Comparative analysis on 1979 and 2001 Afghanistan invasions

Afghanistan, also known as the graveyard of empires, has imprisoned both major powers of the world in its territory in the last quarter of the year. Afghanistan, which had its share of the ideological conflicts that spread around the world after the Second World War, was subjected to a decade of occupation by the USSR, the large power of the period. When the USSR began the invasion in 1979, they thought they would not get into a long-lasting conflict. Unpredictable resistance and wrong strategy led the USSR to a stalemate in Afghanistan. The USSR, who had the strongest army among the countries around the globe, had to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989 after many failures. The USSR withdrawal from Afghanistan caused a radical change not only in the USSR but also in the structure of the international system. The USSR collapsed and the bipolar systemended. After the attacks on 11th of September, the USA began an occupation of Afghanistan that would last twenty years, on the grounds that the perpetrators were hidden by the Afghan government. Although the USA, the most powerful state of the period, achieved relative success during the twenty-year occupation period, it had to withdraw from Afghanistan. The power of the USA has been questioned and it has been subjected to much criticism from the international community for its aggressive stance. In this study, where we tried to explain why both states failed in Afghanistan, we uncovered many reasons for failure. The two main reasons for failure common to both countries are underestimating the resistance of the Afghan people and not being able to implement strategic plans suitable for the region. The USSR and the USA encountered similar results in their invasions of Afghanistan under different conditions. While this failure deeply affected the USSR system, the USA got away with less damage.