Why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan？

On December 27, 1979, the Soviet Union suddenly sent more than 80,000 modern troops to invade Afghanistan.

According to incomplete statistics, the Soviet Union had accumulated more than 50,000 casualties in this war, costing 45 billion rubles. The ruble in the early 1980s was still very valuable, and 100 US dollars could only be exchanged for more than 60 rubles.

The Soviet invasion also caused great damage to Afghanistan. Nearly a million people died in the war, and millions were forced to flee their homes and become refugees.

It was not until February 1989 that the Soviet Union completely withdrew from Afghanistan, and the Soviet-Afghan War ended.

Then there is a question, why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan?

Many people believe that the Soviet Union has regained the imperialist expansion strategy of Tsarist Russia. After all, as early as the Tsarist era, there was a strategic plan to use Central Asia to expand southward, and Afghanistan was a must.

But is this really the case?

From a geographical point of view, it is not unreasonable and completely feasible to use Afghanistan to open up the estuary of the Indian Ocean to prepare for the expansion of the south. If it is finally realized, it can also cut off the maritime oil transportation lines of the Western camp countries and bring the Western powers. Drive out of the Middle East.

But the problem is that Afghanistan is a mountainous country. The western part is the Iranian Plateau. The huge Hindu Kush mountain range runs from the northeast to the southwest. At least 80% of the entire territory is mountainous. The terrain is extremely complex, and the remaining areas are often continental. Affected by climatic factors, drought and little rain, a wasteland.

It is hard to imagine how such a complicated traffic environment can help the Soviet Union's expansion.

Even if you want to use huge financial resources to forcibly get through, the materials needed will definitely be an astronomical figure. During this period, not to mention that Afghanistan has no oil, no natural gas, and no rare mines. All development costs have to be borne by the Soviet Union. Local pay.

At that time, the Soviet Union could not afford these development costs.

By 1980, the volume of oil extraction in the Soviet Union had soared from 31 million tons in 1970 to 312 million tons, and natural gas had also increased from 9.1 billion cubic meters to 156 billion cubic meters.

After that, as of 1985, the GDP of the Soviet Union's energy output already accounted for 53% of the GDP.

As for the Soviet Union’s domestic oil reserves, as of 1982, the proven data was only 8.6 billion tons, of which the production areas accounted for more than half of the total oil production, and they were mainly concentrated in the West Siberian oil areas with cold climate and deep burial. Huge, this is not even considered the oil problem of Soviet oil.

In the long run, if high-quality oil fields cannot be discovered in the future, how long can these be supported?

In addition, in 1979, the rural population accounted for only 15.9%, which clearly showed that the Soviet Union was increasingly dependent on the commodity economy.

However, the process of industrialization in the Soviet Union has not been as fast as imagined. It has always been running wild on a deformed development path that prioritizes heavy industry. A lot of military products such as artillery shells and tanks have been produced.

The light industrial products needed by society and the people's livelihood are completely inadequate, and the national economic system is in a mess.

If the subsequent Gorbachev reforms can focus on the light industry system, there is still room for recovery. However, at the 27th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1986, the core of the accelerated strategic economic reform proposed by him remains unchanged. It is still heavy industry, and because of this, it squeezed out a small share of light industry development investment.

The economic problems of the Soviet Union became more serious.

It is conceivable that in order to meet the basic living needs of the people, the Soviet Union's future dependence on energy output will only become higher and higher.

Even if the Soviet Union, which is overwhelmed by itself, lays down Afghanistan, does it still have enough capacity to develop it?

So what was the reason that made the Soviet Union determined to invade Afghanistan and launched a 10-year Soviet-Afghanistan war?

It is ridiculous to say that the reason for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was actually solved at the beginning of the Soviet-Afghanistan War. The subsequent Soviet-Afghanistan War was completely a game of superpowers with the background of the bipolar pattern of the world.

After the end of World War II, in order to expand its influence in the Middle East, the Soviet Union began to aid Afghanistan, and in 1978 supported the pro-Soviet Taraki to become the head of the Afghan pro-Soviet regime.

Then, in 1979, Taraki’s political differences with Prime Minister Amin directly led to Amin’s coup and he also served as the head of state. But unlike Taraki, Amin’s class foundation was based on the emerging national bourgeoisie. As the main body.

To put it simply, Amin’s political inclination is not the Soviet Union, but the Western bourgeois regime. He even tore up the "Treaty of Friendship, Good-neighborliness and Cooperation" and openly contacted the United States, Saudi Arabia and other bourgeois regimes. This kind of connection made Afghanistan and the Soviet Union Started to go in the opposite direction.

At the same time, the US's influence in the Middle East was enlarged, and the Soviet Union's expansion in the Middle East was further blocked and other negative factors. In addition, it was a sensitive period of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union had to pay attention to the strategic position of # Afghanistan #.

Amin became the only obstacle to the Soviet Union's improvement of Soviet-African relations. Otherwise, once the situation in Afghanistan gets out of control, what the Soviet Union will lose is not just the inability to enter the Indian Ocean, but the question of whether the Soviet Union's own territorial security can be effectively guaranteed.

Then let’s look at the Soviet-Afghan War again. On the evening of December 27, 1979, the day the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, it easily occupied the Afghan capital Kabul and other large cities. The Amin regime collapsed and the pro-Soviet Karmel regime succeed.

As mentioned earlier, the reasons for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan were resolved on the day of the outbreak of the Soviet-Afghan War. However, the Soviet Union overlooked one point. The mountainous terrain of Afghanistan split it into a country with multi-ethnic autonomy. This is also the root cause of the long-term turbulence in Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union can easily occupy the capital of Afghanistan, but it is difficult to occupy the entire territory of Afghanistan. The anti-aggression nature of the Soviet-Afghan War is bound to arouse the anger of the Afghan people.

The mountainous terrain has also become a geographical advantage for the Afghan guerrillas and the rebels. With the capabilities of the Kalmel regime, it would be more difficult to control Afghanistan completely. For stability, the Soviet Union can only continue to intervene.

In January 1980, the sixth special session of the United Nations passed the resolution "Require the unconditional and complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan." Faced with the accusations of international public opinion and the overwhelming domestic economy of the Soviet Union at that time, it was impossible for the Soviet Union not to withdraw from Afghanistan. of.

After all, although the situation in Afghanistan during this period is unstable, from a political point of view, the Soviet Union's goal has been achieved. It is enough to ensure that the Kalmel regime is not overthrown.

However, the military assistance of the United States, Saudi Arabia and other bourgeois regimes to the resistance organizations and the opportunity to infiltrate made it impossible for the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops, let alone resolve the Afghan issue through political means.

It is like the famous Bin Laden who went to fight in Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia. A considerable part of the Afghan guerrillas came from the Middle East.

Obviously, as soon as the Soviet Union has left, the Afghan side will be taken over by the rebel military government supported by the bourgeois regime, which is no different from the Amin period.

We can only talk while talking. This talk lasted for six years. It was not until December 1986 that the agreement on the political settlement of the Afghan issue was officially signed, and it stipulated that from May 15, 1988, all Soviet troops should be withdrawn within nine months. Afghanistan.