Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Soviet Union

Soviet Union

AAN Co-director, Thomas Ruttig discusses 30 years of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan (in German) – March 2019

Thomas Ruttig •

AAN Co-director, Thomas Ruttig discusses the 30 years of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan with ARD.  

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An April Day That Changed Afghanistan 4: The evolution of the PDPA and its relations with the Soviet Union

Thomas Ruttig •

After the leftists of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in the Saur Revolution of April 1978, the Soviet Union became Kabul’s key backer, to the extent of invading the country in 1979 to prevent local insurgencies and military rebellions toppling its new ally. AAN’s Thomas Ruttig here explores the relationship between […]

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A Five Afghani postage stamp celebrating the ‘Saur Revolution’ of April 1978.

Thematic Dossier XVIII: The PDPA and the Soviet Intervention

AAN Team •

40 years ago today, the Saur Revolution, as it was called – although it was in reality never anything more than a military coup d’etat – threw Afghanistan into upheaval and subsequently, decades of conflict. To mark the event, we have put together a dossier of AAN dispatches and papers. They include four new dispatches which […]

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A day after the PDPA took power, soldiers guard the Arg where Nur Muhammad Taraki is the new president (1978). Photo: Cleric77, Wikipedia - Creative Commons 3.0

An April Day that Changed Afghanistan 2: Afghans remember the ‘Saur Revolution’

Kate Clark •

It is forty years, today, since the coup d’etat which brought the leftist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) to power. That event has had far-reaching consequences, plunging the country into a conflict from which it has yet to emerge and changing the course of almost every Afghan’s life. AAN has been speaking to a […]

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Past Is Prologue or: A tale of two Olympics

Anthony Agnello •

Shortly before a historic and emotionally laden Olympic hockey match between American and Russian athlets in 1980, the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan. The US, at that time, had actually already started its covert operation to support the mujahedin against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul; it would be their fight that would finally lead to the Soviet withdrawal. In […]

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Withdrawing from Afghanistan – 1989 and 2014

admin •

Deutsche Welle, 14 February 2014 In this article on the 25th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, AAN's Thomas Ruttig is quoted on the status of and problems in the ANSF. he, however, would not call Afghan society "unchanged" as the author insinuates.  

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