Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan

Overview

Pursuant to the Geneva Accords of 14 April 1988, the Soviet Union conducted a total military withdrawal from Afghanistan between 15 May 1988 and 15 February 1989. Headed by the Soviet military officer Boris Gromov, the retreat of the 40th Army into the Union Republics of Central Asia formally brought the Soviet–Afghan War to a close after nearly a decade of fighting. It marked a significant development in the Afghan conflict, having served as the precursor event to the First Afghan Civil War.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

Pursuant to the Geneva Accords of April 1988, the Soviet Union completed the withdrawal of its 40th Army from Afghanistan between May 1988 and February 1989, with Boris Gromov leading the final exit into the Central Asian Union Republics. The withdrawal formally ended nearly a decade of Soviet military involvement in Afghanistan. Rather than resolving the conflict, the departure removed the principal external force holding the existing order together, directly precipitating the First Afghan Civil War as competing mujahideen factions — among them those led by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar — contested control of the country. The withdrawal thus marked both the terminus of the Soviet-Afghan War and the opening condition of the civil war that followed.

Commanders (4)