Most Afghanistan threads I've seen seem to focus on increasing Soviet conventional military strength, but I'm wondering what sort of policy compromises that the Soviets could have made so that the majority of Afghans would have accepted the rule of the government.
Why exactly did the communist government fail to gain popular support? Could these problems have been solved with changes in the way the government ruled, and would Soviet/Afghan elites have accepted these kinds of changes? Could the Soviets "win" in Afghanistan without any major increase in their deployed forces?
Why exactly did the communist government fail to gain popular support? Could these problems have been solved with changes in the way the government ruled, and would Soviet/Afghan elites have accepted these kinds of changes? Could the Soviets "win" in Afghanistan without any major increase in their deployed forces?