Before the US and its allies gifted a massive weapons arsenal to the Taliban, Afghanistan was a graveyard for another superpower – the former Soviet Union
The Soviet-Afghan war had its origins in a 1978 coup carried out by the Afghanistan communist party. The communist party was, however, deeply divided by internal factions, which played out the following year when rival, and Afghan minister of foreign affairs, Hafizullah Amin, ordered the assassination of the Afghan president, Taraki Nur Mohamed. Mohamed was a founder member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) that had seized power a year earlier.
The Soviet Union had warned Taraki that the radical social reforms he was implementing were undermining his popularity and his grip on power became increasingly perilous.
Wanting a stable communist neighbour, the Soviet Union deployed two divisions to the Afghan border while 500 military and civilian advisorswere sent to assist the Kabul administration and arms were supplied at discounted prices.
While Amin did assume power following Taraki’s assassination, Moscow labelled him “a powerhungry leader who is distinguished by brutality and treachery”. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and the Pol…
