Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan
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Was the Soviet military invasion at the beginning of the Soviet-Afghan War.
Chronology
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December 1979: The 5th Motorized Division, part of the Soviet Union's armed forces, entered western Afghanistan in 1979. Led by General Gromov, they quickly captured the cities of Herat and Shindand as part of the USSR's military occupation of the region.
December 1979: A large numbers of Soviet Airborne Forces joined stationed ground troops and began to land in Kabul on December 25. On December 27, 1979, 700 Soviet troops dressed in Afghan uniforms, including KGB and GRU special forces officers from the Alpha Group and Zenith Group, occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in Kabul. The operation was fully complete by the morning of December 28, 1979.
December 1979: The units of the 108th Motorized Division of the Soviet Union, under the command of General Boris Gromov, first crossed the Amu Darya river on the evening of 24 December 1979. They then proceeded to occupy the cities of Baghlan, Kunduz, and Pol-e Khomri in northern Afghanistan by the afternoon of 27 December.
January 1980: By mid-January 1980 the main centers of Afghanistan were in Soviet hands. Red Army troops never attempted to occupy the entire Afghan territory, but concentrated their attention on areas deemed most important such as major urban areas, airports and main roads, ignoring rural areas altogether; at least 80% of Afghan territory remained effectively outside the control of the Kabul government and its Soviet allies.
January 1980: The Soviet Union expanded his area of control in Afghanistan up to Farah and Kandahar.
