Soviet–Afghan War

E16067

Cold War conflict proxy war war

The Soviet–Afghan War was a decade-long conflict (1979–1989) in which Soviet forces intervened in Afghanistan to support a communist government against Islamist guerrilla fighters, becoming a major Cold War proxy war that contributed to the USSR’s eventual collapse.

Aliases (7)

Statements (77)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Cold War conflict → proxy war → war →
alsoKnownAs	Soviet–Afghan War → surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan"
belligerent	Afghan mujahideen → Democratic Republic of Afghanistan → Soviet Union → foreign volunteer fighters →
cause	Afghan communist government request for Soviet assistance → Saur Revolution →
conflictIn	Cold War →
consequence	contributed to dissolution of the Soviet Union → destabilization of Afghanistan → economic strain on the Soviet Union → rise of foreign jihadist networks →
countryInvolved	China → Democratic Republic of Afghanistan → Egypt → France → India → Iran → Pakistan → Saudi Arabia → Soviet Union → United Kingdom → United States of America → surface form: "United States"
displacedPersons	millions of Afghan refugees →
endDate	1989-02-15 →
estimatedFatalities	over 1,000,000 Afghans → over 15,000 Soviet soldiers →
followedBy	Afghan Civil War → surface form: "Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)"
location	Afghanistan →
militaryOperation	Operation Cyclone → Operation Magistral → Panjsher offensives →
notableCommander	Abdul Rashid Dostum → Ahmad Shah Massoud → Babrak Karmal → Boris Gromov → Gulbuddin Hekmatyar → Jalaluddin Haqqani → Konstantin Chernenko → Leonid Brezhnev → Mikhail Gorbachev → Mohammad Najibullah → Yuri Andropov →
opponent	Afghan mujahideen → Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami → Afghan mujahideen → surface form: "Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin" Hizb-i Islami Khalis → Ittehad-e Islami → People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan → surface form: "Jamiat-e Islami" Mahaz-e Milli →
precededBy	Afghan Civil War → surface form: "Afghan Civil War (1978–1979)"
primaryAdversaryOf	Afghan mujahideen → Soviet Union →
result	Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan → beginning of Afghan Civil War (1989–1992) → collapse of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan →
significantEvent	Geneva Accords of 1988 → Soviet–Afghan War → surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979" final Soviet troop withdrawal in February 1989 →
startDate	1979-12-24 →
supportedBy	Central Intelligence Agency → surface form: "CIA" China → Egypt → Inter-Services Intelligence → Iran → Pakistan → Saudi Arabia → United Kingdom → United States of America → surface form: "United States"
supporterOf	People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan →
theatre	Central Asia →
typeOfWarfare	counterinsurgency → guerrilla warfare → insurgency →

Referenced by (58)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Hizb-i Islami Khalis → activeDuring → Soviet–Afghan War →

Soviet–Afghan War → alsoKnownAs → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan"

1980 Summer Olympics → boycottReason → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan"

Revolutions of 1989 → chronologicallyFollows → Soviet–Afghan War →

Geneva Accords of 1988 → concernsConflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghan mujahideen → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Ahmad Shah Massoud → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Alexander Rutskoy → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Mahaz-e Milli → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Mi-24 → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

subject surface form: "Mil Mi-24"

Military Transport Aviation → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Operation Cyclone → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Panjsher offensives → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Soviet Air Forces → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Soviet Ground Forces → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Soviet armed forces → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Sukhoi Su-7 → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Mi-8 → conflictInvolvement → Soviet–Afghan War →

Sukhoi Su-25 → conflictParticipatedIn → Soviet–Afghan War →

Sukhoi Su-24 → conflicts → Soviet–Afghan War →

The Kite Runner (film) → depictsEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

CIA Special Activities Division → engagedInConflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghan Civil War → followed → Soviet–Afghan War →

subject surface form: "Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)"

al-Qaeda → foundedInContextOf → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghan conflicts → hasPart → Soviet–Afghan War →

Cold War → hasSignificantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghan–Pakistan relations → historicalContext → Soviet–Afghan War →

Salang Pass → historicalEra → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghanistan → historicalEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami → involvedIn → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Afghan jihad against Soviet occupation"

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan → involvedIn → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghan American → majorMigrationWave → Soviet–Afghan War →

Babrak Karmal → militaryConflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Carter Doctrine → motivatedBy → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan"

Soviet military officers → notableConflictParticipation → Soviet–Afghan War →

Inter-Services Intelligence → notableOperationArea → Soviet–Afghan War →

Panjsher offensives → partOf → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet military operations in Afghanistan"

Mohammad Najibullah → participantIn → Soviet–Afghan War →

Osama bin Laden → participatedIn → Soviet–Afghan War →

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan → precededBy → Soviet–Afghan War →

SALT II → reasonForUSNonRatification → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan"

Panjsher offensives → relatedEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet occupation of Afghanistan"

Saur Revolution → relatedEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

Geneva Accords of 1988 → relatedTo → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan"

Saur Revolution → result → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan"

Rambo III → setDuring → Soviet–Afghan War →

Charlie Wilson's War → setInPeriod → Soviet–Afghan War →

Afghan conflicts → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979)"

Afghan mujahideen → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan"

Soviet–Afghan War → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

this entity surface form: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979"

United States–Soviet Union relations → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War →

Salang Pass → usedDuring → Soviet–Afghan War →

Mosin–Nagant rifle → usedInConflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

Order of the Red Star → usedInConflict → Soviet–Afghan War →

VVS → usedInConflict → Soviet–Afghan War →