{"id":102133,"date":"2026-09-08T02:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=102133"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:56:53","slug":"why-the-soviet-union-lost-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/why-the-soviet-union-lost-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The Soviet Union Lost In Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hRqvFjjlN38?si=_7yiBPa-MF4qY4Sv\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Real Time History<\/strong><br \/>\nPublished 3 Apr 2026<\/p>\n<p>In February 1989, the last Soviet combat troops leave Afghanistan after almost a decade of war. Despite military superiority, the superpower was not able to establish a stable Moscow-friendly regime in the country. Yet, the <em>mujahedeen<\/em> are also deeply divided and influenced by outside forces such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Osama Bin Laden.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u00bb THANK YOU TO OUR CO-PRODUCERS<br \/>\nMike Gloudemans, George Durrett, Luis Gonzalez, Mike Cumings, Jr., Charles Shananaquet II, Joel Sanchez, shane cawthon, Andrew Thomas Mooney, Chris Rohde, Bruce D, Jim Frame, Glenn Sugden, Lisa Anderson, George Haramundanis, G S, Kempf Mario, jhgBo8jigr hzufjkl, Gayle Elizabeth, Glenn G Webb, Stephen D Nugent PsyD, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Simen R\u00f8ste, Amy Williams, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, Josh Bruder, Konstantin Bredyuk, Richard L Benkin, Matt, Rob Carle, Murray Godfrey, Jan, Gage Manthey, Theodore Patrick Shannon, Bruce G. Hearns, Stephanie Schindhelm, Paul Wilcox, Brad Durbin, Fogeltje,<\/p>\n<p>\u00bb SOURCES<br \/>\nAlexievich, Svetlana. <em>Boys in Zinc<\/em>, Penguin, 2017.<br \/>\nAnas, Abdullah and Tam Hussein. <em>To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan<\/em>, Hurst &#038; Company, 2019.<br \/>\nBraithwaite, Rodric. <em>Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89<\/em>, Oxford University Press, 2011.<br \/>\nCampbell, David. <em>Afghanistan 1979-89: Soviet Paratrooper versus Mujahideen Fighter<\/em>, Osprey, 2017<br \/>\nColl, Steve. <em>Ghost Wars: The secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001<\/em>, Penguin, 2004<br \/>\nCrile, George <em>Charlie Wilson&#8217;s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History<\/em>, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003<br \/>\nDimitrakis, Panagiotis. <em>The Secret War in Afghanistan: The Soviet Union, China and Anglo-American Intelligence in the Afghan War<\/em>, L.B. Tauris, 2013.<br \/>\nGall, Sandy. <em>Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud<\/em>, Haus Publishing, 2021.<br \/>\nGrau, Lester. E. (ed.) <em>The Bear Went Over The Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics In Afghanistan<\/em>, National Defense University Press, 1996.<br \/>\nGorbachev, Mikhail. <em>Selected Speeches and Articles<\/em>, Progress Publishers, 1987.<br \/>\nHershberg, James G. (ed.). &#8220;CWIHP Bulletin No. 8\/9 (Winter 1996): The Cold War in the Third World and the Collapse of Detente in the 1970s&#8221;, <em>Cold War International History Project<\/em>, 1996.<br \/>\nJalali, Ali Ahmad. <em>A military history of Afghanistan: from the Great Game to the Global War on Terror<\/em>, University Press of Kansas, 2017.<br \/>\nJalali, Ali Ahmad and Lester E. Grau. <em>The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War<\/em>, USMC Studies and Analysis Division, 1998.<br \/>\nKaplan, Robert D. <em>Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan<\/em>, Knopf Doubleday, 2001.<br \/>\nLeake, Elisabeth. <em>Afghan Crucible: The Soviet Invasion and the Making of Modern Afghanistan<\/em>, Oxford University Press, 2022<br \/>\nMaley, William. <em>The Afghanistan Wars \u2013 Third Edition<\/em>, Red Globe Press, 2021.<br \/>\nRashid, Ahmed. <em>Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (2nd Edition)<\/em>, Yale University Press, 2010.<br \/>\nUrban, Mark. <em>War in Afghanistan Second Edition<\/em>, Macmillan, 1990.<br \/>\nTamarov, Vladislav. <em>Afghanistan \u2013 A Russian Soldier\u2019s Story<\/em>, Ten Speed Press, 1992<br \/>\n\u0411\u0440\u0443\u043d\u044f, \u0410\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0430. <em>\u0412\u044b\u0436\u0438\u0432\u0448\u0438\u0439. \u0418\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u044f \u0434\u0435\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0430 \u0438\u0437 \u043b\u0435\u0433\u0435\u043d\u0434\u0430\u0440\u043d\u043e\u0439 9-\u0439 \u0440\u043e\u0442\u044b<\/em>,  59.ru, 2 \u0430\u0432\u0433\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0430 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/redirect?event=video_description&#038;redir_token=QUFFLUhqa2Y1cEN3NGlEWFQ1dy1iSkc3bXcyZzhoeHJ4Z3xBQ3Jtc0ttZjlnY2M4cGJCVTEyVExvVlhNSGV6Y1hpaHl3YVJkMHphQU00R0FCNWhvOWlTSnQzWS13cXhZdW9WZUV0Qk9ENHRPaVVWSFpMRzU2ZUktMXNGNjJ3YXZGNEs2UzBXV1Y2OTVYSkpEQ0tOLTNYZDh0MA&#038;q=https%3A%2F%2F59.ru%2Ftext%2Fworld%2F2020%2F08%2F02%2F69399712%2F&#038;v=hRqvFjjlN38\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/59.ru\/text\/world\/2020\/08\/02\/6&#8230;<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u00bbCREDITS<br \/>\nPresented by: Jesse Alexander<br \/>\nWritten by: Jesse Alexander<br \/>\nDirector: Toni Steller<br \/>\nEditing: Toni Steller<br \/>\nMotion Design: Toni Steller<br \/>\nMixing, Mastering &#038; Sound Design: <a href=\"http:\/\/above-zero.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/above-zero.com<\/a><br \/>\nResearch by: Florian Wittig, Sofia Shiorogova, Mohammadreza Karami<br \/>\nFact checking: Florian Wittig<br \/>\nExecutive Producer: Florian Wittig<br \/>\nChannel Design: Simon Buckmaster<\/p>\n<p>Contains licensed material by getty images, picture alliance, and Reuters<br \/>\nMaps: MapTiler\/OpenStreetMap Contributors &#038; GEOlayers3<br \/>\nMusic Library: Epidemic Sound<\/p>\n<p>All photos and film in our documentaries are authentic historical footage. We do not use generative AI to create new assets. However, we may use AI tools to upscale or clean up certain assets without distorting or compromising the original image.<\/p>\n<p>All rights reserved &#8211; Real Time History GmbH 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Time History Published 3 Apr 2026 In February 1989, the last Soviet combat troops leave Afghanistan after almost a decade of war. Despite military superiority, the superpower was not able to establish a stable Moscow-friendly regime in the country. Yet, the mujahedeen are also deeply divided and influenced by outside forces such as Pakistan, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,370,5,1119],"tags":[218,108,780,586,397,433],"class_list":["post-102133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-middle-east","category-military","category-russia","tag-afghanistan","tag-coldwar","tag-communism","tag-guerillawarfare","tag-pakistan","tag-sovietunion"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-qzj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102134,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102133\/revisions\/102134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}