The Implications of the Soviet-Afghan War for the Soviet Military

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Yaacov Ro'i

Published:

2022

Publisher:

Stanford University Press

The Soviet-Afghan War was the first involvement of any major Soviet force in actual fighting since the end of World War II. It was also the first experiment in applying conventional military doctrine to guerrilla warfare – typically, the Soviets had no word for counter-insurgency. The generals who tasted war in Afghanistan returned home and played important roles in the command of Military Districts and taught in military academies. What they had learned in Afghanistan was introduced into Soviet military thought, particularly the need for flexibility of military doctrine and leadership. Weaponry and other military equipment, too, were updated and accommodated to modern technologies and specifically to fighting guerrillas in mountainous territory. Some of this was already done in the war's course. Yet, the First Chechen War in the mid-1990s demonstrated that the military establishment had not effectively internalized the lessons of Afghanistan.

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