The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War, was a nine-year conflict involving Soviet forces supporting the Marxist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) government against the mujahideen resistance. The latter group found support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other Muslim nations in the context of the Cold War. This conflict was concurrent to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.
The
1979 Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan spurred United
States President Jimmy Carter to
issue an ultimatum that the
United States would boycott the
Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops
had not withdrawn from the
country by February 20, 1980.
The United States was
joined in the boycott by some
other countries - including
Japan, West Germany, China, the
Philippines and Canada.
