Soviets deploy half a million troops in Afghanistan

Could the Soviets deploy half a million troops in Afghanistan similar to peak American numbers in Vietnam

What would be the impact of this
 
The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was worse planned then the American occupation of South Vietnam which is saying something. Though it included certain similar mistakes. Here is a very short history.

You had an army that didn’t know COIN and was just going around leveling and at times gassing villages. That is not a war winner in the mountains. The Soviets didn’t want to go ‘full Stalin’ because they were supposed to be propping up a puppet government, but they were pissing off the population.

More troops under similar orders would end the same way for the Soviets only with significantly higher Soviet deaths.

Better tactics can turn around insurgent wars. We saw that last decade in action. The Soviets didn’t get smart in waging the war. But, Afghanistan is also a place were the mountain ranges can swallow armies whole.
 
Last edited:
Why won’t more troops develop towards 3rd Chechnya? Just keep bloody FAEing village after village and damn the red crescent’s protests? For that matter why did 3rd Chechnya work?

(I think more troops would tank the economy though.)
 
Top