Why was Russia in Afganistan?

[nohorn]

I was wondering why U. S. never learns to mind our own business and balance the cost versus the gain whenever we send troops into a war, especially with no end-game plan. So I wondered what motivated Russia (at the time--) USSR to go into Afganistan.

[sandyRoe]

I think they said they were there to support a Marxist government. Probably it was a futile attempt to extend their empire.

[emmie]

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]

[emmie]

sorry to quote wiki, but one wonders why successive British governments haven't learned their lessons there either.

[venator]

Not just USA and Russia - over hundreds of years, several armies have fought in that area and come away with bloody noses.

Warfare is the national sport there!

[sandyRoe]

This isn't relevant to the question, but I remember Sylvester Stallone made a film eulogising the Mujahideen who would later become the Taliban.

[nohorn]

Thank you for all your answers. I learn so much from AB.
nohorn

[offramp_t]

Em10, what do you mean by "[16][17]"?

[venator]

em10 said he was quoting a wiki article - the numbers would refer to notes

[DTCwordfan]

Benjamin Disraeli once said "You never own an Afghani, you onl rent one."

Russia's presence in Afghanistan was not about the Taliban, though they said it was part so and the support of the then government. No, through the centuries, the Russian bear has always wanted to have a portal to the Indian Ocean, and this didn't abate in the 20thC; indeed it rather increased in wanting to have access to building a major naval base in their quest for world "influence."

Why are we there? Isnt it obvious - am attempt to push the Taliban back and suppress Al Qaeda....imagine if the news from late Friday had indeed turned out to be Al Qaeda initiated. Terrorism is now a global war and yes it needs confronting or it will spiral out of control with bombs etc going up in our cities.

Anybody remember the IRA and Northern Ireland, the Province having had many, many more deaths than our (unfortunate) losses in Afghanistan? Alqaeda is a duplicate in many ways of that in terms of the terrorism.

And Afghanistan and the Khyber Pass regions just happen to be the centre of operations as Al Qaeda shelters behind the Taliban and weak government (wit Yemen and Somalia as two of its other bases).

[boxtops]

I think the numbers in em's post will be the numbers of the reference documents at the foot of the wiki entry.

[ichkeria]

"I think they said they were there to support a Marxist government. Probably it was a futile attempt to extend their empire. "

Spot on. Allegedly Brezhnev, by then practically a corpse, threw a wobbly when he heard that his mate in Kabul was being threatened by a lot of nasty natives and sent in the cavalry. Several years of brutal warfare followed.
Russia is still paying the price to this day. Both the allies today and Soviet Union then faced the inimical conditions that we all know about, but the Soviet army didn't help itself by its monumental corruption and brutality towards the people.

[emmie]

boxtops is correct.

[emmie]

Also that many who served were conscripts, cannon fodder in many respects.

[nohorn]

Thanks all of you, very thoughtful answers.
Nohorn