The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan[15] against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers. The mujahideen got unofficial military and/or financial support from a variety of countries including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom[citation needed], Pakistan, Israel, Taiwan, Indonesia and China. The Afghan government was also supported by India.[16][17] The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War.
The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev.[18] The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Due to the interminable nature of the war, the conflict in Afghanistan has sometimes been referred to as the "Soviet Union's Vietnam War".[19]