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Remembering the 1979 Soviet Invasion in Afghanistan

Crossroads of Hopes and Illusions

Essay
Remembering 1979 in Afghanistan
At the time of the Soviet invasion, more than 900,000 people were living in Kabul. Today, now there are nearly four million residents in the Afghan capital. Photograph: Marcel Mettelsiefen

Today's Afghanistan is in many ways a result of the events that began to unfold in 1979. Journalist Waheed Massoud has been living through all of it and reminisces about how the last four decades have shaped him and his generation.

The former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on a harsh winter day in December 1979 to expand its control in its own backyard and prepare for its future plans in the region. This invasion soon proved to become a point of destiny for the country, for the Soviet Union itself, for the region, for the Islamic world and in the bigger picture for the world.

 

Afghanistan was a small, poor country with relative stability for nearly half a century. The last Afghan king ruled the country for four decades with no major political upheaval. His rule came to an end when his cousin and royal prime minister, Mohammed Daud Khan, seized power in a bloodless coup on July 17th 1973, and he changed the regime from a kingdom to presidency.

 

Four years later, President Daud was killed with his family in a military coup; the Saur Revolution led by the Communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1978. The PDPA was funded and backed by Moscow.

 

A year later, in December 1979, Afghans woke up to an unbelievable surprise; foreign tanks and military armoured carriers patrolling their streets. Within hours the nation learnt through radio stations that the former Soviet Union military had invaded Afghanistan. The nation was stunned and did not know what to make of it.

 

Soon the country was divided. Millions of Afghans supported the nascent Afghan communist government with the backing of Moscow and its direct military presence promising jobs, a fair social system, progress and education, but these slogans did little to convince millions of others who saw the Kabul government as a stooge regime playing in the hands of the invading Soviet military that had now occupied a sovereign Islamic country.

 

Pockets of sporadic resistance started across the country. Hundreds of young men started attacking the former Soviet Union’s military forces, known as the Red Army, and their Afghan military supporters. Severe punishment of any resistance by the Afghan communist regime, imprisonment, torture and mass execution fuelled the resistance even further.

 

Sometimes they would throw biscuits to us from their moving convoys. Sometimes they would be generous and throw toffees or other canned food from their rations

 

As the Kabul regime tried to arrest more and more people, the resisting forces increased in numbers, and soon to tens of thousands. Pakistan and Iran who were already supporting certain political movements in Afghanistan, gave refuge to Afghan guerrilla fighters. The number of Afghans who escaped from Afghanistan either by choice or from fear of imprisonment and torture rose to millions in Iran and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia, most western European countries and on top the United States of America supported the Afghan guerrilla fighters. Afghans became the only foot soldiers fighting on both sides of the cold war rivalry, funded and supported by superpowers.

 

The Afghan communist regime and their Soviet backers thought crushing the resistance will result in full control of the country and help the Kabul regime consolidate power. The Afghan anti-Soviet Union invasion forces also assumed guerrilla warfare would force the Afghan communist regime to collapse. Soon millions of people were killed, maimed and were displaced, and even now, four decades later, the war is far from over, yet it changed its form, the players changed and the nature of war changed, but it still remains the same proxy war with Afghans fighting on both sides for a cause they see worth fighting for.

 

I was only a year old when the Red Army invaded Afghanistan. My parents stayed in Kabul and were civil servants. My uncles were university students except one who decided to fight the Kabul government and the invading foreign forces. He had to migrate to Pakistan with his family. We would rarely hear from them except a letter every now and then. My parents would not even dare to read the letter in our presence as they knew we were children, we did not know the sensitivity of the matter, they did not want us to mistakenly tell our friends on the street that we had received a letter from our uncle in Pakistan. That could have potentially lead to arrest of our parents for treason.

 

As I was growing up, I remember living under the Kabul communist regime. I remember the Red Army military convoys driving up our roads, we used to call them the Russian soldiers. Me and my friends used to stand by the side of the road and shout the few Russian words we spoke. We would wave to the mostly very young Russian solders and they would wave back at us. Sometimes they would through biscuits to us from their moving convoys. Sometimes they would be generous and throw toffees or other canned food from their rations. We would run back to our allay with joy and celebrate the tiny little gifts. Other times we would return empty-handed.

 

There were many families that were divided. A brother fighting for the communist regime and another brother fighting against the regime

 

We were too young to know the reality of war and military occupation. We were living in Kabul, away from rural parts of the country which were the real battleground, where thousands were getting killed every day on both sides. There were many families that were divided. A brother fighting for the communist regime and another brother fighting against the regime.

 

As the war entered its second, third and forth year, there was a severe need for footsoldiers. Serving in the army became compulsory for everybody living under the Afghan communist regimes-controlled area. It was initially a two-year conscription, later it was increased to three, then four. After a few years, all those who had done their conscription service had to serve a second term, for two more years. That proved how severe was the shortage of soldiers was. My father had to do his military services on two occasions, the first time for four years and the second time for two years. He was one of the very rare lucky ones who survived his military service. He was not sent to the front, due to his education he was mostly deployed guarding government buildings in the capital.

 

Despite all of this, for us as children life was nice. We had functioning schools, hospitals, roads and a public transport system. We were shown the devastating pictures of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran living in tents and makeshift houses under extreme heat, barefoot children and signs of utter poverty.

 

We had electricity and television. There were signs of a modern society. Girls had to right to education and were allowed to dress up the way they wanted, they were working and had freedom. The major concern for us were explosions in crowded locations, at bus stops and markets. Explosions and bombs planted by the anti-Soviet invasion fighters, we knew as Mujahideen. Soon rockets started flying in the city, killing men, women and children. With constant state propaganda, the only thing we knew about Mujahedeen were their barbaric actions. We knew them as mostly uneducated, bearded men who were committing mass murders of innocent people. They were forces that would bomb and destroy bridges, roads, power plants and electricity grids, supply convoys and shoot down planes. They were a force against anything modern. They would stop passengers on rural high ways and question and sometimes kill those who had shaved beards or were wearing jeans. It was seen as clear signs of urban living that in turn meant affiliation with the communist regime. Well, a significant number of all of the above were true.

 

Anyone arrested under suspension of links with Mujahideen wasimprisoned, tortured and killed. Mass executions and summary killings were common. It was not a secret anymore

 

What we did not know and were unaware of, were the similar barbaric actions the Russian soldiers and their Afghan counterparts were committing in the name of modernity and serving the state. Clean-up operations against the Mujahideen were barbaric, resulting in the bombing of entire villages, killing women and children. Anyone arrested under suspension of links with Mujahideen was imprisoned, tortured and killed. Mass executions and summary killings were common. It was not a secret anymore.

 

With billions of dollars spent and state-of-the-art weapons supplied to both sides of the war, nine years later the Soviet Union had to retreat and leave Afghanistan in 1989, but the Afghan war did not end.

 

Afghanistan still remained a battleground for proxy wars. The Afghan communist regime still remained in power with financial backing from Moscow. The Mujahideen still remained active with backing from Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the West. The nation was tired of war but there was no end to the war.

 

With global pressure, in 1992 the Kabul communist regime collapsed. I remember this day vividly as a teenager. People were cautiously optimistic as there was no reason for the continuation of the war anymore. The foreign invasion and its loyal communist regime in Kabul did not exist anymore.

 

We rarely even noticed or talked about someone’s ethnicity as it was irrelevant but the Mujahideen fighters were divided along ethnic lines and religious sects. They all wanted to get to power

 

In 1992 the same forces that I knew from communist government propaganda, were high with victory, after forcing a superpower out of Afghanistan. They were driving fully armed in their pickup trucks. I did not know much about eight factions among Mujahideen fighters, about their rivalry and ethnic divisions. I was living in part of Kabul with other ethnic groups. We rarely even noticed or talked about someone’s ethnicity as it was irrelevant but the Mujahideen fighters were divided along ethnic lines and religious sects. They all wanted to get to power. Soon they started fighting each other for power.

 

Kabul, a beautiful city that had survived the 14 years of war, soon turned into a battleground. The Afghan army that was well equipped and left behind by the Afghan communist regime, was looted by the warring factions. Almost all basic infrastructure and fabric of the society was destroyed by the very same forces that promised prosperity to the country.

 

Within four years Afghanistan was left in ruins, with no infrastructure. Up to 80,000 civilians were killed. Most parts of Kabul city were ghost towns. The country was divided into small fiefdoms, and Kabul was turned to rubble. Various sides were firing rockets at each other and civilians were the main victims.

 

To put an end to this heart-shattering situation, a new group emerged, they called themselves the Taliban or religious students. They came with a message of peace. Anyone who stood against them were crushed. People were tired of four constant years of civil war and they welcomed the Taliban as they provided an alternative, at least peace if nothing else. Taliban were a fundamental group. They did not allow women to leave home or go to school, they did not allow music or TV. They imposed hard restrictions, but this did not reduce their public support at the beginning as during civil war there were hardly any schools except in small pockets of some big cities. What mattered at the time was a sense of security that the Taliban provided.

 

Soon, the Taliban took control of most of the country. As months passed and people managed to have a sigh of relief from the civil war, that is when they realised the true face of the Taliban. Yes, the Taliban provided security by harsh punishment to anyone who broke their imposed law. Public executions for murder and adultery, chopping hands of the thieves and similar punishments, were common. Yes, it did result in relative peace and security but they took away the basic freedoms, a full ban on women education and right to work, men had to wear traditional clothes and were forced to grow a beard. Television and music were banned, life under the Taliban was like a prison, with peace but no freedom. Soon anger and dissatisfaction started to grow. The Taliban managed to crush any resistance to their rule by harsh punishments and imprisonment.

 

As the Taliban were consolidating their grip over the country, most young and able men and women started to flee country and those who did not have the money and had no choice but to accept the new reality

 

As the Taliban were consolidating their grip over the country, most young and able men and women started to flee country and those who did not have the money and had no choice but to accept the new reality. There seemed no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

In 2001, Afghans were amazed yet again. Through radio news they learnt of the 9/11 attacks and soon Afghans learned that someone called Osama Bin Laden was behind the attack. To the surprise of most common Afghans they learned through the news that Bin Laden was in fact in Afghanistan and that the Americans were demanding the Taliban to hand him over and that the Taliban refused.

 

This was another critical point in history, as Americans were threatening to attack Afghanistan. Afghans had the experience of former Soviet Union invasion, carpet bombing flattening villages. The whole nation was concerned. Those who could flee the country, left for Pakistan and Iran, others just waited to see what fate had decided for them.

 

Me and my family stayed in the country, but soon we realised that the American aerial attacks were mostly precise with minimal civilian casualties.

 

Kabul citizens were woken up to another surprise. On 13 November 2001, The Taliban were gone and anti-Taliban militias backed by US-led forces entered the city. This was yet another time of hope.

 

The Taliban were gone, US-led NATO forces were in the country under a UN mandate and there was no reason for the continuation of war. It was a time of reconstruction and hopes. All the news was about billions of dollars pledged for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and a prosperous future.

By: 
Waheed Massoud