The Russians were winning in Afghanistan until the US started supplying the Afghans with Stinger missiles to counter the helicopter gunships.
The Russians were quite willing to shoot them dead right where they found them.
~The Russians were winning in Afghanistan until the US started supplying the Afghans with Stinger missiles to counter the helicopter gunships.~
And how many gunships were downed with a Stinger? Soviets haven’t lost a single battle in A-stan and it is honest to say that US intervention of course played a role but was nowhere near critical. The only reason they have ‘lost’ is that Gorbachev promised Reagan and Thatcher to withdraw along with tearing down the Wall in Berlin. Plain and simple. In fact Soviet government in Kabul outlived the communists in Moscow by a few years and only succumbed to jihadis not earlier than post-Soviet Russia went bankrupt and couldn’t send them money and ammo to support.
There was no car bombs in A-stan under Soviet occupation and jihadis have stayed way away from major population centers. It fact they were having jitters sitting in caves by daytime during most of the occupation and mostly came out at night to plant an IED or something.
Thanks.