AFGANTSY Also by Rodric Braithwaite Across the Moscow River (2002) Moscow 1941 (2006) AFGANTSY THE RUSSIANS IN AFGHANISTAN 1979–89 RODRIC BRAITHWAITE 1 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © Rodric Braithwaite, 2011 First published in the United States in 2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Braithwaite, Rodric, 1932– Afgantsy : the Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–89 / Rodric Braithwaite. p. cm. “First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Profi le Books”—T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-983265-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Afghanistan—History—Soviet occupation, 1979–1989. 2. Soviets (People)—Afghanistan—History. 3. Russians—Afghanistan—History—20th century. 4. Soviet Union. Sovetskaia Armiia—History. 5. Soviet Union. Sovetskaia Armiia—Military life—History. 6. Soldiers—Afghanistan—History—20th century. 7. Soldiers—Soviet Union—History. 8. Afghanistan—History—Soviet occupation, 1979–1989—Social aspects. I. Title. DS371.2.B725 2011 958.104'5—dc22 2011015052 1 3 5 7 9 8 4 6 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper As she lay dying Jill said to me, with all her customary fi rmness, that I was not even to think of following her until I had fi nished this book. It is dedicated to her courageous and generous spirit. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Maps xi Author’s Note xv Prologue 3 Part I: Th e Road to Kabul 9 1 Paradise Lost 11 2 Th e Tragedy Begins 37 3 Th e Decision to Intervene 58 4 Th e Storming of the Palace 82 5 Aftermath 103 Part II: Th e Disasters of War 119 6 Th e 40th Army Goes to War 121 7 Th e Nationbuilders 146 8 Soldiering 169 9 Fighting 196 10 Devastation and Disillusion 225 Part III: Th e Long Goodbye 247 11 Going Home 249 12 Th e Road to the Bridge 270 13 Th e War Continues 294 14 A Land Fit for Heroes 307 Epilogue: Th e Reckoning 328 Annexes 337 Annex 1 Timeline 339 Annex 2 Order of Battle of the 40th Army 341 Annex 3 Th e Alliance of Seven and Its Leaders 344 Annex 4 Indo-China, Vietnam, Algeria, Afghanistan: A Comparison 346 Notes 348 Sources 382 Bibliography 385 Acknowledgments 392 List of Illustrations 394 Index 396 Merv DUSHANBE Meshed UZBEKISTAN TAJIKISTANCHINA TURKMENISTAN Termez Wakhan Corridor Mazar-e Sharif Kunduz Faisabad Ring Road IRAN Kushka (Betonka) Herat Chitral Chagcharan PANDSHER Bagram Shindand KABUL Asadabad Jalalabad AFGHANISTAN Farah Ghazni Gardez Peshawar Ring Road Khost (Betonka) ISLAMABAD Zhawar Caves INDIA Lashkar Gah Kandahar PAKISTAN Air base Divisional HQs Shindand 50th Guards MR Division 100 miles Kabul 103rd Guards Air Assault Division Quetta Kunduz 201st MR Division 200 kilometres Bagram 108th MR Division Map 1: Afghanistan, 1979–89 PLAN OF KABUL Kabul Airport British Embassy US Embassy Kabul Radio Prime Minister’s Microrayon Office Arg Palace (Palace Polytechnic of the People) Microrayon Kabul Hotel Stadium University Old City Wall Bala Hissar Castle Babur Garden Taj Bek Palace 2 km 1 mile Soviet Embassy 2 kilometres Map 2: Kabul in 1980 Afghan guard post 3rd Afghan battalion SAG Afghan defences Three dug-in tanks Ditch (4.5m wide) Restaurant Bridge Shilka SAG Sakhatov Assault Group 9Co Vostrotin’s Paratroopers 3MB 1MB 1st Company, Muslim Battalion Taj Bel Palace 2MB 2nd Company, Muslim Battalion 3MB 3rd Company, Muslim Battalion 1MB + SpetzNaz Afghan Guard Post Afghan Bodyguard Company Soviet Command post 2nd Afghan battalion Afghan Security Two Shilkas Brigade HQ 9Co Muslim Battalion barracks 2MB 1st Afghan battalion Afghan anti- & tank battalion aircraft regiment Map 3: Storming the Palace To Pul-i Chumri Khawak Pass Anjoman Pass 14,537ft 14,534ft Chamar Pass SALANG TUNNEL 10,407ft PANDSHERBazarak VALLEY Anava Rukha Jabal-us-Sirad Charikar Bagram Istalif Shomali Plain Ring road (Betonka) (‘green Pipeline zone’) Airbase Ahmad Shah Masud is buried in his home village, Bazarak. The 2nd Battalion of the 345th KABUL Independent Parachute Assault Regiment was stationed in Anava. Map 4: Th e Pandsher Valley AUTHOR’S NOTE Afganets (plural: Afgantsy): An inhabitant of Afghanistan; a hot sand-laden south-west wind; a veteran of the Soviet war. It was the Soviet government which sent the soldiers into Afghanistan in 1979, but it was following in the tradition of the Russian govern- ments which preceded it. Policy was directed from the Russian capital, Moscow. Th e majority of those who fought in Afghanistan were Russians. I have tried to use the words ‘Soviet’ and ‘Russian’ in a way that makes these subtle distinctions reasonably plain, and to ensure that the non-Russians in Afghanistan are given their historical due. But I have doubtless been inconsistent from time to time. I have not adopted any of the standard scholarly systems of trans- literation. My system attempts to be simple, phonetic, and as easy as may be for the non-Russian speaker (Russian speakers will be able to work out the original spelling for themselves). Th e sounds should be spoken as written. Some sounds which do not exist in English are rep- resented thus: ‘kh’, as in Khrushchev, sounds like ‘ch’ in ‘loch’; ‘zh’, as in Zhukov, sounds like ‘ge’ in ‘rouge’. xiv AFGANTSY An ‘e’ at the beginning of a Russian word is usually pronounced ‘ye’. Th us ‘Yeltsin’ not ‘Eltsin’; but ‘Mount Elbruz’ not ‘Mount Yelbruz’ (because in Russian the ‘E’ in this case is a diff erent letter). I have used the English versions of names where these are more familiar: ‘Moscow’ not ‘Moskva’; ‘Peter’ not ‘Pyotr’; ‘Alexander’ not ‘Aleksandr’. I have preferred to end Russian surnames in ‘-ski’. I prefer, inconsistently, ‘Mikhail’ to ‘Michael’. I have used the names of cities, streets, and other places as they were known at the time of the action. For Afghan names I have used whatever seemed to be both common usage in English and simple to pronounce. Th e index contains short descriptions of people, and of foreign and technical words, in the hope that this will be of help to the reader. AFGANTSY This page intentionally left blank PROLOGUE Th e young men went off to the war with enthusiasm – because they had never been in a battle. Th ucydides1 Of course, the private soldier’s fi eld of vision is much more limited than that of his general. On the other hand, it is of vital impor- tance to the latter to gloss over his mistakes, and draw attention only to those things which will add to his reputation. Th e private soldier has no such feeling. It is only to the offi cers of high rank engaged that a battle can bring glory and renown. To the army of common soldiers, who do the actual fi ghting, and risk mutila- tion and death, there is no reward except the consciousness of duty bravely performed. Private Warren Olney, who fought in the Union army at the Battle of Shiloh, 18622 By no means everything that happened to me during the two years I was in Afghanistan is set down here. Some things I did not want to describe. We Afgantsy talk among ourselves about things which those who were not in Afghanistan may not understand, or will understand in the wrong way. Vitali Krivenko3 This page intentionally left blank he explosion of violence which erupted in Herat in March 1979 was Tbeyond anything that had happened since the bloody Communist coup a year earlier. Resistance to the Communists was already spreading throughout the country. But this was a full-scale revolt in a provincial capital, one of Afghanistan’s most important cities, an ancient centre of Islamic learning, music, art, and poetry. Power fell entirely into the hand of the insurgents, and it was a week before Afghan government forces fi nally regained control after the spilling of much blood. Th e Communists had promised much: ‘Our aim was no less than to give an example to all the backward countries of the world of how to jump from feudalism straight to a prosperous, just society … Our choice was not between doing things democratically or not. Unless we did them, nobody else would … [Our] very fi rst proclamation declared that food and shelter are the basic needs and rights of a human being … Our programme was clear: land to the peasants, food for the hungry, free education for all. We knew that the mullahs in the villages would scheme against us, so we issued our decrees swiftly so that the masses could see where their real interests lay … For the fi rst time in Afghani- stan’s history women were to be given the right to education … We told them that they owned their bodies, they could marry whom they liked, they shouldn’t have to live shut up in houses like pets.’ 6 AFGANTSY But the Communists knew that such ideas would not be welcome to the pious and conservative people of Afghanistan, and they were not prepared to wait.