Summary: The Decision To Employ Troops

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The Decision to Employ Troops in Afghanistan In December of 1979, the Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and KGB Chairmen which were three key figures within the Politburo-the Soviet leadership’s highest policy-making government authority under the Communist Party, drafted a memorandum authorizing the use of a large contingent of soviet troops in Afghanistan . This memorandum was quickly signed by the General Secretary of the Central Committee authorizing the use of Soviet combat troops which ended up totaling approximately 120,000 troops for actions in Afghanistan . I contend that the Soviets did not have a grand strategy, national strategy or any kind of coherent strategy leading up to the military invasion of Afghanistan, instead…show more content…
When one considers the strategy the Soviets employed going into Afghanistan we now have the benefit of reviewing various documents from Soviet and Eastern Bloc archives that bring to light some of the conversations and thought processes the Soviets exercised. As a diamond has many facets this paper will discuss a limited portion of the diamond based upon the information and research from Artemy Kalinovsky, David Gibbs, and Geraint Hughes. Rationale to Invade Afghanistan It appears that the Soviets invaded Afghanistan not in execution of a previously established grand strategy or national strategy but in response to circumstances that a few key influencers were reacting to. It is worthy to note that after Pakistan aligned with the United States in 1954 that the Afghans sought relations with the Soviets and the Soviet’s policy at the time was to improve relations with non-aligned Third World states; from 1958-1979 the Soviets provided military and economic aid to Afghanistan which included military and political advisors . This policy of improving relations with non-aligned Third World states could be considered as part of a national

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