Talk:Soviet war in Afghanistan

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[edit] Rights of Women during Soviet Occupation

I can't seem to find anything in the article about the USSR's policy of 'freedom from the veil' that was instituted during thier occupation of Afghanistan, nor can I find anything about the Mujahideen insurgents' posistion towards women (i.e. objects to be bartered with) --66.227.111.238 17:14, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Misleading introduction

"The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine year war between the Soviets and anti-Soviet forces which were fighting to depose Afghanistan's Marxist government. The Soviet Union supported the government while the insurgents found support from a variety of sources including the United States,and Pakistan."

The Mujahadeen were fighting to overthrow the Afghan communist government since it took power in the April 1978 revolution, how exactly were they "anti-Soviet forces"? The Soviets didn't get involved until December 1979. "Anti-Soviet forces" implies that they went to war only after the USSR invaded Afghanistan, which is not true. It makes more sense to call the mujahadeen "anti-government insurgents".

Or just rebels. The USSR was only involved after the government asked for help and for th USSR to step in, so it was not anti-soviet forces as you have said. --M-Mann.
From what I've read (D.S. Richards "The Savage Fronteir") that BK(?) took power with the express understanding that (as inevitably took place) the USSR would back him. It's hard, in that light, to separate the government the Mujahedin were fighting from the USSR. That said, I might like 'Soviet-backed government' better than the other two alternatives.

[edit] Lack of information about the war

War crimes, and allegations of war crimes, that were commited by both sides. The Soviet's bombing of Afghan villages, the mujahadeen's torture and murder of the Soviet POWs.

Terrorism and terrorist acts that were carried out by the mujahadeen? For example they used Stinger missiles to shoot down several civilian airliners, they also attacked public schools and murdered teachers.

The foreign jihadis who fought in Afganistan a.k.a "Afghan Arabs"? There were tens of thousands of them.

Afghan casualties? Afghan military casualties, Afghan civilian casualties, Afghan insurgent casualties.


[edit] Injected with POV

The following changes must be made to this article:

- The mujahideen must be described as external Arab invaders.

- The Soviet Union did not invade Afghanistan. Rather, it deployed troops in order to assist a regime whose regime was under attack by an externally supported and organised rebellion.

- Perspective must be shown in concern to the repression endured by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan under Daoud.

- Babrak Karmal was the former Deputy Prime Minister under Taraki who had been demoted to the insignificant post of ambassador to Czechoslovakia.


These all seem like POV-skewed statements to me. The Mujahideen were not entirely external, nor were they necessarily "invaders." And the same principle applies to the Russians. In addition, you point out no details as to what this "repression" is, and fail to show why the ambassador post is insignifcant. --S.M. 04:58, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Major edit on September 1st

I've noticed a major edit on September 1st, which basically re-wrote the article. It shifted more focus from actual invasion to political games around it, and it re-introduced a lot of slippery points. I wonder if we:

  • should salvage some of the information from the older edit into separate article for the actual invasion, which at this point accounts for less of the half of total text
  • bring back the war table
  • patch minor glitches

Adopted redirects for Google: The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Soviet Union Invasion of Afghanistan, The Soviet Union's Invasion of Afghanistan, Soviet Attack on Afghanistan, Soviet Union Attack on Afghanistan

This is an excerpt from an article I wrote for a private mailing list 5 days or so after the September 11 attack. It has been updated for the Wikipedia.

BTW - The numbers in the What was Wagered and What was Accomplished section are taken from "A Quick & Dirty Guide to War" (ISBN 0-688-06256-3) by James F. Dunnigan and Austin Bay. The numbers in this book are a composite from many sources themselves. There exist [[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm#Afghanistan other sources]] for this information, no one source can be regarded as 'correct'. With all these caveats in mind, I do not believe that any of this information can be regarded as copyrighted, except with regard as to form, which I have changed from the original. I hope this is enough due diligence as to possible copyright issues.

Thanks much. Here's a quick question. If I screw up such an edit, and end up really causing problems with the DRoA page when I port their more detailed information here, (along with some of my own that I removed the first time - I figure better to be a bit too detailed than not enough if we are going through all the trouble of creating a special page and all.....) due to my inexperience and lack of faith in my own ability, what can be done? (Still having problems with those vicious run-on sentences! <GRIN>)

I took 'Be bold!' to heart, but I still feel uncomfortable with editing and moving material that obviously took someone a long time to put together. On the other hand, no one has replied to my post on the DRoA Talk page about these changer either. Sorry for so much hand wringing, I'm certain I will slowly get the hang of it. dobbs

For each page, we keep the previously saved versions. You can see them by clicking the History link on the left or bottom of your screen when viewing an article to get a list of them. If you screw up, we can still read the old version and use it to edit the new version, or if you really screw up (which I don't expect), we/you can just put the old back. So, just go ahead and edit! Jeronimo

Ok, the new info is up. This page isn't really just a timeline anymore, so I'm unsure if it needs to be renamed. I've changed the 'Soviet Invasion' heading into a link that points here, I'm not certain how to or what else I would point here.

Again, neutral POV insights would help. I've really tried to change much of it to be as neutral as possible. For instance, while EVERYONE I have ever read, spoken to personally, or heard of, accepts that the invasion and resulting war was unprovoked agression by the U.S.S.R. against the Afghani's - SOMEONE must of at least thought up the party line that they were 'helping out' their socialist brethren. Thus, my attempts to re-write all that. I hope my studied assumptions on Soviet geostrategic goals is not out of line. While it is written neutrally (I hope), it is still subjective (even if well researched). I think that is acceptable for an encyclopedia, is there something "official" in the Wikipedia universe (talk area perhaps?) to steer me towards? Thanks again.

Ed, I'm not sure if "supporters of the Soviet Union" is a correct statement to add as a qualification. Certainly right-wingers in the US have never supported the Soviet Union, yet they currently support the idea that the Soviet reaction to the Islamist issue on their southern border was prescient of our current troubles. Take their ambivalence toward the Russian suppression of Chechnya, for example..... Dobbs 00:26 Sep 19, 2002 (UTC)

Label the advocates any way you want, as long as it's clear who's doing the advocacy. Some people support -- and some people oppose -- both the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 2001 "War on Terror" that toppled the Taliban. I would rather see the various advocates identified, rather than some vague statement that "some" support or oppose a given act. --Ed Poor

The events that took place on the timeline after the 'Start of the Invasion' heading can all be given as the 'starting' point of the 'actual' war. Moving troops into enemy territory in order to remove the government is starting a war, even if it is sneaky and not realized. The same comment can be made about cutting telephone cables and removing equipment from service - all of those things are things that start wars as well. Thus my change. Dobbs 21:07 Dec 26, 2002 (UTC)

Upon looking again, NPOV looks better than I thought. Brain fart. Sorry. [[User::Williamv1138]]

Some of these anti-personnel mines were shaped like pens, or dolls, or other shiny trinkets, known as 'dolly bombs', intended for children to attempt to pick up." -- Was there ever any evidence of this? Sounds like an urban legend ... 11:55 Feb, 2004

This seems to be one of those insidious non-NPOV titles. The Afghanistani government invited the Soviet Union in, so I don't know where people get off calling this an "invasion". Of course, you can argue this point, or put points in the article, but don't try to stick your POV in the title. If this is to be called an "invasion", then we might as well talk about the US invasion of South Vietnam since it is the same scenario - a superpower invited in by the government. Either way, the title should be neutral, and not reflect one POV. -- HectorRodriguez 22:52, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

They weren't invited in. They sent troops into Kabul and deposed Hafizullah Amin and his government. It was clearly an invasion. Hans Zarkov 17:39, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)
You are wrong: they were repeatedly invited in, both by Amin himself when he came to power in September 1979, and his predecessors. Being not familiar with the facts doesn't automatically make it a "clear invasion".
The government of N. M. Taraki repeatedly requested the introduction of Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 1979. ... On 14 April the Afghan government requested that the USSR send 15 to 20 helicopters with their crews to Afghanistan ... After a month, the DRA requests were no longer for individual crews and subunits, but were for regiments and larger units. On 19 July, the Afghan government requested that two motorized rifle divisions be sent to Afghanistan. The following day, they requested an airborne division in addition to the earlier requests. They repeated these requests and variants to these requests over the following months right up to December 1979. (ISBN 0-7006-1186-X)

Any proof that chemical weapons were used in Afghanistan?

[edit] Info on war needed

The article right now seems to only be about the beginning of the conflict; it doesn't discuss how the conflict progressed and what happened in the end. —Lowellian (talk)[[]] 23:13, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)

Someone seems to have removed part of it. Fred Bauder 23:22, Nov 11, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Is this a copy-&-paste job from somewhere ?

The following is an unwikified version of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by Anon. User:12.46.110.123. The original version has been restored. I don't know this topic, so I shouldn't merge the two versions. Please feel free to do so.

In 1979, the USSR took control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and tried through the following decade to gain control over the whole country and its people. The invasion was a failure, costing thousands of lives and having serious consequences still felt today.

To better understand the reason for the Soviet invasion and failure, first one must understand the geography and culture in Afghanistan. The land is mountainous and arid. Jagged, impassable ranges divide the country and make travel difficult. Due to these physical divisions, the people are extremely provincial, with more loyalty to their specific clan or ethnic group than to a government or a country. The people are Muslims, and extremely religious and conservative. The majority ethnic group is the Pashtun, but there are over ten minority groups.

Starting in the 1950s, the USSR began giving aid to Afghanistan. The Soviets built roads, irrigation and even some oil pipelines. In the 1970s, a Communist party overthrew the monarchy and tried to institute social reforms. The rural populations saw land distribution and women's rights as alien to their traditional Islamic culture, a culture in which polygamy, covering of women, and blood for blood practices are accepted. The Communist governments in Kabul in the 1970s lacked the popular support of the rural population.

The Invasion

The Soviets sent troops into Afghanistan in 1979 for a number of reasons. First, they wished to expand their influence in Asia. They also wanted to preserve the Communist government that had been established in the 1970s, and was collapsing because of its lack of support other than in the military. Third, the Soviets wanted to protect their interests in Afghanistan from Iran and western nations.

The Soviets brought in over one hundred thousand soldiers, secured Kabul quickly and installed Babrak Karmal as their puppet leader. However, they were met with fierce resistance when they ventured out of their strongholds into the countryside. Resistance fighters, called mujahidin, saw the Christian or atheist Soviets controlling Afghanistan as a defilement of Islam as well as of their traditional culture. Proclaiming a "jihad"(holy war), they gained the support of the Islamic world. The US gave them weapons and money. The mujahidin employed guerrilla tactics against the Soviets. They would attack or raid quickly, then disappear into the mountains, causing great destruction without pitched battles. The fighters used whatever weapons they could take from the Soviets or were given by the US. Decentralized and scattered around Afghanistan, the mujahidin were like a poisonous snake without a head that could be cut off. There was no one strong central stronghold from which resistance operated

Effects / World Response

Afghan refugee's eyes represent the anguish brought upon her by the Soviet Invasion (Denker, 1985).

The Soviet invasion had a devastating effect on the Afghan people. Because the rural population fed and housed the mujahidin, the Soviets tried to eliminate or remove civilian populations from the countryside where resistance was based. Soviet bombing destroyed entire villages, crops and irrigation, leaving millions of people dead, homeless or starving. Land mines maimed unsuspecting Afghans, especially children who mistook them to be toys. Refugee camps around Peshawar, Pakistan sprang up and quickly became overcrowded, unsanitary and insufficiently supplied. In addition, many internal refugees fled from their region.

The Soviet invasion in Afghanistan elicited a strong reaction from all over the world. The United States condemned the occupation immediately. We sent hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guns and food to Afghanistan to aid the mujahidin and the refugees. The United Nations voted to condemn the action, and repeatedly exhorted the USSR to pull out. From throughout the Arab world, people gave money and aided the mujahidin. One of these benefactors of the war was Osama bin Laden. Although the primary reason for the Soviet withdrawal was their military failure, diplomatic pressure from around the world may have hastened it.


Top


Soviet Withdrawal / Reprecussions


In 1989, Soviet forces pulled out of Afghanistan. Fifteen thousand Soviet soldiers and countless Afghans had been killed in the decade-long war. Billions of dollars had been spent each year to support troops in Afghanistan. Unable to defeat the mujahidin and pressed by world opinion to leave Afghanistan, Soviet leader Gorbachev decided that the USSR had to get out. In part, the tide of the war had been turned by the introduction of US-made shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles in 1987. With these missiles, the mujahidin shot down Soviet planes and helicopters every day, increasing the monetary and human cost of the war, and making Soviet strike tactics ineffective. Demoralized and with no victory in sight, the USSR's forces left Afghanistan.


The war had far-reaching effects on Afghanistan, the Soviets, and the US. Several million Afghans had either fled to neighboring Pakistan for refuge or had become internal refugees. In addition, millions more had died from starvation or from the Soviet bombings and raids. Among the survivors were a generation that had known only war, hatred, and fear. Homes, animals, and precious irrigation systems were destroyed, leaving the country barren and in ruin. Also, thousands of miniature land mines dropped by the Soviet planes continued to pose a hazard to the Afghan people long after the war with the USSR ended.


The USSR was also affected greatly by its failure. It lost fifteen thousand troops, but the true damage done was in the degradation of its image, and the billions of dollars it spent during the war. This fall from invincibility and vast expendature of money to finance the invasion in part caused the USSR to fall apart in the early 1990s.

One long-term effect of the Soviet invasion and pull-out was the establishment of a weak state full of religious hatred and hatred of richer nations: a breeding ground for terrorism. Though supplying the Afghan resistance with American guns and anti-aircraft missiles seemed like a good idea for the US in the 1980s, and was the reason for the Soviets’ defeat, now as the US invades, they are met with their own guns. The significance of the sophisticated guns has yet to be determined. In light of the US involvement today in Afghanistan after the September 11th terrorist attacks, it is especially important to understand the history of the Soviet's involvement there so we can avoid making the same mistakes.

Thanks. -- PFHLai 07:07, 2005 Jan 30 (UTC)

[edit] Soviet Deaths

What's the source for the 22,000 figure cited for Soviet deaths? Most sources I see list the deaths as 13,000-15,000 depending upon the source. ---B- 08:23, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 10-year war?

24 Dec 1979 to 2 Feb 1989 looks more like 9 years to me. GeorgeStepanek\talk 21:04, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Soviet-Afghan War

This war is in need of name. I find "Afghan War", "Afghanistan War", "War in Afghanistan", "Invasion of Afghanistan", "Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan", "Mujahadeen Jihad", Afghan-Soviet War" and "Soviet-Afghan War", to name a few. It needs to be standardized. nobs

the name has to be changed into Soviet-Afghan War. The current name is nonsense.--TheFEARgod 19:10, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

That is complete shit. Leave the fucking Soviets out of it. They were supporting the government and the western powers supported the other guys. It's just propaganda "oh, the big bad soviets invaded afghanistan". Leave the soviets out of this.

-G

[edit] pov

umm, the vietnam war article doesn't start as "the american invasion of vietnam was an 18-year war that wreaked incredible havoc and destruction on vietnam." nor does the invasion of iraq article start "the american invasion of iraq in 2003 is a war that is continually wreaking incredible havoc and destruction on iraq." etc. etc. ...much rhetoric...this article appears to be heavily biased against the USSR, & doesn't significantly discuss the US reaction against the invasion and its consequences (one sentence?)... then again i am not going to put in the effort to edit it, so whatever, if someone who already has an account and knows how to do this stuff wants to maintain the credibility of wikipedia, then go for it! anyway, just an observation. (ooh sorry i forgot a subject last time so i did something and now it has one!)

[edit] Alpha group strength

December 27, 1979 - 700 KGB spetsnaz special forces troops, Alpha Group, in Afghan uniforms storm the Presidential Place in Kabul, taking heavy casualties, killing President Hafizullah Amin. "

IIRC only ~50 of them were actual Alpha fighters - two groups with two APCs each (Thunder - 25 men and Zenith - 24 men). The others were an unclear entity - moslem division that blocked retreat from the palance and reinforcements to it. Alpha casualties were 5 men and two APCs.

All right, but the article shows "heavy casualities". I have changed it to "light casualities".

[edit] Article Introduction

" as a pre-emptive war against Islamist terrorists."

This is far fetched. The pre-emptive doctrine did not exist then and in any case was definitely not used in Afghanistan. Neither were there Islamist terrorists then, particularly in that part of the world, with their purpose being solely Islam and terrorism.

The pre-emptive doctrine has existed for a very long time, I'd be surprised if it hadn't existed for millenia, but certainly since the Prussian Bismarck.[1] It is, however, far fetched to say that is why the Soviets went in. JoshNarins 20:57, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Red Army didn't invade Afganistan

The Red Army were renamed to the Soviet Army in February 1946

[edit] Pre-assault assassination attempt

I've recently seen a Russian TV program investigating the beginning of the war (they looked at official Soviet documents, talked to witnessed - seemed pretty professional to me). What they stressed in particular was that the USSR decided to carry out the Presidential palace assault only after an assassination attempt had failed. Apparently, they were able to infiltrate the palace kitchen and poison Amin's food. Amin ate the poisoned food but ironically, there were some Soviet doctors working in Kabul at the time. They obviously didn't know of the upcoming assassination and 2 of them came to the palace when called upon. They were able to save Amin, barely, and that's why the assault was launched. When all the shooting began, they were still at the palace. The doctors apparently hid in a cupboard and were shot by advancing Soviet troops, who shot at all closed doors and cupboards upon entering a room.

Unfortunately, I don't know if this research is confirmed in any non-TV sources. --Bicycle repairman 04:05, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Here is a source that confirms the poisoning: Afghanistan. However, this says that he was poisoned at the actual time of the attack. --68.41.14.137 20:58, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Some of the innovations incorporated into the constitution were a multi-party political system, freedom of expression, and an Islamic legal system presided over by an independent judiciary. The Afghanista was an atheist State from 1978 to 1992. Francesco

Not Truth. Babrak Karmal and Mohammad Najibullah make sure to appase some part of the afghan population by including Islam in government. Messhermit 16:34, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Come on people

Only someone with no scholarly aptitude would not concur that the invasion by the Communist Soviets was illegal. This was codified in the annals of the United Nations documents during the illegal invasion by the Secretary General of the UN.

Maybe a Copy of the Treaty of Friendship that the USSR and the DRA signed could clarify if there was really an invasion or a request for military assitance. Messhermit 01:37, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean? It was completely legal from Soviet point of view. We do not have international laws that are stronger than national. DarkFighter 04:25, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

No offense, but the first paragraph is not mine. That's why I put that previous statement. Messhermit 13:48, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stingers capability

"shoot down Soviet jets and helicopters frequently, easily, and without loss on their own side" - not likely. It was not that frequently, NOT easily (on all accounts no more than 10% of missiles shot down anything, VVS changing there tactics constantly, modifying their aircraft and increasing operating altidude), and Stinger launch positions were heavily bombed afterwards and in process of air strikes. Also Soviet Special Forces were in constant search for Stinger teams, eventually capturing some missiles and launchers. From "Hot sky of Afganistan" - [2] (Russian): "Effiency of all jamming systems against MANPADs on Mi-8 helicopter was 70-85% (counted by number of misses and hits)" That was in 1982. Also total lossed in 1985 were distributed as following: 27% - small arms 40% - 12,7 mm DShK MG 27% - specialized AAA installations 6% - MANPADs

So I deleted the citation above. Stingers should be mentioned, of course. DarkFighter 04:59, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

Serious vandalism in the beginning of the article. Some one should check the author and block the ip address.Akupta321 17:34, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I deleted this trash about teddy bears with explosives and child killing. Never proven. Not a single reliable source. Civilian casualities were large, but that was because of large-scale artillery and air strikes collateral damage.

[edit] Fiction

What's wrong with adding this link?

Memories of war veterans (from Russian side)

ellol 14:12, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

  • If it was deleted, I apologise. Unfortunately, some IP user started writing biased opinions supporting the Mujahiddin, and I reverted to the previous version. I think the website is ok, so feel free to post it again. Messhermit 15:26, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Combat Losses and Casualties

I am in possession of a very reputable source for combat losses and casualties. Krivosheev's "Combat Losses and Casualties in the Twentieth Century". I will be updating this page with a new section on this.

[edit] "engineer plants"? what?

Sounds like a mistranslation from Russian. --HanzoHattori 15:30, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Title - invasion?

Google Print search: "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan" used in 476 books; "Soviet war in Afghanistan" used in 190. Why not go with a more popular title?-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk  01:51, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Someone has not been paying attention to earlier discussion. You should first familiarize yourself with Wikipedia's NPOV policy. You should also head to your local library and seek a copy of Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness, and Cooperation signed by Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in December 1978 -- one full year before the deployment of Soviet divisions. Frankly, this is an encyclopedia and not an agitprop outlet where documents published by the US Congress found in your little Google search are to be cited. Looking at the first two pages of your search results, half of them are propaganda pamphlets published by the US Congress.

I'd say "Soviet war in Afghanistan" is sufficient as a title. "Invasion" implies just the time of the advent of forces, and not the years of counterinsurgency to follow. It is also antagonistic to those who saw the intervention as a legitimate support of the local government. To the anonymous poster above: your assertion the Library of Congress is half-filled with "propaganda pamphlets" is incorrect and rather an antagonistic POV. Yes, this is an encyclopedia, and also, yes, it is definitely admissible to use the results of Google searches to back assertions. Of course, some resources found on the web will be more authoritative than others. Play nicely. --Petercorless 22:31, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV edit reverted

Someone just expunged a bunch of background about the war, and I restored it. However, there seems to be an unbalanced POV in the areas I just put back in. While there is a lot of good information, there is a bias that seems to creep in through the text. Let's see if we can make it more neutral, shall we? If you want to edit information, try to make it more neutral before simply deleting entire sections, or bring the issue up here on this talk page. --Petercorless 15:09, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

This article is full of POV. For example the soviet intervention is called "brotherly aid" whereas the US involvement is labeled "US subversion". Some passages refer to the Mujahideen as "terrorists". I doubt they saw themselves as such... Further on, about a UN resolution condemning the invasion: "the resolution was interpreted as illegal". Was interpreted by who? Also, there is a heavy emphasis on the mujahideen atrocities, but no mention of the Soviet and Parcham war crimes. Etc etc.. It needs a major reworking to weed out the POV.--Raoulduke47 00:26, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
I've done what I could to take out POV and cited both sides as best as I could. I have not found a quote of Soviet dismissal of the UN 6th Special Emergency Session's resolution. If anyone might have any particular details to add there, that would give the Soviet rationale. However, I made sure to keep it as balanced as possible. --Petercorless 07:05, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
Excellent work! It's much less POV now. However some passages are still heavily loaded: i removed some bits that called the Muj terrorists, per Wikipedia:Words to avoid#Terrorist, terrorism, and another that said they skinned their victims alive. Another passage contained a unsourced claim that they had chemical weapons.
The "Afghan insurrection" section should describe, at least briefly, the various stages of the war and the major battles: the insurrection in Herat, the Panjshir valley offensives and the siege of Khost.Raoulduke47 23:58, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comanders Indirect Roles

Perhaps an extra name should be added to this, Jihadis including Osama Bin Laden were involved in this war.

To the anonymous poster... It may be true that OBL was involved in Afghanistan, but at the time, he was a financier and not a military commander. --Petercorless 05:30, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date confusion in the article

There seems to be confusion with the dates in this article.

In "The Saur Revolution" section, it says: "On April 27, 1978, the PDPA overthrew and executed Daoud along with members of his family."

Then, in the "Initiation of the insurgency with U.S. and Pakistani support" section it says: "In June of 1975, fundamentalists attempted to overthrow the PDPA government."

Those dates don't seem to fit together.

Well spotted. What happened was, in 1975, militants of the Jamiat Islami("fundamentalists") tried to overthrow the Daoud govenrment, not the PDPA. I'll be rewriting that passage anyway to provide a better assessment of the origins of the insurgency.Raoulduke47 11:06, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
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