Najibullah takes leadership of the PDPA

President Jimmy Carter signed a finding authorizing covert support to opponents of the PDPA government, months before Soviet forces entered Afghanistan. The initial program was limited and non-lethal;...

The Soviet Union began a large military deployment into Afghanistan amid the Afghan government’s internal crisis and insurgency. Moscow presented the action as assistance to an allied government; it...

Soviet forces carried out Operation Storm-333, killing President Hafizullah Amin and installing Babrak Karmal. Afghan political agency was constrained by an outside power deciding who would govern,...

Declassified U.S. records state that Washington expanded its covert program to include lethal weapons for Afghan insurgents after Soviet troops entered. Arms and funds moved through Pakistan, with...

The UN General Assembly adopted resolution 35/37, calling for the immediate withdrawal of foreign troops and affirming the Afghan people’s right to choose their government. The vote reflected broad...

On 19 December Soviet officials publicly reported Afghan resistance use of U.S.-made Stinger missiles, whose first use they dated to November. The CIA later acknowledged supplying the weapons, which...

Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union and the United States signed agreements in Geneva. They established a framework for Soviet withdrawal and non-interference, but the Afghan mujahideen and...

The final Soviet troops crossed out of Afghanistan under the Geneva timetable. The withdrawal ended the direct Soviet military occupation, but did not end the Afghan war: the Kabul government,...

By December 1990 UNHCR estimated more than 6.3 million Afghan refugees in neighboring states: about 3.3 million in Pakistan and 3 million in Iran. The figure shows how war and foreign intervention...

After the Soviet Union dissolved and external support to Kabul contracted, President Najibullah agreed to step aside under a UN-backed transition plan. The plan collapsed amid armed factional...