“There is a common perception that the Soviets were defeated and driven from Afghanistan. “This is not true”. When the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989, they did so in a coordinated, deliberate, professional manner, leaving behind a functioning government, an improved military and an advisory and economic effort insuring the continued viability of the government.

The withdrawal was based on a coordinated diplomatic, economic and military plan permitting Soviet forces to withdraw in good order and the Afghan government to survive. The Soviets did not abandon the Afghanistan government. The Soviets left a contingent behind to help coordinate logistics and air strikes. After the withdrawal, the Afghan government ran a 600-truck convoy weekly to the Soviet Union for resupply. The Soviet Union maintained its air bridge, flying in cargos as diverse as flour and SCUD missiles.” States: Lester W. Grau, a Vietnam War veteran and retired lieutenant colonel in the US Army, is an analyst for the Foreign Military Studies in his article ‘BREAKING CONTACT WITHOUT LEAVING CHAOS: THE SOVIET WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN’ states.

Fictionalized accounts, particularly feature films, about the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s have played a significant role in shaping public opinion in the West have portrayed the Soviet army as brutal and genocidal........

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