Rodric Braithwaite - Afgantsy

As history much of this was travesty. But it did seem to indicate that the latest attempt to help the Afghans to help themselves was having little more success than its predecessor.

Leaders take their countries into foreign wars for reasons of ambition, greed, moral or messianic fervour, or on a calculation of national advantage which may or may not be flawed.

The generals manage the wars as well as they can. The best try to husband the lives of their soldiers and to keep them under proper control. When it is all over, they ransack the archives and write their memoirs, to carve out their niche in history, to justify the decisions they took, and sometimes to take a sideswipe at a former colleague.

The soldiers who do the actual fighting come home having seen and done terrible things which return to haunt them. The stories of heroism and comradeship help them to manage their memories and give meaning to what they have been through. Some claim that the war years were the best of their lives. Many more say nothing, and go to their graves without telling even their nearest and dearest what it was really like.

So it is after all wars. So it was after the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

1717Peter the Great sends an expedition to Central Asia. It fails.

1747Ahmad Shah Abdali elected ruler of what becomes modern Afghan state.

1801British take Peshawar from Afghans, later give it to Sikhs.

1835Jan Witkiewicz, first Russian envoy to reach Kabul.

1838–42First Anglo-Afghan War.

1878–80Second Anglo-Afghan War.

1880–1901Abdul Rahman Khan takes power, greatly strengthens state and army.

1901–19Habibullah succeeds Abdur Rahman. Assassinated.

1919–29Amanullah succeeds Habibullah. Exiled.

1919Third Anglo-Afghan War.

1921Afghan–Soviet Friendship Treaty signed.

1929–33Nadir Shah, Amanullah’s uncle, takes power. Assassinated.

1933–73Zahir Shah succeeds (dies in exile in 2007).

1959President Eisenhower visits Afghanistan.

1965Afghan Communist Party founded.

1973Daud proclaims himself President.

April 1978Afghan Communists seize power, kill Daud.

March 1979Anti-Communist rising in Herat.

September 1979President Taraki arrested and killed by Prime Minister Amin.

December 1979Soviets enter Afghanistan. Amin killed, replaced by Babrak Karmal.

January 1980UN condemns Soviet invasion.

February 1980Massive demonstrations in Kabul. Soviets begin major operations.

November 1982Leonid Brezhnev dies, succeeded by Yuri Andropov.

February 1983UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar discusses withdrawal with Andropov.

February 1984Andropov dies, succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.

March 1985Chernenko dies, succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

October 1985Politburo agrees troops should leave Afghanistan within eighteen months.

February 1986Gorbachev tells Soviet Party Congress that troops will leave Afghanistan.

May 1986Karmal replaced by Najibullah.

September 1986First Stingers are fired, down three helicopters.

January 1987Najibullah announces ‘National Reconciliation’.

December 1987Operation Magistral relieves Khost.

December 1987Gorbachev and Reagan discuss Afghanistan.

14 April 1988Agreements for Soviet withdrawal signed in Geneva.

May 198840th Army begins withdrawal.

15 February 1989Last Soviet troops leave.

April 1992President Najibullah overthrown.

August 1992Russian Embassy evacuated from Kabul.

September 1996Taliban captures Kabul and kills Najibullah.

9 September 2001Mujahedin leader Ahmad Shah Masud assassinated by Al Qaeda.

11 September 2001Twin Towers destroyed in New York.

December 2001Northern Alliance, backed by US, drives out Taliban.

Formations mentioned in the text are marked *.

5th Guards Motor-rifle Division (Shindand)*

12th Guards Motor-rifle Regiment (Herat)*

101st Motor-rifle Regiment (Herat)*

371st Guards Motor-rifle Regiment (Shindand)

24th Guards Tank Regiment (Shindand)

1060th Artillery Regiment (Shindand)

1122nd (later 1008th) Antiaircraft Rocket Regiment (Shindand)

650th Guards Reconnaissance Battalion (Shindand)

68th Guards Independent Engineer-sapper Battalion (Shindand)

108th Motor-rifle Division (Kabul, later Bagram)*

177th Motor-rifle Regiment (Jabal-Ussuraj)

180th Motor-rifle Regiment (Kabul)*

181st Motor-rifle Regiment (Kabul)

1074th Artillery Regiment (Kabul)

1415th (later 1049th) Antiaircraft Rocket Regiment (Kabul)

781st Independent Reconnaissance Battalion (Bagram)

271st Independent Engineer-sapper Battalion (Bagram)

201st Motor-rifle Divison (Kunduz)*

122nd Motor-rifle Regiment (Tashkurgan)

149th Guards Motor-rifle Regiment (Kunduz)

395th Motor-rifle Regiment (Pul-i Khumri)

234th Tank Regiment (Kunduz)

998th Artillery Regiment (Kunduz)

990th Antiaircraft Rocket Regiment (Kunduz)

783rd Independent Reconnaissance Battalion (Kunduz)

541st Independent Engineer-sapper Battalion (Kunduz)

103rd Guards Air Assault Division (Kabul airport)*

317th Guards Parachute Assault Regiment (Kabul airport)

350th Guards Parachute Assault Regiment (Kabul airport)

357th Guards Parachute Assault Regiment (1980–86: Bala Hissar fortress; 1986–9: Kabul airport)

1179th Guards Artillery Regiment (Kabul airport)

62nd Guards Independent Self-propelled Artillery Battalion (Kabul airport)

130th Guards Independent Engineer-sapper Battalion (Kabul airport)

105th Independent Antiaircraft Rocket-artillery Battalion (Kabul airport)

56th Guards Independent Airborne Assault Brigade (Kunduz)*

66th Independent Motor-rifle Brigade/106th Motor-rifle Regiment (Jalalabad)*

70th Guards Independent Motor-rifle Brigade/373rd Guards Motor-rifle Regiment (Kandahar)

191st Independent Motor-rifle Regiment (Pul-i Khumri/Ghazni)

345th Guards Independent Parachute Assault Regiment (Bagram)*

860th Independent Motor-rifle Regiment (Faisabad)*

264th Independent Special Forces Regiment (Radio and Radiotechnical Intelligence) (Kabul)

15th Special Forces Brigade (Jalalabad)*

22nd Special Forces Brigade (Asadabad)*

58th Automobile Brigade/159th (Engineering) Road-construction Brigade (Kabul)

59th Logistics Brigade

276th Pipelaying Brigade (Doshi)*

278th Road-security Brigade (Doshi)

28th Artillery Regiment/Rocket Artillery Regiment (Shindand)

45th Engineering-sapper Regiment (Charikar)

103rd Independent Communications Regiment (Kabul)

The establishment of motor-rifle divisions and their subordinate formations and units varied from time to time and place to place. Formations and units were almost never up to their establishment in Afghanistan. The following information is therefore not definitive.