Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979

• Soviets wanted to influence region and fir their southern expansion policy
• Sept 1979 - Soviets invaded and installed Babrak Karma as a puppet President
• The West, China and India were alarmed and many boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of it
• The invasion and Reagan being elected are seen as the ends of detente
• Soviets opposed by rebels call the Mujaheddin
• By 1985 Soviets had 100,000 troops here
• 1987 Karmal replaced by Mohammed Najibullah who was ever more of a puppet
• Soviets accused of practicing inhumane types of warfare (ex. Chemical)
• Soviets eventually withdrew
• Many parallels to the US in Vietnam

summary

In 1979 the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to expand it's communist empire. This closely modeled what the US were doing not even 5 years before in Vietnam. The people didn't want what they had to offer. Even though surrounding countries were communist it didn't work and all it did in turn was to end the détente period.