So they gave up that communist regime and moved on, could 9/11 never happen?
Could the Soviets still hold onto the SSRs?
Could the Soviets still hold onto the SSRs?
Besides that, the Soviet invasion further delegitimized the Afghan communist regime. Without that they may well survive.
Yes, it is.Isn't collapse of the Afghan Communist regime in the early 80s likelier than Afghan Communist regime survival into the 21st century?
Are there any statistics that show how much resources the USSR spent in Afghanistan?It was a money sink that their tanking economy really couldn't afford in the 1980s, particularly after oil price crashed in '86.
? This makes it sound like the Soviets invaded just for fun instead of out of a credible fear the Kabul communist regime could not hack it and survive on its own. Isn't collapse of the Afghan Communist regime in the early 80s likelier than Afghan Communist regime survival into the 21st century?
I'm surprised there was no intervention in Iran. The Soviets and the Americans should have joined forced to take out Khomeini I feel. Also, why would the Soviets want a radical Islamic regime on its southern border?
I'm surprised there was no intervention in Iran. The Soviets and the Americans should have joined forced to take out Khomeini I feel. Also, why would the Soviets want a radical Islamic regime on its southern border?
? This makes it sound like the Soviets invaded just for fun instead of out of a credible fear the Kabul communist regime could not hack it and survive on its own. Isn't collapse of the Afghan Communist regime in the early 80s likelier than Afghan Communist regime survival into the 21st century?
Was it really that large of a commitment? I could have sworn I'd read on previous threads that as a percentage of their military and aid budgets it wasn't horrendously massive. Now that's not to say it wouldn't have been better for them to avoid it altogether but was it really that much of a tipping point?It was a money sink that their tanking economy really couldn't afford in the 1980s, particularly after oil price crashed in '86. If the Soviets avoid Afghanistan or take a more low key approach limited to merely supporting the communist regime instead of invading, they could very well last into the 1990s.
I recall a news analysis in late '79 which concluded abandoning the beleagured Afghan regime was the Soviets's best option.
Was it really that large of a commitment? I could have sworn I'd read on previous threads that as a percentage of their military and aid budgets it wasn't horrendously massive
the trick is for Brezhnev to see things the same way.
I wonder if the Soviets could have gotten the Afghan government to hand them over its Uzbek-majority and Tajik-majority areas before it would have collapsed, though.I recall a news analysis in late '79 which concluded abandoning the beleagured Afghan regime was the Soviets's best option.
Yep.Yeah the Brezhnev doctrine. Wherever communism is established, it stays, at all costs if need be. How ironic that by insisting communism stay in a single remote area, he contributed to its demise nearly everywhere....
I wonder if the Soviets could have gotten the Afghan government to hand them over its Uzbek-majority and Tajik-majority areas before it would have collapsed, though.
Yep.
Probably not. The embargo, collapse of detente, and general increased hostilities with the West due to it were probably worse long-term.Was it really that large of a commitment?