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.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

All labels observed (18)

Label	Occurrences
Soviet–Afghan War canonical	130
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan	16
Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan	3
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan	3
Afghan jihad against Soviet occupation	2
Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union	1
Afghan theater of the Cold War	1
Afghan-Soviet war	1
Soviet intervention in Afghanistan	1
Soviet intervention in Afghanistan 1980	1
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979)	1
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979	1
Soviet military forces in Afghanistan	1
Soviet military operations in Afghanistan	1
Soviet–Afghan War (as a civilian supporter)	1
Soviet–Afghan War (fictional depiction)	1
Soviet–Afghan War era	1
Soviet–Afghan conflict	1

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 self-linksurface differs ⓘ 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 (167)

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

Cold War → hasSignificantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Soviet military officers → notableConflictParticipation → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Afghanistan → historicalEvent → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

SALT II → reasonForUSNonRatification → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Soviet Air Forces → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Soviet armed forces → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

this entity surface form: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Soviet–Afghan War → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War self-linksurface differs ⓘ

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

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

al-Qaeda → foundedInContextOf → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

Mi-24 → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

subject surface form: Mil Mi-24

Mi-8 → conflictInvolvement → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Osama bin Laden → participatedIn → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Revolutions of 1989 → chronologicallyFollows → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

Afghan American → majorMigrationWave → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

1980 Summer Olympics → boycottReason → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Afghan Civil War → followed → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

Afghan Civil War → followed → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

Soviet Ground Forces → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Salang Pass → historicalEra → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Salang Pass → usedDuring → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Rambo III → setDuring → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

VVS → usedInConflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Military Transport Aviation → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Afghan conflicts → hasPart → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Afghan conflicts → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carter Doctrine → motivatedBy → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Panjsher offensives → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Panjsher offensives → partOf → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet military operations in Afghanistan

Panjsher offensives → relatedEvent → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet occupation of Afghanistan

Mohammad Najibullah → participantIn → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

Afghan mujahideen → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

Afghan mujahideen → significantEvent → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

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

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

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

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

Saur Revolution → result → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

this entity surface form: Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan

Saur Revolution → relatedEvent → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ

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

Operation Cyclone → conflict → Soviet–Afghan War ⓘ