Talk:Soviet–Afghan War

Remove KHAD from paramilitaries

KHAD was the official intelligence agency of Afghanistan at the time, it wasn’t a paramilitary. The Afghan Army had their own intelligence branch named KhAD-e-Nezaami but that still wasn’t a paramilitary. AfghanParatrooper1989 (talk) 07:17, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Contradiction with Wikipedia article 'Nuristan Province'

Wikipedia article ' Soviet-Afghan War' states: " Conversely, some regions such as Nuristan, in the northeast, and Hazarajat, in the central mountains of Afghanistan, were virtually untouched by the fighting, and lived in almost complete independence. " Wikipedia article 'Nuristan Province' appears to blatently contradict this, stating: "Nuristan was the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla fighting during the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War." 31.94.72.211 (talk) 18:13, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 July 2023

consoliation = consolidation 2603:8000:D300:D0F:BD2E:96A7:1FB:A55E (talk) 08:08, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

 Done — Paper9oll</alspan> (🔔 • 📝) 09:54, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Unrelated opinion & potential war crime apologia

I found this sentence fairly disturbing and ultimately unrelated to the topic at hand, it lacks a citation and constitutes someone's opinion on a fairly serious matter and does not belong on this page.

"The U.S. likely committed war crimes in Vietnam through inconsistent application of its rules of engagement and disproportionate bombardment, but it at least attempted to hold individual soldiers accountable for murder, especially in the case of the only confirmed large-scale massacre committed by U.S. troops (the Mỹ Lai massacre)."

As noted, sentences like "The US likely..." are not, in my opinion, up to Wikipedia's standard. This is not the place for speculating on motives, especially in relation to an unrelated war. Perhaps more importantly, it is simply untrue and lacks a citation. Only one soldier of the dozens who participated was ever prosecuted for his role in the murder of 300-500 civilians. He served three years house arrest before receiving a presidential pardon. This does not constitute "attempting to hold individual soldiers accountable" by any means.

I'm not sure how such baseless, inappropriate speculation on an unrelated topic - which I think borders on war crime apologia - ever passed review. Urdnotscott97 (talk) 14:39, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't really have a review process, all you need to edit this article is an WP:Autoconfirmed account. That said, I agree with your concerns and have removed the passage. Koopinator (talk) 16:51, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

I see, I wasn't sure how the process worked for the semi-locked articles, but thank you Urdnotscott97 (talk) 22:47, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

Maoist involvement

Why are Maoists even in the first paragraph and bolded in infobox, making it look like they played a major role in the war. In fact, Maoists rarely had a role in the war; the term "Maoist" is mentioned only two times in the body (in the "Mujahideen insurrection" subheading). There was only one Maoist group, the Liberation Organization of the People of Afghanistan, whose only leader Majid Kalakani died in 1980 (9 years before the war ended). I would request supposed Maoist stuff be removed from the infobox.

Agree, the Maoists never had a relevant role in the war.

Leake, Elisabeth (2022). Afghan Crucible: The Soviet Invasion and the Making of Modern Afghanistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 125–126. ISBN 978-0-19-884601-7.

In aiding the Afghan rebels, Chinese officials chose to prioritize their relations with Pakistan over support for Afghan Maoists, who also actively fought the PDPA. The Sazman-i Javanan-i Mutaraqi (Progressive Youth Organization, or PYO), had been established in Afghanistan in the mid-1960s, and it competed with the PDPA to attract followers. Other small Maoist organizations followed. The PYO had never been very strong, having struggled with decades of infighting and structural weaknesses, and hit hard by the 1978 coup. The PDPA, seeking ideological supremacy, captured and executed a number of PYO leaders, forcing many others into exile. While Afghan Maoists took part in the fight against the PDPA and its Soviet allies, they struggled to make inroads, lacking foreign aid. The disinterest of the PRC only made this more so. […] In contrast to the increasingly regimented parties in Peshawar, the Afghan Maoists remained weak and based in small pockets across Afghanistan. They were neither easily reachable nor terribly well mobilized. Afghan Islamists, ironically, proved better at implementing Maoist insurgency strategies and tactics than Afghan Maoists, themselves.

--Jo1971 (talk) 07:37, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

That's inaccurate. There were two major Maoist organizations, the aforementioned SAMA as well as the Afghanistan Liberation Organization (ALO), and a united front between SAMA and ALO as well as other mujahideen factions called the Afghanistan Mujahedin Freedom Fighters Front (AMFFF). Majid Kalakani wasn't the sole Maoist leader, there was also Mulavi Dawood and Faiz Ahmad, who were prominent as leaders until their deaths in 1986. The Maoist factions continued on without them, albeit with reduced effectiveness. True, the Maoists played a minor role compared to the Mujahideen groups, but it's not fair to remove all mention of them especially since articles about major wars generally should include all details. Nights At Nyte (talk) 18:04, 3 September 2023 (UTC)