Many events have passed through history and been recorded in Ramadan’s chronicle over the years. Al-Hal Net tracks them for you and reviews the most notable events it has documented from Ramadan’s historical record.
In today’s installment of the “What Happened in Ramadan” series, Al-Hal Net recalls the most important events of 29 Ramadan that took place in the region and the world, whether in modern history or in earlier decades and centuries.
The Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
On 29 Ramadan 1989, the Soviet army (today, the Russian army) withdrew from Afghanistan after nine years of war following its invasion.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan began on December 25, 1979, in the context of Moscow’s longstanding ambitions in the region and the rivalry between the two superpowers over spheres of influence within the framework of the Cold War. That invasion inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army as a result of the fierce resistance shown by Afghan and Arab fighters.
Objectives of the invasion
Russian ambitions in Afghanistan are longstanding. Between 1743 and 1833, Russia occupied the slopes of Central Asia overlooking China and Mongolia, as well as the areas adjacent to the Black Sea, Turkey, Iran, and the Caspian Sea. Between 1880 and 1900, it occupied the regions of Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and the adjoining desert, followed by its occupation of Afghanistan in 1979.
The main objectives of the invasion can be summarized as follows: exploiting Afghanistan’s natural resources; reaching warm waters and oil sources before the Americans; containing China from the west; crushing any liberation movements that might arise in the Central Asian region that then belonged to the Soviet Union; supporting a communist Afghan government; threatening traditional areas of American influence in Pakistan; and restoring the Soviet Union’s military prestige after it had been shaken in Poland.
It was also intended to mobilize the massive Soviet army to absorb the feelings of discontent that had begun to appear among its ranks.
