The Bleeding Wound: The Soviet War in Afghanistan and the Collapse of the Soviet System (Cold War International History Project)

"This book considers the significance of the the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) to Soviet politics, society, and the military in the twilight of the USSR, and its indirect influence on the evolution of its successor states. Yaacov Ro'i argues that the war had significant effects beyond its direct impact on the large number of Soviet citizens who served in Afghanistan during its course, either as soldiers (afghantsy) sent into Afghanistan to uphold the PDPA Marxist regime that had taken power in Kabul in April 1978, or as advisers and civilian specialists dispatched to Afghanistan to build up and modernize the country on the Soviet model and bring it closer to the Soviet Union. Even if officially the Soviets did not lose the war, the very fact that they were unable to decisively defeat the mujahidin comprised a blow to the self-esteem of the Soviet armed forces and undermined their prestige at home. In this comprehensive examination of the effects of the war on Soviet society and politics, Ro'i considers the portrayal of the war in Soviet media, and the struggles that afghantsy veterans faced as they readapted to civilian life. The war and the way it came to be understood by Soviet citizens also served to highlight the weaknesses of the Soviet regime during glasnost'. Through a detailed account of public opinion surrounding the war and its impact on Soviet politics and society in the Gorbachev era, including extensive interviews that the author conducted with Soviet war veterans in the early 1990s, Ro'i argues that the effects of the war certainly precipitated processes that would tear the country asunder in 1991"-- Provided by publisher By the mid-1980s, public opinion in the USSR had begun to turn against Soviet involvement in Afghanistan: the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) had become a long, painful, and unwinnable conflict, one that Mikhail Gorbachev referred to as a "bleeding wound" in a 1986 speech. The eventual decision to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan created a devastating ripple effect within Soviet society that, this book argues, became a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this comprehensive survey of the effects of the war on Soviet society and politics, Yaacov Ro'i analyzes the opinions of Soviet citizens on a host of issues connected with the war and documents the systemic change that would occur when Soviet leadership took public opinion into account. The war and the difficulties that the returning veterans faced undermined the self-esteem and prestige of the Soviet armed forces and provided ample ammunition for media correspondents who sought to challenge the norms of the Soviet system. Through extensive analysis of Soviet newspapers and interviews conducted with Soviet war veterans and regular citizens in the early 1990s, Ro'i argues that the effects of the war precipitated processes that would reveal the inbuilt limitations of the Soviet body politic and contribute to the dissolution of the USSR by 1991. Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Tables and Figures 8 Acknowledgments 12 Glossary and Abbreviations 14 Introduction 20 1. The Decision to Intervene Militarily in Afghanistan 28 2. The Course of the War 45 3. The Fortieth Army 76 4. The Position of the Soviet Political Establishment 117 5. The Implications of the Soviet-Afghan War for the Soviet Military 142 6. Coverage of the War in the Soviet Media 155 7. Public Opinion 180 8. The Afgantsy 222 9. Central Asia and the Soviet “Muslim” Peoples 270 10. The War and the Demise of the Soviet Union 298 Notes 328 Bibliography 400 Index 412 Back Cover 426