The Soviet-Afghan War – The Empire That Bled to Death

Episode 26 of Turning Points: History’s Greatest Battles explores the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) — the conflict that drained Soviet power and accelerated the collapse of the Cold War order. After a communist coup destabilized Afghanistan, the Soviet Union intervened in December 1979 to prop up a friendly regime, expecting a short and decisive operation. Instead, it became trapped in a long and costly guerrilla war. Afghan resistance fighters, known as the Mujahideen, used their knowledge of mountainous terrain to wage hit-and-run attacks against Soviet forces. Poorly adapted to counterinsurgency warfare, Soviet troops struggled against an invisible enemy. The balance shifted further in the mid-1980s when the United States supplied the rebels with Stinger missiles, which neutralized Soviet air superiority and weakened morale. As casualties mounted and public dissatisfaction grew, the war became a political and economic burden for Moscow. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leadership sought an exit, withdrawing its forces in 1989. The war left more than a million Afghans dead, millions displaced, and the country in ruins. It also triggered internal instability within the Soviet Union, contributing to its collapse in 1991. The Soviet-Afghan War proved that even superpowers have limits and that prolonged occupation can undermine empires from within.