Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

There are profuse consequences of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. This must have been augmented by the idea the Soviets had by 1970s, whereby they thought that they had disentangled themselves from the deadly entrap of an unavoidable nuclear exchange. This was the period that the Soviets viewed themselves as strategists capable of imposing their conformist stratagems on NATO to deter nuclear strikes on the USSR. Nevertheless, towards the end of this decade, the Soviets’ optimism was undermined by the capable U.S. military that had better doctrines and industrial know-how. In fact, the mood of the Americans had changed since anti-Soviet fervors built up due to President Carter’s hardened stance. The policy of the U.S. had also been altered due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A series of changes were also witnessed during the final years of Carter administration. One of the most notable was rises in the defense budget of the United States. This rise moved from roughly three percent to approximately twenty one percent. The Soviets suspended the United States of using Afghanistan as a tool to punish the Soviet Union with the aim of justifying the use of the U.S. military in the Southwest Asia, which was defined as an arc of crisis. Russians also became fearful that the USA was likely to isolate the Soviet Union for regaining military superiority.

The United States used numerous policy tools directed at containing the Soviets. First, President Carter signed the approval of the MX missile program merely a week prior to his signing of the SALT II agreement in June 1979. This was later followed by the U.S. reaction to the rediscovery of a Soviet brigade which was diploid in Cuba since 1962. The Soviet brigade in Cuba was what the Soviets saw that appeared more likely to a trump-up furor aimed at deterring the ratification of SALT II by the Senate. Certainly, the United States had never hesitated in employing force in its national security zone. Nonetheless, the administration of Carter had taken a tough stance in regards to Soviet action in Afghanistan, thus responding to the Soviets as it was unprecedented. Though the Soviet leadership went on to hew to the foreign policy line established in 1971, which never recognized the deterioration of Soviet-American relations as a result of the dangers brought about by the war.

In summary, there are several consequences of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Among others, the most notable course of Carter’s administration was an increase in the defense budget of the United States. However, the U.S. used numerous policy tools directed at containing the Soviets became successful after a long period of war.