Abstract

FORIGUA-ROJAS, Emersson. The War in Afghanistan: The Soviet Experience. Pap.polit. [online]. 2010, vol.15, n.1, pp.183-234. ISSN 0122-4409.

The increasingly difficult situation faced by the U.S. in Afghanistan has led to the emergence of a growing interest in learning and expanding on what was the Soviet experience in Afghanistan, in order to identify common problems and draw conclusions for understanding the situation facing Americans today. In this sense the present article is a reflection paper that seeks to present and analyze the reasons that led to Soviet intervention and the enormous complexities of the scenario faced by the USSR during the war. It seeks to explain not only what was the Soviet experience but also the difficulties they face in a given time to identify and understand the large number of actors, organizations, events, motives that converged to shape this confrontation. Besides the legacy of this confrontation, which endures to this day, the Soviet-Afghan war clearly illustrates the limits that various kinds of actors must face in scenarios like this that tend to be increasingly common in today's world.

Keywords : Afghanistan; Soviet Union; United States; Cold War; Islam; fundamentalism and war; Foreign intervention; Soviet Union; History; Intervention; United States; History; Intervention; Cold war.

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