Soviet war in Afghanistan

The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a war that that occurred in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It began when the communist government of Afghanistan asked the Soviet Union for help in fighting the Islamic rebels known as the mujahideen. The Soviet Union responded by sending thousands of troops to aid Afghanistan. While the Soviet troops were able to secure the major urban areas, the countryside remained largely untamed. The massive cost in money and lives forced the Soviet Union to pullout, and may have contributed to their subsequent collapse. Afghanistan dissolved into civil war until 1996, when the Taliban seized power and instituted an Islamic theocracy.