Nick+Teteris


 * Question: How did the guerilla forces of the Mujahideen defeat the superpower of the Soviet Union?**


 * A. Plan of ** **Investigation**

This historical investigation attempts to answer how the Mujahideen defeated the superpower of the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan war. I attempt to analyze the Mujahideen tactics and their strengths that led them to defeat one of the most powerful military forces in the world. I also investigate Soviet weaknesses and how these weaknesses worked against them and eventually blazed a path for the Soviets to be defeated. I will answer the question using a large variety of internet and printed resources. These will include primary sources, sources from the US government and soviet governments along with sources from the Mujahideen. I will also utilize sources that summarize and describe exactly what i am trying to answer, **how did the guerilla forces of the Mujahideen defeat the superpower of the Soviet Union?** I will also be taking advantage of Ohio Link books that can give me true expert opinions on the subject. Combining and analyzing all of these materials will formulate an answer to my question in a realistic manner.


 * B. Summary of Evidence **

In the late 1970’s in Afghanistan, the Mujahideen __ [ __ [1] ] rose up against the Prime Minister Hazifullah Amin and declared a Jihad __ [2] __ ] against him and all of his supporters after Amin had assassinated his predecessor, Nur Taraki.

Amin was a communist who attempted to sweep aside religion within the government and introduce a more Western approach to the government. This angered many Afghans who in turn joined the Mujahideen to take down the government. In early December of 1979, Soviet units began to cross the border into Afghanistan to help restore the communist government by fighting the guerilla force of the Mujahideen __ [3] __ ] (Grau 15). Total mobilization or an increase in national readiness was not issued; instead the forces were deployed through separate orders from the Minister of Defense __ [4] __ ]. The Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces (LCOSF) was introduced to the commander of the 40th army, General-Lieutenant Yu __ [5] __ ].

After several battles with the mighty Soviet military, the leaders of the Afghan opposition realized that if they continued to fight a traditional fighting style, they would be blown away, this is when they began to conduct Guerilla warfare and separated into small units of 20-100 soldiers __ [6] __ ]. These smaller units allowed for swifter movement along with increased mobility. This was a very important aspect because the Soviets stayed in a traditional formation, which made them easy to spot, and therefore, very susceptible to ambush from smaller, guerilla like Mujahideen units. In the end, this is what would give the Mujahideen an edge, however the war was far from over at this point.

The 29th of December, 1979 was the day the Soviet commandos had killed Amin, immediately following this, a new Soviet backed president was put into place, Babrak Karmal [7] Following this, the resistance from the Mujahideen intensifies. This forces the Soviets to commit over 80,000 troops to the cause in the first 6 months of the campaign [8]. Meanwhile, the United States, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are providing the Mujahideen with money and weapons during which the United States boycotts the Moscow Olympics [9].

After two more years of fighting, in 1982 the United Nations General Assembly called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the region because of the escalating violence. Soviet leaders quickly dismiss the notion and the war rages on [10]. In 1985, it is estimated that over five million Afghans have been displaced by the war, which leads many to seek refuge in neighboring Iran and Pakistan. The new leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, states that he is seeking to end the war in Afghanistan. To do so, he authorizes a radical troop surge that results in the deadliest year the war had seen [11].

The next year in 1986, the United States begins to supply the Mujahideen with stinger missiles to enable them to shoot down opposing Soviet aircraft such as helicopter gunships. These gunships had been the only thing keeping the Soviets in the war this long. It gave them a leg up because the Mujahideen did not have the capabilities to contest it, until now [12]. With the situation in Afghanistan deteriorating, Gorbachev was searching for a way out of the war, he urged Karmal to step down and in turn supported Mohammed Najibullah. The two were locked in a power struggle; however, Najibullah emerged victorious and became the newest Afghan ruler [13].

In 1988, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), United States, USSR and Pakistan sign peace agreements. This marks the beginning of the end of the long war fought between the Mujahideen and the Soviets. During this time, the Soviets begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan [14].

On the 15th of February 1989, the Soviet Union announces that the last of the troops had successfully been withdrawn from Afghanistan, however, a civil war continues as the Mujahideen strive to topple the Najibullah regime. Najibullah and the DRA are eventually overthrown in 1992, which marks the Mujahideen victory [15].


 * C. Evaluation of Sources: **

Dick, CJ. //Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War//. Oxford : Conflict Studies Research Centre, 2002. Web. .

The Conflict Studies Research Centre writes the document that describes the Mujahideen tactics in the Soviet-Afghan war. This is a very reliable source because it is an affiliate of the Defense Academy of the United Kingdom. this group analyzes various aspects of conflicts and examines how and why the conflict happened. In this case, the CSRC goes deep into the Soviet-Afghan war, specifically how the Mujahideen fought the war. This center specializes in writing about these topics so this makes the source very reliable.

The purpose of the source is to explain how the Mujahideen fought and drove out the Soviets from their territory. They did this using Guerilla warfare tactics, which is what my investigation is about. The source also describes how the war was fought by going into things like the terrain of the area and how this gave an advantage to one side over another.

This source is valuable to me because my investigation is based around how guerilla warfare shaped and affected a war. This war is a perfect example of how a power like the Soviet Union with a highly sophisticated and organized military can be driven out of a region by a smaller, supposedly weaker force of guerilla fighters. This source can explain to me how the Mujahideen did it, and why it was important that they fought in a guerilla style.

This source does not have many noticeable limitations, however, one limitation I noticed was it could not describe to me how the war would have turned out if the Mujahideen had been an organized military like the Soviet union because this would have altered the outcome of the war most likely. However, the source does cover the vast majority of what i need to know about the topic.

Savranskaya, Svetlana, ed. "THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN AFGHANISTAN: RUSSIAN DOCUMENTS AND MEMOIRS ." // The National Security Archive //. The George Washington University, 2001. Web. 26 Feb 2012. < [] >.

This source from the National Security Archive describes how the Mujahideen utilized guerilla warfare tactics to drive out an militarily organized enemy from their territory The source is very reliable because it was written for the National Security Archive and was edited by Svetlana Savranskaya who is a senior research fellow at George Washington University which is considered a prestigious school. Taking into account where the source came from and whom it was edited by, I would say it is a source i can trust.

The purpose of this source is to explain how the guerilla tactics of the Mujahideen aided them in driving out the Soviets. They paralleled the soviet invasion with the American invasion and explained how employing Guerilla warfare tactics can severely damage a large, organized military force. The other purpose of the source is to teach Americans a lesson after seeing what happened to the soviets when they tried to fight the guerilla fighters in their homeland.

This source is valuable to me because it can help me look at the Mujahideen through a 21st century perspective by comparing it to the war American is currently engaged in. Because of it relating the guerilla warfare to this war, i can use my knowledge to better understand how the guerilla tactics affected the Russian Afghan war. This allows me to use my first hand experience from the current war, to see how the Mujahideen weakened the Soviet military.

The source's limitations mainly consist of not going into enough detail about exactly which parts of the Soviet military were weakened by the Mujahideen's Guerilla tactics. Instead, it only says that the military had a hard time fighting the guerilla fighters. If it would have more detail about exactly which part of the Soviet's military strategy fell apart, then it would have no limitations.


 * D. Analysis **

The Guerilla fighting style of the Mujahideen certainly played a significant role in driving the Soviet military forces out of their country against seemingly insurmountable odds. However, there were obviously other factors that contributed to this surprising victory of the Mujahideen. For instance, the United States along with several other prominent nations such as the United Kingdom, China and Israel supported the Mujahideen efforts by providing them with weapons, supplies and aid. This also helped separate the guerilla forces from the Soviets in terms of supplies because the Soviets had to ship the vast majority of their supplies from Russia because of the lack of local support they received.

Furthermore, the Mujahideen were familiar with this terrain, after all, it was their homeland. This also allowed the guerrilla forces that moved faster and stealthier than traditional units anyway, to move even quicker because of their familiarity with the surrounding land. This sense of "defending the homeland" gave the Mujahideen guerilla fighters even more of a reason to push forward to complete the mission. In comparison to the Mujahideen, the Soviet troops struggled to find a reason that they were in this foreign land, dying for seemingly no clear-cut purpose. This thought process experienced by a large amount of soldiers obviously hindered the morale, and therefore, further weakened the Soviet's war effort.

The Mujahideen found themselves struggling to gain much momentum because of the far superior war machines of the Soviet's. One of the most detrimental to the guerilla fighters was the helicopter gunships. This made it much easier for the Soviet military to spot the guerilla forces from above, and compensated for the fact that the Soviets weren't familiar with the terrain. This compensation drew the war that much closer because it essentially eliminated one of the advantages the Mujahideen had and the Afghan fighters needed all the advantages they could get.

The Mujahideen caught a break as the United States began supplying them with stinger missiles. These missiles essentially eliminated the threat of the Soviet gunships, by allowing the guerilla fighters to shoot them out of the sky wherever they were. This break is what marked the beginning of the end for the Soviet forces. Without their advanced war technology, they were no match for the prideful Mujahideen who had everything to fight for. With this shift of momentum, the guerillas fighters of the Mujahideen began to pull away and begin to successfully force the Soviet military out of Afghanistan.

Even though the Soviet forces were gone, the Mujahideen still had not accomplished their mission which was to de-westernize the Afghan society by removing the Soviet backed government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). However, being that the Soviets were the main resistance to the Mujahideen guerilla forces, this would not pose much of a problem. However, a civil war raged in Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992 between the Mujahideen forces and the Najibullah regime as the two opposing forces engaged in a three-year power struggle. However, the guerilla forces of the Mujahideen successfully toppled the Najibullah regime and ended a war that lasted about 13 years and had displaced millions of Afghans.


 * E. Conclusion **

The Mujahideen's guerilla fighting forces were matched up against one of the great superpowers of the world. This match up was viewed by the Soviet Union as an easy win, namely because the Soviets had a much larger military and were far more advanced in terms of weapons and technology. This is why the Mujahideen victory perplexed me. With these odds stacked against them, how did the Mujahideen possibly defeat this great power? The answer to this can be broken down into three specific reasons. The first of these is the will of the soldiers. The Mujahideen had immense pride, which gave them a reason to fight unlike the Soviets, many of whom, had no idea why they were fighting. This began to demoralize the Soviets, and ultimately was a major contribution to their downfall. The second reason is familiarity of the area. The Afghan terrain is one with many obstacles and deterrences. The Mujahideen were familier with this region and thus, were able to move easier than the Soviets, along with adapt to the dry desert heat as well, something Soviet soldiers were not familier with. The third and final reason the Mujahideen defeated the Soviets can be attributed to their allies and the support they received from them. The Soviets had virtually no support aside from India. On the other hand, the Mujahideen maintained support from the United States, among other powerful nations such as the UK and China. This support, specifically the American support, secured the Mujahideen victory. The stinger missiles provided by the Americans effectively ended the last advantage the Soviets possessed which was their air technology. When this was gone, the Mujahideen made their final push to victory. In the end, this swift and discreet warfare from the Mujahideen proved too much for the Soviets, when matched with the abhorrent terrain, general will to fight, and support the belligerents received.

[1] Dick, CJ. //Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War//. Oxford : Conflict Studies Research Centre, 2002. Web. .

[2] Ibid

[3] Grau, Lester, and Michael Gress. //The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost//. 1st. 1. Lawrence : University Press of Kansas, 2002. Print.

[4] Ibid [5] Ibid [6] Ibid [7] Savranskaya, Svetlana, ed. "THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN AFGHANISTAN: RUSSIAN DOCUMENTS AND MEMOIRS ." // The National Security Archive //. The George Washington University, 2001. Web. 26 Feb 2012. < [] >.

[8] Ibid [9] Ibid [10] Grau [11] Dick [12] Ibid [13] Savranskaya

[14] Ibid [15] Grau