WP units in China

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by ChalkLine

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan due to the Mujahedeen almost bringing down the government. This was funded by the Carter presidency for just that purpose, and the man that did it - Zbigniew Brzezinski - frankly admitted it in 1998 in the paper "Le Nouvel Observateur".
Quote:
“According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on Dec. 24, 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise. Indeed, it was on July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.”

Robert M. Gates had already foreshadowed this two years earlier in his book “From the Shadows” (Simon & Schuster, 1996)
Quote:
“The Carter administration began looking at the possibility of covert assistance to the insurgents opposing the pro-Soviet, Marxist government of President Taraki at the beginning of 1979. On March 5, 1979, CIA sent several covert action options relating to Afghanistan to the SCC [Special Coordination Committee].” A meeting of the SCC “was finally held on July 3, 1979, and — almost six months before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan — Jimmy Carter signed the first finding to help the Mujahedin covertly.”

So it wasn't an invasion, that's just the usual Cold War story we were told.

700 Soviet troops including Spetsnaz occupied the government buildings in Kabul, destroyed the Afghan military’s communications and then killed the leader of the pro-Soviet government.

They then invaded with an airborne division, two motor rifle divisions, a motor rifle regiment, an airborne assault brigade and an air corps – with two more motor rifle divisions following up

It was 100% an invasion

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Olefin

700 Soviet troops including Spetsnaz occupied the government buildings in Kabul, destroyed the Afghan military’s communications and then killed the leader of the pro-Soviet government.

An interesting factoid about the Spetsnaz who took down the Presidential Palace is that many of them were armed with Stechkins -- including some silenced Stechkins. (I have stats for silenced Stechkins as well as Stechkins with shoulder stocks on my site in Russian Pistols) --

http://www.pmulcahy.com/pistols/russian_pistols.htm

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

An interesting factoid about the Spetsnaz who took down the Presidential Palace is that many of them were armed with Stechkins -- including some silenced Stechkins. (I have stats for silenced Stechkins as well as Stechkins with shoulder stocks on my site in Russian Pistols) --

http://www.pmulcahy.com/pistols/russian_pistols.htm

and they killed a heck of a lot of Afghans - this wasnt a bloodless operation - they lost 14 dead themselves and killed over 350 Afghanis including those who died by being executed after they surrendered

FYI for those looking for an interesting weapon for East Africa the Tanzanian Army also had the Stechkin - so you could encounter it in the hands of marauders or the PARA

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by Olefin

700 Soviet troops including Spetsnaz occupied the government buildings in Kabul, destroyed the Afghan military’s communications and then killed the leader of the pro-Soviet government.

In a nutshell, yes. But calling Hafizullah Amin pro-Soviet is an abbreviation of the more complicated relationship the USSR had with him. He had conducted a smear campaign against the Soviet ambassador in Afghanistan, kept a picture of Stalin on his desk and was criticized by the Soviets for being too brutal, because he modeled his rule on that of Stalin, voicing the opinion that the way Stalin built socialism was "the way" it's done properly. Ambassador Puzanov participated in an assassination attempt against Amin, which was (at least partially) sanctioned by his higher-ups. Moscow was wary that the way Amin handled Afghanistan was leading it straight into civil war, which was probably very likely to happen.

Originally Posted by Olefin

It was 100% an invasion

There should be no doubt here. All in all, this was somewhat similar how the US handled allied nations that became unreliable or actual liabilities in their backyard: swift, decisive military action. It's just that Panama or Grenada were easier to keep down than a country like Afghanistan. And of course the USSR was never as good in force projection as the USA were.

Still, Afghanistan and the history of its invasion by the USSR is multi-layered. Zbigniew Brzezinski was never modest about his own plans or the effects of things he allegedly had set in motion. Maybe his actions did their part in initiating Operation Shtorm-333, but that's even then that's nowhere near the same as saying Brzezinski single-handedly trapped the Soviet Union in its own version of Vietnam. Neither past nor history are monocausal strings of events enacted by individuals.