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But while most studies of the Soviets in Afghanistan discuss the war during the 1980s, the Soviet “invasion” actually began many decades prior to the Christmas Eve 1979 insertion of Spetsnaz special operations teams in the country, the event marking the war’s official commencement.
    The Soviet-Afghan relationship actually began a few months prior to Afghanistan’s transition from British protectorate status to independent statehood, when Lenin issued a March 27, 1919, message to the Afghan king stating: “The establishment of permanent diplomatic relations between the two great peoples opens up an extensive possibility of mutual assistance against any encroachment on the side of foreign predators on other people’s freedom and other people’s wealth.” A number of economic-assistance and trade agreements followed, and by the 1930s, the two countries had established a strong bond. But in the post-World War II years, the Soviet Union grew increasingly aggressive, its leaders’ eyes scanning all corners of the globe, from Cuba, to Africa, to Southeast Asia, in the hope of expanding its empire.
    In 1955, Nikita Khruschev traveled to Afghanistan and signed a ten-year extension to the Soviet-Afghan treaty of neutrality and nonaggression, first ratified in 1931. But this signing was more than a mere extension of an old agreement; it marked the beginning of an era of Soviet investment in construction, education, and military expansion. During the following decades, the Soviets built numerous roads and highways—the vital Salang Tunnel giving an all-weather connection between the north and south of Afghanistan—high-rise living quarters, a massive state farm outside of Jalalabad, and the enormous Bagram Airfield, among many other projects. The Communists also brought to Afghanistan a full spectrum of military equipment, from AK-47 rifles to T-series tanks, armored troop carriers, Mig-17 jets, and MI-8/17 “Hip” multirole helicopters, which they instructed the Afghans to both fly and maintain. Interestingly, Afghanistan also established limited ties with the United States in the 1950s; the U.S. military even undertook some training exercises with the Afghans over a number of years, but never transferred large stocks of weapons to them as the Soviets had done. When the Soviets inevitably crossed paths with the Americans during their respective military training missions, they reportedly cooperated with each other, albeit quietly.
    Of course, along with their financial, educational, and military aid, the Soviets brought their Communist ideology and propagandizing tools, too, and in 1973, Afghanistan took yet another hairpin turn on its historical pathway when Mohammad Sarder Daoud seized control of the government from King Zahir Shah (who was Daoud’s cousin) during a July 17 coup d’état, ending decades of lackluster and corrupt monarchical rule. Daoud installed himself as the country’s first president and declared Afghanistan a republic. Having gained power with the help of the subversive, pro-Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), members of which expected big political payoffs once he took authority, he shocked the party when he ordered a crack-down on the group as soon as he assumed power.
    Daoud immediately instituted massive social and political change in Afghanistan, but his attempts failed miserably and most of the country spiraled into turmoil. Then the PDPA returned, with a vengeful bloodlust, killing Daoud and most of his family on April 27, 1978. The country was declared the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, led by Nur Muhammad Taraqi, the secretary general of the now-hard-line-Communist PDPA. Taraqi announced the institution of an array of liberal economic and social changes, key among these the replacing of laws founded on Islamic tradition with those based on Marxism, forcing men to cut their beards, and a push to introduce girls into the education system.
    But the people,