Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

December 24, 1979

Soviet airborne troops landed in Kabul on Christmas Day, killed the Afghan president, and installed a pliant client regime. Moscow expected a short intervention to stabilize its southern border. Instead it got a ten-year counterinsurgency against CIA-armed mujahideen in mountain caves. Fifteen thousand Soviet soldiers died, and the USSR's confidence, and eventually its treasury, cracked under the strain.