We Are Repeating The Soviet Army's History In Afghanistan

A scene from the Red Army's withdrawal from Afghanistan through the Uzbek town of Termez.
Photo from Radio Free Europe

Afghanistan War: Lessons From The Soviet War -- Christian Science Monitor

In the Marjah offensive of the Afghanistan war, a reporter hears echoes of the Soviet war.

It was early summer, 1982. The Soviet war in Afghanistan was gathering momentum against the mujahideen, the country's disparate but increasingly widespread resistance movement. I'd just trekked for 10 days across rugged mountains from neighboring Pakistan to the beleaguered Panjshir Valley, an assertive thorn against the Red Army's might barely 40 miles north of Kabul.

I was traveling with a half-dozen mujahideen guerrillas accompanying a French medical team being sent to replace a group of volunteer doctors working clandestinely among the civilian population.

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My Comment: This is a must read article. My Russian relatives who fought in the Soviet/Afghan war say the same thing to me whenever we talk about their experiences in Afghanistan .... we are repeating their history.

As long time readers of this blog know, I have been a critic of the Afghan war for the past few years. It frustrates me to see how we are duplicating the same history and tactics that the Soviets employed when they fought in Afghanistan .... and with each passing year the situation on the ground is (not surprisingly) getting worse.

I know that in the end, the Taliban are going to be victorious in this war. Our strategy is to get out in the next few years, their strategy is to fight for as long as it takes. They are biding their time, and they know that because our political leadership lack the will and endurance to fight .... they and their allies will ultimately be victorious.