The Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 is considered one of the most important political and military events in the contemporary history of Afghanistan as well as the Cold War era. This event not only turned Afghanistan into a proxy war scene between the superpowers of the East and the West; rather, it left extensive effects on regional and global security and stability. The importance and necessity of this research lies in examining the internal and external roots of this aggression, analyzing its consequences and understanding its long-term effects on the political, social and economic structures of Afghanistan and the region. The purpose of this research is to provide an analysis of the Soviet military aggression against Afghanistan. The findings of this research show that the internal political instability, the internal differences of the Afghan People's Democratic Party and the Soviet effort to maintain its geopolitical influence in the region were the main reasons for this aggression. Also, the consequences of this aggression included massive human casualties, the destruction of Afghanistan's infrastructure, and the increase in the influence of Mujahideen forces, the effects of which remained noticeable even decades later. On the other hand, this war played an important role in weakening the Soviet Union and its final collapse. The conclusion of this research emphasizes that foreign military interventions, regardless of the internal conditions of the target country, instead of achieving political goals, lead to instability and deeper crises. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is one of the outstanding examples of the failure of development policies, which is not only for the attacking country; It also had devastating consequences for the target country.

Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Cold War

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