![]() The impact of a catastrophically failing war could perhaps be weathered better in a country with greater structural resilience. And in an era where the internet and social media throws military ineptitude under a much more intense spotlight than was ever imaginable back in the days of Afghanistan. Anti-war feeling grew among the population as the conflict ground on and casualties built up, causing a fundamental shift in the hitherto compliant media, which began to publish non-approved news stories about what was going on in the war and at home.Īll of these effects are more acute today, with vastly greater casualties in a much shorter time, inflicted on a significantly smaller population. Loss of perception of military invincibility emboldened dissidents including disaffected war veterans and their families, especially in the non-Russian republics which provided a disproportionate quantity of the fighting troops – and the casualties.Īfghanistan also undermined the confidence of Soviet leaders to rely on the army to quell rebellion. Defeat at the hands of US-armed mujahideen fighters humiliated and discredited the Soviet army, vitiating the glue that was so essential in holding the country together. Originally conceived as a short-term intervention, like Ukraine, the campaign in fact went on for 10 years and cost more than 15,000 Soviet lives. The war in Afghanistan played a major role in the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. ![]() But you don’t need to go back that far to draw even closer parallels to what is happening today. ![]() He spoke of 1917, when soldiers and their families stood up against the Russian government. If it continues in this vein, Prigozhin’s vision of revolution is not impossible. Bakhmut stands as an allegory of the entire Russian war so far – inflicting huge damage at great cost and to no advantage. ![]()
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