Can the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan teach us a thing or two about the Ukraine war?

Almost 34 years ago, on this day — February 15th, 1989 — the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan. As we mark this anniversary, I take a moment to reflect on the lessons learned from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which may provide insights into the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The remains of Bamiyan Bhuda status destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Image source: Pexels

In 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with about 115,000 soldiers, my father was in his twenties and joined the Jihad against the godless communists. One day, along with a group of the newly formed mujahideen, he went to a couple of villages down the valley to fight the Soviet army. But he and his fellow mujahideen did not have the weapons to fight the Soviet tanks except a couple of landmines. They planted the mines on the muddy road the Soviet tanks were crossing; he and his fellow mujahideen had gone up into the mountain (please remember the word mountain, we will come back to it) and watched what happened. They saw a tank upended when one of the landmines exploded, and he saw the underside of the tank for the first time. “it was like the iron used for pressing clothes,” in his own words. The Red Army soldiers inside the…