All great stuff comrade! Yeah that school project has passed long ago but learning history is important (and I nerd out about it). So how come the War took so long, and why did China go so far as to support the mujahideen (I guess this is more a question about the Sino-Soviet split)? Thanks a bundle!
No problem comrade! The war lasted so long (10 years) because it was impossible to win, at least in the way the soviets acted. Afghanistan is a very rural mountainous country, the countryside is isolated and hard to access and control due to the geography. Thus, it was very easy for the mujahideen to wage guerilla warfare against soviet troops. Now the logical thing to do here would be to take control of strategic locations and cut off the mujahideen from supplies, so that even if you cant find them they will run out of supplies and wont be able to fight you.
But doing that was impossible, because weapons were pouring in from most of Afghanistans borders. Afghanistan has a 2670 km (1660 miles) long mountainous border with Pakistan. It also has a 921 km (572 miles) long mountainous border with Iran. Both Iran and Pakistan were islamist countries who supported the mujahideen, so you have a 3500 km (2100 miles) long mountainous area from which weapons are pouring in nonstop. Its simply impossible to stop the flow of weapons, which made the war unwinnable. Sure, the soviets could take back territory from the mujahideen, but defeating them was impossible. This is what made the war last so long. I personally think that the USSR should have invaded Pakistan to force them to stop helping the mujahideen.
Now on China. Due to the Sino Soviet Split, China had very bad relations with the USSR and viewed them as a hostile enemy trying to encroach on them. Mao said, that since USSR was revisionist due to Khrushchev (which was true), that they had become capitalist and thus were “social imperialists”, and were just as bad as USA. Imo this is bullshit, the USSR was still socialist albeit flawed. So, starting in 1973 with Richard Nixons visit to Beijing, China developed an antisoviet alliance with the USA. Under Mao, this alliance with the US was justified with this “social imperialism” bs. Under Deng, it was simply real politik, the US was a good ally for them. So when the war started in Afghanistan, China supported the mujahideen with the US to counter soviet influence in the region. They did the same in Cambodia, where they supported Pol Pot against Vietnam and the proUSSR Peoples Republic of Kampuchea.
Yeah cold, rural mountains are one of the best terrains guerillas can fight on. I guess Wh*rebachev internally wasn’t much help with that. So was China just trying to truce with the West to get them off their backs? Is this why US companies felt secure moving all their industries to China in the last 30 years, or is it simply profits?
All great stuff comrade! Yeah that school project has passed long ago but learning history is important (and I nerd out about it). So how come the War took so long, and why did China go so far as to support the mujahideen (I guess this is more a question about the Sino-Soviet split)? Thanks a bundle!
No problem comrade! The war lasted so long (10 years) because it was impossible to win, at least in the way the soviets acted. Afghanistan is a very rural mountainous country, the countryside is isolated and hard to access and control due to the geography. Thus, it was very easy for the mujahideen to wage guerilla warfare against soviet troops. Now the logical thing to do here would be to take control of strategic locations and cut off the mujahideen from supplies, so that even if you cant find them they will run out of supplies and wont be able to fight you.
But doing that was impossible, because weapons were pouring in from most of Afghanistans borders. Afghanistan has a 2670 km (1660 miles) long mountainous border with Pakistan. It also has a 921 km (572 miles) long mountainous border with Iran. Both Iran and Pakistan were islamist countries who supported the mujahideen, so you have a 3500 km (2100 miles) long mountainous area from which weapons are pouring in nonstop. Its simply impossible to stop the flow of weapons, which made the war unwinnable. Sure, the soviets could take back territory from the mujahideen, but defeating them was impossible. This is what made the war last so long. I personally think that the USSR should have invaded Pakistan to force them to stop helping the mujahideen.
Now on China. Due to the Sino Soviet Split, China had very bad relations with the USSR and viewed them as a hostile enemy trying to encroach on them. Mao said, that since USSR was revisionist due to Khrushchev (which was true), that they had become capitalist and thus were “social imperialists”, and were just as bad as USA. Imo this is bullshit, the USSR was still socialist albeit flawed. So, starting in 1973 with Richard Nixons visit to Beijing, China developed an antisoviet alliance with the USA. Under Mao, this alliance with the US was justified with this “social imperialism” bs. Under Deng, it was simply real politik, the US was a good ally for them. So when the war started in Afghanistan, China supported the mujahideen with the US to counter soviet influence in the region. They did the same in Cambodia, where they supported Pol Pot against Vietnam and the proUSSR Peoples Republic of Kampuchea.
Yeah cold, rural mountains are one of the best terrains guerillas can fight on. I guess Wh*rebachev internally wasn’t much help with that. So was China just trying to truce with the West to get them off their backs? Is this why US companies felt secure moving all their industries to China in the last 30 years, or is it simply profits?