✦ History

Soviet–Afghan War

December 24, 1979 – February 15, 1989

Result Afghan mujahideen victory

December 1979-February 1989 war in Afghanistan between the Soviet Union and the Communist-led Afghan military and the mujahideen, backed principally by Pakistan, the U.S., the UK, China, and Iran. One to three million Afghans died and millions more fled as refugees. The last Soviet troops withdrew on 15 February 1989, and the conflict evolved into the Afghan Civil War.

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Battles and events 14

1979 – 1989
Operation Cyclone
December 27, 1979
Operation Storm-333 Soviet victory Operation Storm-333 Hafizullah Amin, Yury Drozdov, Viktor Fyodorovich Karpukhin
January 1980 – April 11, 1991
Siege of Khost Afghan Mujahideen victory Khost Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Boris Gromov
February 22, 1980
3 Hoot uprising
April 9, 1980 – June 16, 1985
Panjshir offensives (Soviet–Afghan War) Mujahideen victory Panjshir Valley Babrak Karmal, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Ruslan Aushev
August 1983 – January 16, 1984
Siege of Urgun DRA victory Urgun Jalaluddin Haqqani
April 22, 1985
Battle of Maravar Pass Mujahideen military victory Kunar Province
April 26–27, 1985
Badaber uprising Badaber
February 28 – April 19, 1986
Second Battle of Zhawar DRA-Soviet government victory Second Battle of Zhawar Jalaluddin Haqqani, Mohammad Nabi Azimi, Valentin Varennikov
April 17 – June 13, 1987
Battle of Jaji MAK victory Battle of Jaji Mohammad Najibullah, Osama bin Laden, Boris Gromov
May 22, 1987 – June 1987
Battle of Arghandab (1987) Mujahideen victory Abdul Rashid Dostum, Mohammed Rafie
November 19, 1987 – January 10, 1988
Operation Magistral DRA–Soviet victory Operation Magistral Jalaluddin Haqqani, Boris Gromov, Shahnawaz Tanai
January 7–8, 1988
Battle for Hill 3234 Soviet–Afghanistan victory Battle for Hill 3234 Jalaluddin Haqqani
May 15, 1988 – February 15, 1989
Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Afghan mujahideen victory Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Ahmad Shah Massoud, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Boris Gromov

Key commanders

Soviet Union and Afghan government 17

Mikhail Gorbachev Leonid Brezhnev belligerent leader Konstantin Chernenko Yuri Andropov Babrak Karmal belligerent leader Hafizullah Amin belligerent leader Mohammad Najibullah belligerent leader Mohammad Nabi Azimi military commander Valentin Varennikov military commander Boris Gromov military commander Shahnawaz Tanai military commander Abdul Qadir Dagarwal military commander Abdul Rashid Dostum military commander Mohammed Rafie military commander Sergey Sokolov military commander Ruslan Aushev military commander Norat Ter-Grigoryants military commander

Mujahideen 9

Burhanuddin Rabbani belligerent leader Ahmad Shah Massoud belligerent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar belligerent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani military commander Osama bin Laden military commander Abdullah Yusuf Azzam military commander Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri military commander Mohammed Atef military commander Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi military commander

Afghan government 1

Hafizullah Amin belligerent leader

Soviet Union 2

Yury Drozdov military commander Viktor Fyodorovich Karpukhin military commander

Afghanistan and allies 2

Abdul Rashid Dostum military commander Mohammed Rafie military commander

Pakistan 1

Jalaluddin Haqqani military commander