Why did the Soviets fail in Afghanistan?

[Lancer]

They had plenty of troops and had no qualms about fighting with the tools of their enemies, murder, torture and terror.

So, what went wrong?

[Dis]

One word (or name): Rambo

[DRoseDARs]

Because the United States, under President Reagan's unfailing leadership, gave the Mujahideen superpowers and that's why we're #1 in the world in everything and we're winning in Iraq! [/Ned]

[Proteus_MST]

Support given by the USA (especially the Stingers)

Partisan tactics with strong support from the population
Partisan leaders which were trained in modern guerilla tactics thanks to the support of the CIA (Osama bin Laden being one of them)

Lots of terrain good suited for guerilla tactics with the mujahedeen having full knowledge of the terrain (whereas the sovjets had only limited knowledge about it)

[Bosh]

The Red Army wasn't really built for anti-insurgency warfare (IIRC they never really did much of it before) and sucked pretty badly at it...

[VetLegion]

Stingers.

[Az]

The Red Army wasn't really built for anti-insurgency warfare (IIRC they never really did much of it before) and sucked pretty badly at it...

QFT.

Bad tactics, bad strategy, bad choice of troops and machinery. For example, the Red Army's light infantry units and special forces performed excellently - but they weren't a significant part of the mix. Too bad that they approached the issue as if they attacked a regular army, and even then - who sends armoured coloumns through unsecured canyons?!

[General Ludd]

I heard on the radio last week a reporter mentioning an interview he had with a young man in Afghanistan who said that his father's father fought the british, his father fought the soviets, and that it is now his turn to fight the americans.

[BeBMan]

Because of the willingness of the "weaker" side to accept heavy losses without accepting defeat.

[Sandman]

Soviet society was rotting away at the time. Probably didn't help.

[Dr Strangelove]

The US found many willing allies in Afghanistan because the Taliban wasn't a very popular government. The SU and its puppet government had very little popular support.

[Spiffor]

They insufficiently let the locals do the fighting for them.

[alva]

Beast of war.

Good movie.

[our_man]

US support. The Afghans were being pwned before the CIA arrived on the scene.

[germanos]

Re: Why did the Soviets fail in Afghanistan?

Originally posted by Lancer
They had plenty of troops and had no qualms about fighting with the tools of their enemies, murder, torture and terror.

So, what went wrong?

The soviets suffered no other fate then many armies before them.
NATO will not be able to pacify the country either.

From what I gather in the news is that the afghani's a notoriously tribesmen, and their allegeance will be to their tribe (which probably boils down to their own valley or somesuch).
Offcourse communism (well, Soviet style at least) is notoriously centralised which didn't help the Soviet case. The western democratic style will probably mean less western soldiers will die, but they won't control the country either.