The USSR intensified its efforts to intervene and support sympathetic regimes in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, while the US President, Jimmy Carter, had made human rights in Eastern Europe one of the priorities of his foreign policy.

The Invasion of Afghanistan

Between 24-27 Dec 50,000 troops were airlifted to Kabul,

the capital of Afghanistan, and within the next few weeks

this number was increased by 85,000.

Soviet troops fighting anti-communist forces in Aghanistan. The war in Afghanistan damaged the international reputation of the Soviet Union. Photo from Tony McAleavy, 2002.

It can be argued that the Soviets were acting defensively as they had done in East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In Apr 1978, a coup, by the local Afghan Communist Party had overthrown the monarchy, but were having difficulty controlling the country’s fiercely independent Muslim tribesmen. Russia. The regime then embarked on a radical reforming programme that provoke widespread opposition from the conservative Islamic forces in the countryside, threatening the existence of the new regime. Moscow became increasingly worried about the impact of the revolt on Islamic fundamentalism in the Muslim republics of southern

Russia. If successful, it also feared that it would be another link in the global encirclement of the USSR at a time when China had just signed a peace treaty with the USSR and established diplomatic relations with the USA.

To the West, the invasion was seen as a new and highly threatening development

in Soviet foreign policy, which would open up the possibility of further expansion southwards to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The invasion was condemned in the United Nations by 104 countries. President Carter banned the export of grain and high-technology equipment to the USSR and the US Senate refused to ratify the *SALT II Treaty, and a protest US athletes also boycotted the 1980 Olympic games.

* In Jul 1974, the USA and USSR agreed that negotiations should start for a SALT II Treaty, which would impose permanent limitations on nuclear weapons. It was concluded in Jun 1979 when President Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II Treaty in Vienna. The numbers of missile launchers and MIRV rocket warheads for both sides were further limited. However, the treaty was never ratified by the US Senate as a result of the Afghanistan War.

The rebel tribesmen were outgunned and retreated into the mountains and waged an effective guerilla war against the Russian troops. To many outside observers, the Russian-Afghan War began to look like the “American-Vietnam” War.

Mujahedeen fighters in Afghanistan