WI/PC: WarPac Allies Participate in 1979 Invasion of Afghanistan

Why did the Soviet Union not ask the other members of the Warsaw Pact to participate in the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan?

What would it take for them to do so? What would the consequences be?
 
Why did the Soviet Union not ask the other members of the Warsaw Pact to participate in the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan?

What would it take for them to do so? What would the consequences be?

Because the Soviets still (correctly) considered their primary defense priority to be the European theater. Therefore Warsaw Pact manpower was more urgently needed in Europe.

Not to mention, from a diplomatic standpoint, that the Warsaw Pact was a mutual defense treaty. WarPact members could refuse, would do so, and this would be embarrassing to the Soviets.
 
Only country that might have been remotely amenable to this would be east germany and even then probably only in an advisory capacity like they did in Angola.

You have to remember that most WP countries faced serious internal turmoil during the period and joining in an unpopular war outside europe (a task they were not remotely trained for) would only make matters worse. Hell, East-germany stood ready to intervene in poland with 2 divisions during the crisis in poland in 1981.
 
This hilariously biased piece of propaganda claims that Cuban soldiers fought in Afghanistan, perhaps have them send some in more overt roles? Granted, their dealing with their own African conflicts at the same time.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/op...ed-Fidel-and-Cuba-Answered-20161127-0020.html

Cuba was engaged in the fight against Western imperialism on the Afghan front from 1980 to 1986. These years were decisive for the Afghan Revolution. It was during this timespan that the Afghan army inflicted decisive blows against imperialism's foot soldiers — Afghans and some 50,000 non-Afghans.

The successes achieved at this time were largely due to the presence in Afghanistan of over 5,000 Cuban military personnel who shared their expertise in guerrilla warfare with the Afghan and Soviet armies that were built for conventional warfare. The Cubans also served in combat roles. It is incredibly ironic that years later some of the United States' "freedom fighters" whom the Cubans fought in the 1980s would be imprisoned as terrorists on southeastern Cuban territory — Guantanamo Bay — occupied by the U.S.

The Cuban help turned the tide of war in Afghanistan. For all strategic purposes, the counter-revolution was defeated. The revolutionary government was able to consolidate power. The revolution became sustainable from a strategic point of view. It had gained the momentum and the upper hand. Western propaganda perniciously labeled the situation a "strategic stalemate." The West, suffering a humiliating defeat on the battlefield, was now desperately looking to other options to sustain its ultimate agenda — regime change in Afghanistan.

This newspaper report from 1980 also makes claims of Cubans,Bulgarian, Czechs, and Romanians but it seems unlikely.

http://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0905/090515.html

10,000 Cuban troops in Afghanistan, rebels say

Islamabad, Pakistan — Afghan rebels said Thursday 10,000 Cuban troops and advisors have been flown to Afghanistan to reinforce Soviet troops and the Afghan Regular Army. A spokesman for the Islamic Front guerrilla group said Bulgarian, Czech, and romanian troops also have been sent to the embattled Asian nation. The statement followed earlier reports that elite Soviet commandos have been sent to Afghanistan to establish bases and tactics before the onset of winter. Sources also said an Aug. 29-31 airlift brought Soviet troops trained in guerrilla warfare to Kabul and returned home with soldiers previously stationed in Afghanistan.

Global Security is a pretty reliable source and they make another claim of Cuban and Czechs.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/afghanistan-1979.htm

Although data on the armed forces were necessarily incomplete and speculative, informed observers in late 1985 estimated the strength of the army at no more than 40,000. Most army personnel were conscripts, and many of them had been forced into service by roving press gangs. The air force reportedly had about 7,000 men in uniform, who were watched over by an estimated 5,000 Cuban and Czechoslovak advisers.


This declassified CIA report might be a good place to start. It claims that Hungary, Poland, and Bulgaria privately expressed fears to US diplomats about the invasion.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81B00401R000600190013-5.pdf
 
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James G

Gone Fishin'
I would be very surprised if there were any WARPAC troops in Afghanistan, let alone Cubans.
 
This newspaper report from 1983 also cites an Afghan rebel claiming Soviet allies were in the country. That seems dubious though, especially Vietnam (!?)

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/03/14/Defectors-describe-Afghanistan-under-Soviets/1843416466000/

OSLO, Norway -- Afghan rebels Monday told a hearing on the Soviet invasion of their homeland of scores of deaths that occurred as Afghans fled to neighboring Pakistan while others died at the hands of Russian soldiers.

One defector, Abdur Rahim, 33, told the opening session of the hearing that Afghan children between the ages of 10 and 15 were being sent forcibly to the Soviet Union to undergo political indoctrination.

'The Soviet Union would like to see a new generation in Afghanistan which is susceptible to imperialist Soviet propaganda,' said Rahim, 33, an Afghan engineer who joined the Moslem forces fighting the Marxist regime in Kabul.

Rahim said he had joined the resistance movement after he saw a Soviet tank unit -- in an act of retribution -- force some 50 Afghan women into a river where they drowned, many of them clutching small children in their arms.


He also claimed the Soviet army receives assistance from several allies in its attempt to crush resistance in the nation of 15.9 million people. He said large numbers of Cubans had been killed in battle and a Vietnamese unit was guarding Kabul airport.


Bulgarian troops are guarding Afghanistan's oil and gas deposits against guerilla attacks, he said.


Another rebel, Nazir Ahmad Farouqi said Soviet soldiers blew up 70 percent of the houses in a village in the Logan region after the inhabitants had been driven away by a helicopter attack in mid-January.

Farouqi said many villagers died while fleeing to neighboring Pakistan and large numbers suffered severe frostbite as a result of extended exposure to the bitterly cold weather.

'Many villagers had to have their hands or feet amputated because of the injuries,' said Gilles Albanel, a French physician who was in the area at the time.

Nearly 3 million Afghans have fled their country since the Soviets invaded in December 1979. The State Department estimated Soviet troop strength in Afghanistan had increased to 100,000 by the end of July 1982.

The International Afghanistan Hearing, sponsored by all parties in the Norwegian parliament, will last until March 16. It has been organized as an effort to gain a better understanding of the internal military situation in Afghanistan and the behavior of the occupying Soviet forces.

A panel of international experts will hear evidence and witness reports from both Afghan and Western specialists with first-hand knowledge of the present situation.

Representatives of the Kabul regime have been invited but have declined to appear, according to the organizing committee.
 
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