Как СССР вторгся в Афганистан — и начал свой собственный конец

Christmas 1979. Soviet armored vehicles cross the Afghan border and move toward Kabul, while helicopters seize the mountain passes across the Hindu Kush. In Moscow, the Politburo has decided to save Afghanistan's communist government from imminent collapse. But why did one of the world's two superpowers ultimately resolve to invade — the very act that would turn out to be the beginning of its own end? In this documentary we trace the entire chain of events that, step by step, led the Soviet Union to war. Through decades of intrigue, coups, and fateful political miscalculations — from the moderate reforms of King Zahir Shah and the birth of Afghan communism to the bloody Saur Revolution. From radical reforms that offended traditional rural society to mass repressions, the uprising in Herat, and the complete paralysis of power in Kabul. You will learn how the struggle of factions within the ruling party led to one leader smothering another with a pillow. How the Politburo drew up a plan for regime change and the deployment of troops in just a few weeks. How, on that bloody Christmas, the Fortieth Army crossed the border — fifty-two thousand soldiers, tanks, and helicopters. How Soviet special forces stormed the impregnable Tajbeg Palace in just forty-three minutes. And most importantly — why Moscow resolved to take this step despite its own generals' warnings of inevitable catastrophe. Historians have been arguing about it for more than forty years. The war would last nearly ten years, claim the lives of more than fifteen thousand Soviet soldiers and up to two million Afghans, force five million to flee the country — and become one of the factors that led to the collapse of the USSR. The full chronicle of a decision that changed the world.