Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Following the Geneva Accords of April 1988, the Soviet Union began a phased withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan. The last Soviet soldier crossed the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya river back into Soviet territory on February 15, 1989, when Lieutenant General Boris Gromov walked across the bridge alone — in a symbolic gesture — and announced that not a single Soviet soldier remained behind him. The withdrawal marked the end of a nine-year war that had cost the Soviet Union some 15,000 dead, tens of thousands wounded, and an estimated $50 billion, none of which could be easily absorbed by an economy already under extreme strain. The Soviet withdrawal was a profound political defeat. Gorbachev had privately resolved to withdraw soon after taking power in 1985, regarding the war as a wasteful 'bleeding wound,' but the diplomatic, military, and domestic political conditions for withdrawal took years to arrange. The Afghan communist government he left behind survived longer than many expected — until 1992, after the USSR itself had collapsed — because Soviet aid continued until the end. But the withdrawal's symbolism was clear: the Soviet Union had been fought to a standstill by CIA-funded guerrillas, demonstrating the limits of Soviet military power and the enormous cost of counter-insurgency. Combined with the economic strain of arms competition, Chernobyl, and falling oil prices, the Afghan war accelerated the crisis of the Soviet system.
- Year: 1988 CE
- Category: Military
