Soviets Invade Afghanistan: A Decade-Long War Begins

The KGB cut Kabul's phones at 7 PM sharp. Fifteen minutes later, Soviet commandos dressed as Afghan soldiers stormed the presidential palace and killed Hafizullah Amin, the man Moscow had installed just three months earlier. By morning, Radio Kabul announced Afghanistan had been "liberated" from Amin's rule and a new president installed, one who conveniently requested Soviet help the moment he took power. The charade lasted hours. The invasion lasted a decade. Over 100,000 Soviet troops poured across the border in two weeks, launching a war that would kill a million Afghans, birth the mujahideen, and ultimately help collapse the USSR itself. The operation on December 27, 1979, was the culmination of months of Soviet frustration with Amin, who had seized power by murdering his predecessor Nur Muhammad Taraki, a man Moscow preferred. The KGB's Alpha Group and Zenith Group, numbering roughly 700 operatives dressed in Afghan military uniforms, executed a precisely timed assault: the communications hub was destroyed at 7:00 PM, the presidential palace attacked at 7:15 PM, and the Ministry of Interior occupied simultaneously. Amin's personal guards, unaware their attackers were Soviet, fought back fiercely. Amin himself was killed in his private quarters, allegedly still in his bathrobe. Babrak Karmal, who had been waiting in the Soviet Union, was flown in to serve as the new president. The Politburo had expected a quick stabilization. Instead, they got a guerrilla war sustained by American weapons, Saudi money, and Pakistani logistics. The CIA's Operation Cyclone funneled billions to mujahideen fighters, including Stinger missiles that neutralized Soviet air superiority. The war killed 15,000 Soviet soldiers and over one million Afghan civilians before the final withdrawal in 1989.