External Actors in the Afghan Problem continues...

The two superpowers played a large role in the affairs in Afghanistan.

The USSR (Russia) in Afghanistan

The USSR though a major player until 1991 had markedly reduced influence since its disintegration into many independent states. In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan served as a strategic buffer state between Czarist Russia and the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent.

Afghanistan’s relations with Moscow became more cordial after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan after the Third Anglo Afghan war and signed an Afghan-Soviet nonaggression pact in 1921,
which also provided for Afghan transit rights through the Soviet Union. Early Soviet assistance included financial aid, aircraft and attendant technical personnel, and telegraph operators.

The Soviets began a major economic assistance program in Afghanistan in the 1950s. Between 1954 and 1978, Afghanistan received more than $1 billion in Soviet aid, including substantial military assistance. In 1973, the two countries announced a $200-million assistance agreement on gas and oil development, trade, transport, irrigation, and factory construction. Following the 1979 armed intervention, the Soviets augmented their large aid commitments to shore up the Afghan economy and build the Afghan military. They provided the Babrak Karmal regime an unprecedented $800 million.

The Soviet Union supported the Najibullah regime even after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in February 1989. Unresolved questions concerning Soviet Missing in Action (MIA) and Prisoners of War (PoWs) in Afghanistan remained bones of contention between Russia and Afghanistan.