Afghanistan before the war
Many observers, describing the war in Afghanistan, say that before the conflict it was an extremely backward state, but some facts are kept silent. Before the confrontation, Afghanistan remained a feudal country in most of its territory, but in large cities such as Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and many others, there was a fairly developed infrastructure; these were full-fledged cultural and socio-economic centers.
The state developed and progressed. There was free medicine and education. The country produced good knitwear. Radio and television broadcast foreign programs. People met in cinemas and libraries. A woman could find herself in public life or manage a business.
Fashion boutiques, supermarkets, shops, restaurants, and a host of cultural entertainment existed in the cities. The outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, the date of which is interpreted differently in sources, marked the end of prosperity and stability. The country instantly turned into a center of chaos and destruction. Today, power in the country has been seized by radical Islamist groups who benefit from maintaining unrest throughout the territory.
Reasons for the start of the war in Afghanistan
To understand the true reasons for the Afghan crisis, it is worth remembering history. In July 1973, the monarchy was overthrown. The coup was carried out by the king's cousin Mohamed Daoud. The general announced the overthrow of the monarchy and appointed himself president of the Republic of Afghanistan. The revolution took place with the assistance of the People's Democratic Party. A course of reforms in the economic and social sphere was announced.
In reality, President Daoud did not carry out reforms, but only destroyed his enemies, including the leaders of the PDPA. Naturally, discontent in the circles of the communists and the PDPA grew, they were constantly subjected to repression and physical violence.
Social, economic, and political instability in the country began, and external intervention by the USSR and the USA served as an impetus for even more massive bloodshed.
Saur revolution
The situation was constantly heating up, and already on April 27, 1987, the April (Saur) Revolution took place, organized by the country’s military units, the PDPA and the communists. New leaders came to power - N. M. Taraki, H. Amin, B. Karmal. They immediately announced anti-feudal and democratic reforms. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan began to exist. Immediately after the first jubilations and victories of the united coalition, it became clear that there was discord between the leaders. Amin did not get along with Karmal, and Taraki turned a blind eye to this.
For the USSR, the victory of the democratic revolution came as a real surprise. The Kremlin was waiting to see what would happen next, but many prudent Soviet military leaders and apparatchiks understood that the start of the war in Afghanistan was just around the corner.
Participants in the military conflict
Just a month after the bloody overthrow of the Daoud government, new political forces were mired in conflicts. The Khalq and Parcham groups, like their ideologists, did not find common ground with each other. In August 1978, Parcham was completely removed from power. Karmal, together with his like-minded people, travels abroad.
Another setback befell the new government—the implementation of reforms was hampered by the opposition. Islamist forces are uniting into parties and movements. In June, armed uprisings against the revolutionary government began in the provinces of Badakhshan, Bamiyan, Kunar, Paktia and Nangarhar. Despite the fact that historians call 1979 the official date of the armed conflict, hostilities began much earlier. The year the war in Afghanistan began was 1978. The civil war was the catalyst that pushed foreign countries to intervene. Each of the megapowers pursued its own geopolitical interests.
Islamists and their goals
Back in the early 70s, the organization “Muslim Youth” was formed in Afghanistan. Members of this community were close to the Islamic fundamentalist ideas of the Arab “Muslim Brotherhood”, their methods of struggle for power, including political terror. The primacy of Islamic traditions, jihad and suppression all kinds of reforms that contradict the Koran - these are the main provisions of such organizations.
In 1975, Muslim Youth ceased to exist. It was absorbed by other fundamentalists - the Islamic Party of Afghanistan (IPA) and the Islamic Society of Afghanistan (IAS). These cells were led by G. Hekmatyar and B. Rabbani. Members of the organization were trained to conduct military operations in neighboring Pakistan and were sponsored by the authorities of foreign countries. After the April Revolution, opposition societies united. The coup in the country became a kind of signal for military action.
Foreign support for radicals
We must not lose sight of the fact that the start of the war in Afghanistan, the date of which in modern sources is 1979-1989, was planned as much as possible by foreign powers participating in the NATO bloc and some If earlier the American political elite denied involvement in the formation and financing of extremists, then The new century has brought some very interesting facts to this story. Former CIA employees left a lot of memoirs in which they exposed the policies of their own government.
Even before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the CIA financed the mujahideen, set up training bases for them in neighboring Pakistan and supplied the Islamists with weapons. In 1985, President Reagan personally received a mujahideen delegation at the White House. The most important US contribution to the Afghan conflict was the recruitment of men throughout the Arab world.
Today there is information that the war in Afghanistan was planned by the CIA as a trap for the USSR. Having fallen into it, the Union had to see the inconsistency of its policies, deplete its resources and “fall apart.” As we see, this is what happened. In 1979, the start of the war in Afghanistan, or rather, the introduction of a limited contingent became inevitable.
USSR and support for the PDPA
There are opinions that the USSR prepared the April Revolution for several years. Andropov personally supervised this operation. Taraki was a Kremlin agent. Immediately after the coup, friendly assistance from the Soviets to brotherly Afghanistan began. Other sources claim that the Saur Revolution was a complete surprise for the Soviets, albeit a pleasant one.
After the successful revolution in Afghanistan, the USSR government began to monitor events in the country more closely. The new leadership, represented by Taraki, showed loyalty to friends from the USSR. KGB intelligence constantly informed the “leader” about instability in the neighboring region, but the decision was made to wait. The USSR took the beginning of the war in Afghanistan calmly, the Kremlin was aware that the opposition was sponsored by the States, it did not want to give up the territory, but the Kremlin did not need another Soviet-American crisis. Nevertheless, I did not intend to stand aside; after all, Afghanistan is a neighboring country.
In September 1979, Amin killed Taraki and proclaimed himself president. Some sources indicate that the final discord in relation to former comrades occurred due to President Taraki’s intention to ask the USSR to send in a military contingent. Amin and his associates were against it.
Soviet sources claim that the Afghan government sent them about 20 requests to send troops. The facts state the opposite - President Amin was opposed to the introduction of the Russian contingent. A resident in Kabul sent information about the US attempts to drag the USSR into the USSR. Even then, the USSR leadership knew that Taraki and the PDPA were residents of the States. Amin was the only nationalist in this company, and yet they did not share with Taraki the $40 million paid by the CIA for the April coup, this was the main reason for his death.
Andropov and Gromyko didn’t want to listen to anything. In early December, KGB General Paputin flew to Kabul with the task of persuading Amin to call on USSR troops. The new president was relentless. Then on December 22 an incident occurred in Kabul. Armed “nationalists” burst into a house where USSR citizens lived and cut off the heads of several dozen people. Having impaled them on spears, armed “Islamists” carried them through the central streets of Kabul. The police who arrived at the scene opened fire, but the criminals fled. On December 23, the USSR government sent a message to the Afghan government, informing the president that Soviet troops would soon be in Afghanistan in order to protect the citizens of their country. While Amin was thinking about how to dissuade the troops of his “friends” from invading, they had already landed at one of the country’s airfields on December 24. The start date of the war in Afghanistan is 1979-1989. - will open one of the most tragic pages in the history of the USSR.
Operation Storm
Units of the 105th Airborne Guards Division landed 50 km from Kabul, and the KGB special forces unit “Delta” surrounded the presidential palace on December 27. As a result of the capture, Amin and his bodyguards were killed. The world community gasped, and all the puppeteers of this idea rubbed their hands. The USSR was hooked. Soviet paratroopers captured all major infrastructure facilities located in major cities. Over 10 years, more than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers fought in Afghanistan. The year the war in Afghanistan began was the beginning of the collapse of the USSR.
On the night of December 27, B. Karmal arrived from Moscow and announced the second stage of the revolution on the radio. Thus, the beginning of the war in Afghanistan is 1979.
Events of 1979-1985
After the successful Operation Storm, Soviet troops captured all major industrial centers. The Kremlin's goal was to strengthen the communist regime in neighboring Afghanistan and push back the dushmans who controlled the countryside.
Constant clashes between Islamists and SA troops led to numerous civilian casualties, but the mountainous terrain completely disoriented the fighters. In April 1980, the first large-scale operation took place in Panjshir. In June of the same year, the Kremlin ordered the withdrawal of some tank and missile units from Afghanistan. In August of the same year, a battle took place in the Mashhad Gorge. SA troops were ambushed, 48 soldiers were killed and 49 were wounded. In 1982, on the fifth attempt, Soviet troops managed to occupy Panjshir.
During the first five years of the war, the situation developed in waves. The SA occupied the heights, then fell into ambushes. The Islamists did not carry out full-scale operations; they attacked food convoys and individual units of troops. The SA tried to push them away from large cities.
During this period, Andropov had several meetings with the President of Pakistan and members of the UN. The representative of the USSR stated that the Kremlin was ready for a political settlement of the conflict in exchange for guarantees from the United States and Pakistan to stop funding the opposition.
1985-1989
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the first secretary of the USSR. He was constructive, wanted to reform the system, and outlined a course for “perestroika.” The protracted conflict in Afghanistan slowed down the process of resolving relations with the United States and European countries. There were no active military operations, but still Soviet soldiers died on Afghan territory with enviable regularity. In 1986, Gorbachev announced a course for a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In the same year, B. Karmal was replaced by M. Najibullah. In 1986, the leadership of the SA came to the conclusion that the battle for the Afghan people was lost, since the SA could not take control of the entire territory of Afghanistan. January 23-26 A limited contingent of Soviet troops conducted their last Operation Typhoon in Afghanistan in the Kunduz province. On February 15, 1989, all troops of the Soviet army were withdrawn.
Reaction of world powers
After the media announcement of the seizure of the presidential palace in Afghanistan and the murder of Amin, everyone was in a state of shock. The USSR immediately began to be viewed as a total evil and an aggressor country. The outbreak of the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989) for European powers signaled the beginning of the Kremlin’s isolation. The President of France and the Chancellor of Germany personally met with Brezhnev and tried to persuade him to withdraw his troops, Leonid Ilyich was adamant.
In April 1980, the US government authorized $15 million in aid to Afghan opposition forces.
The United States and European countries called on the world community to ignore the 1980 Olympics taking place in Moscow, but due to the presence of Asian and African countries, this sporting event still took place.
The Carter Doctrine was drawn up precisely during this period of aggravated relations. Third world countries overwhelmingly condemned the actions of the USSR. On February 15, 1989, the Soviet state, in accordance with agreements with UN countries, withdrew its troops from Afghanistan.
Outcome of the conflict
The beginning and end of the war in Afghanistan are conditional, because Afghanistan is an eternal hive, as its last king said about his country. In 1989, a limited contingent of Soviet troops “organized” crossed the border of Afghanistan - this was reported to the top leadership. In fact, thousands of prisoners of war of the SA soldiers, forgotten companies and border detachments that covered the retreat of that same 40th Army remained in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, after a ten-year war, was plunged into absolute chaos. Thousands of refugees fled their country to escape the war.
Even today the exact number of Afghan deaths remains unknown. Researchers voice a figure of 2.5 million dead and wounded, mostly civilians.
During the ten years of war, the SA lost about 26 thousand soldiers. The USSR lost the war in Afghanistan, although some historians claim the opposite.
The economic costs of the USSR in connection with the Afghan war were catastrophic. $800 million was allocated annually to support the Kabul government, and $3 billion to arm the army.
The outbreak of the war in Afghanistan marked the end of the USSR, one of the world's largest powers.
Afghanistan has traditionally been a fairly calm country, as calm as a Muslim state can be with its inherent constant internecine struggle. By 1973-1974, intra-clan confrontations began to intensify, and in 1978 this resulted in the so-called “April” or “Saur revolution” (which translated means “bull revolution”).
As a result of this revolution, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) came to power. Afghanistan was declared a Democratic Republic. Nur Muhammad Taraki, who belonged to the Khalq group, became president of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal from the Parcham faction became vice-president and vice-premier, and Hafizullah Amin from Khalq received the posts of second vice-president and minister of foreign affairs. They were convinced that the country's development along the path of socialism, relying on the support of the USSR, would create the best opportunities for modernization and overcoming economic and social backwardness. However, most tribal leaders and Muslim clergy rejected the idea of reform. In the context of the interethnic and religious war that began on July 19, Taraki and Amin raised the question of bringing in two Soviet divisions in case of emergency.
On October 10, Taraki's death from a long, serious illness was officially announced. Although it later became known that officers of the presidential guard had strangled him two days earlier on the orders of Amin. There was a hunt for Taraki's supporters. By November 1979, civil war had effectively broken out in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, under H. Amin, this little Afghan Pol Pot, the authority of the new government was undermined by mass arrests, executions of undesirables, hasty reforms that did not meet national traditions, and executions of Muslim theologians. The number of many units of the Afghan army in 1979 was reduced by three to four times, the number of officers - even by 10 times. Gradually, the idea emerged to create conditions for replacing Amin with a more progressive figure. In December 1979, Amin died during the storming of the presidential palace by Soviet special forces. Soviet military units entered Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal became the head of the party and state. The course towards “building socialism” continued.
Opposition forces began an open struggle against the authorities. Armed detachments of Mujahideen began to be created. Finding itself unable to deal with the opposition, the government took a number of steps towards reconciliation. In 1987, Najibullah became the new president of the country. In 1988, a series of agreements on a political settlement in Afghanistan were concluded with the participation of Pakistan, the USSR and the USA. In accordance with them, all Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Despite the agreements, the authorities' attempts to achieve national reconciliation failed. In 1992, armed mujahideen units captured Kabul. Power passed to the Jihad Council. The country was declared an Islamic state. The head of the Islamic Society of Afghanistan, B. Rabbani, began to serve as the country's president. At the same time, the struggle for power continued in the center and locally between commanders of military formations belonging to different parties and national groups.
In 1995, the Islamic movement Taliban joined the fight. Its Taliban organizers are former students of religious schools who were trained in opposition military camps.
In September 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul and then most of the country. In the fall of 2001, after the Taliban government refused to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States, a military operation was carried out in Afghanistan to overthrow the government. Along with the Americans, armed anti-Taliban opposition forces took part in it. The Taliban left Kabul. In December 2001, a new interim administration of Afghanistan was formed. In 2004, a new president of the country was elected. Today the country's president is Hamid Karzai.
The Afghan war is a tragedy for our country
The fate of Afghanistan could not help but worry us. The USSR had a common border with it with a length of about 2,400 km. Since 1919, we have provided Afghanistan with the widest possible assistance. For example, by 1978, we ranked first among all countries in the world in terms of the volume of economic assistance provided. More than 3,000 Afghan officers were trained by us even before the April 1979 revolution. All this cannot be thrown off the scales of history.
The decision to send troops was made behind closed doors by several top leaders of the state. True, doubts were expressed. But the last word remained with L.I. Brezhnev. On December 25, 1979, at 15:00 Moscow time, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan began.
Documentary information: “The losses of personnel of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in the Republic of Afghanistan in the period from December 25, 1979 to February 15, 1989 amounted to: 13,833 people from the 40th Army were killed or died from wounds. 49,985 people were injured, 6,759 became disabled, 330 are wanted, 312 of them are missing. In addition, there are 180 military advisers, 584 translators and specialists from other ministries and departments.
During the war years, more than 200 thousand people were awarded orders and medals. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 71 “Afghans” (Tajik, Russian, Ingush, Tatar, Ukrainian, etc.). Twenty-five of them received this title posthumously. A monument is dedicated to all of them in the ancient fortress of Balla Hissar. The faceted spire of a majestic arrow shot up into the blue sky. A five-pointed star and a laurel branch crown it. Below on the black granite is carved in Russian and Dargah: “To the internationalist warriors.” This monument was built in 1985 with funds from the youth of Afghanistan as a sign of deep gratitude to the Soviet soldier for his selfless help.
And all those who died were taken back to their native land from distant Afghanistan by planes called “Black Tulip”
Twenty-six years have already passed since the last Soviet soldier left the territory of Afghanistan. But many participants in those long-ago events were left with a mental wound that still aches and hurts. How many of our Soviet children, just boys, died in the Afghan war! How many mothers shed tears at the zinc coffins! How much blood of innocent people has been shed! And all human grief lies in one small word - “war”...
How many people died in the Afghan war?
If you believe official data, about 15 thousand Soviet soldiers did not return home to the USSR from Afghanistan. There are still 273 people listed as missing. More than 53 thousand soldiers were wounded and shell-shocked. The losses in the Afghan war for our country are colossal. Many veterans believe that the Soviet leadership made a big mistake by getting involved in this conflict. How many lives could have been saved if their decision had been different?
There are still ongoing debates about how many people died in the Afghan war. After all, the official figure does not take into account the pilots who died in the sky while transporting cargo, soldiers returning home who came under fire, and nurses and aides caring for the wounded.
Afghan war 1979-1989
On December 12, 1979, a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee decided to send Russian troops to Afghanistan. They have been located in the country since December 25, 1979 and were supporters of the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The troops were brought in to prevent the threat of military intervention from other states. The decision to help Afghanistan from the USSR was made after numerous requests from the republic’s leadership.
The conflict broke out between the opposition (Dushmans, or Mujahideen) and the armed forces of the Afghan government. The parties could not divide political control over the territory of the republic. A number of European countries, Pakistani intelligence services and the US military provided support to the Mujahideen during military operations. They also provided them with a supply of ammunition.
The entry of Soviet troops was carried out in three directions: Khorog - Fayzabad, Kushka - Shindad - Kandahar and Termez - Kunduz - Kabul. The airfields of Kandahar, Bagram and Kabul received Russian troops.
Main stages of the war
On December 12, after coordinating his actions with the commission of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Brezhnev decided to provide military assistance to Afghanistan. On December 25, 1979, at 15.00 Moscow time, the entry of our troops into the republic began. It should be noted that the role of the USSR in the Afghan War was enormous, since Soviet units provided all possible support to the Afghan army.
The main reasons for the failures of the Russian army
At the beginning of the war, luck was on the side of the Soviet troops, proof of this is the operation in Panjshir. The main misfortune for our units was the moment when the Mujahideen were delivered Stinger missiles, which easily hit the target from a considerable distance. The Soviet military did not have equipment capable of hitting these missiles in flight. As a result of the use of the Stinger, the Mujahideen shot down several of our military and transport aircraft. The situation changed only when the Russian army managed to get its hands on several missiles.
Change of power
In March 1985, power in the USSR changed, the post of president passed to M. S. Gorbachev. His appointment significantly changed the situation in Afghanistan. The question immediately arose that Soviet troops would leave the country in the near future, and some steps were even taken to implement this.
There was also a change of power in Afghanistan: M. Najibullah took the place of B. Karmal. The gradual withdrawal of Soviet units began. But even after this, the struggle between Republicans and Islamists did not stop and continues to this day. However, for the USSR, the history of the Afghan war ended there.
The main reasons for the outbreak of hostilities in Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan has never been considered calm due to the location of the republic in the geopolitical region. The main rivals wishing to have influence in this country were at one time the Russian Empire and Great Britain. In 1919, the Afghan authorities declared independence from England. Russia, in turn, was one of the first to recognize the new country.
In 1978, Afghanistan received the status of a democratic republic, after which new reforms followed, but not everyone wanted to accept them. This is how the conflict between Islamists and Republicans developed, which ultimately led to civil war. When the leadership of the republic realized that they could not cope on their own, they began to ask for help from their ally, the USSR. After some hesitation, the Soviet Union decided to send its troops to Afghanistan.
Book of Memory
The day when the last units of the USSR left the lands of Afghanistan is moving further and further away from us. This war left a deep, indelible mark, stained with blood, in the history of our homeland. Thousands of young people who had not yet had time to see the life of the children did not return home. How scary and painful it is to remember. What were all these sacrifices for?
Hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers went through serious tests in this war, and not only did not break, but also showed such qualities as courage, heroism, devotion and love for the Motherland. Their fighting spirit was unshakable, and they went through this brutal war with dignity. Many were wounded and treated in military hospitals, but the main wounds that remained in the soul and are still bleeding cannot be cured by even the most experienced doctor. Before the eyes of these people, their comrades bled and died, dying a painful death from their wounds. Afghan soldiers have only the eternal memory of their fallen friends.
The Book of Memory of the Afghan War has been created in Russia. It immortalizes the names of heroes who fell on the territory of the republic. In each region there are separate Books of Memory of soldiers who served in Afghanistan, in which the names of the heroes who died in the Afghan War are written. The pictures from which young, handsome guys are looking at us make our hearts ache with pain. After all, none of these boys are alive anymore. “In vain the old woman waits for her son to come home...” - these words, since the Second World War, have been engraved in the memory of every Russian and make the heart ache. So let the eternal memory of the heroes of the Afghan War remain, which will be refreshed by these truly sacred Books of Memory.
The results of the Afghan war for the people are not the result that the state achieved to resolve the conflict, but the number of human casualties, which number in the thousands.
