The Karmal Period, 1979–1986

Abstract

The Soviet-Afghan War fell into a number of distinct phases. In the most detailed study of the rhythm of the Afghan War, Goodson divides it into eight stages. This chapter is specifically concerned with the second and third stages which Goodson identifies, namely those which he calls ‘National resistance and Soviet entrenchment (1980–1983)’ and ‘Air war, interdiction, and destabilization (1983–1986)’. The first of these he classifies as a period of medium but increasing intensity, and the second as a period of high and increasing intensity (Goodson, 1998: 486). What unites these stages, however, was the occupancy by Babrak Karmal of the position of head of the PDPA; indeed, Goodson argues that it was the replacement of Karmal as party leader that brought the third stage of the war to a close. While Soviet military tactics certainly shifted in 1983, because of new approaches to counter-insurgency activity and associated improvements in the use of airpower, the USSR’s political dilemma remained the same: that Karmal’s reputation was irretrievably contaminated by the way in which he had come to office. This justifies treating the Karmal period in its entirety. In 1942, Winston Churchill described the allied victory in Egypt as marking ‘perhaps the end of the beginning’.