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While reading wikipedias rather wacky tread on the Soviet war in Afganistan, it struck me that the Soviets could have come invited if they wanted. So what if they come in on a formal request by the legal Afgan goverment instead of doing a suprise attack.
I'm not suggesting that Hafizullah Amin would do much change, he could be pressured to resign 6 month later if that's what the Soviets wanted. But I suspect that the suprise attack sent larger shock waves then a less heavyhanded operation would.