standing on top of a mountain can really boost the range of the stinger. and yes sometimes they targeted aircraft that were landing and taking off

standing on top of a mountain can really boost the range of the stinger.

True, I didn't think of that.

Originally Posted by shocktroop

I voted yes.
A large reason to the faliure of the Soviets in Afghanistan, In my opinion, is their tactics. This was the first time the USSR fought a war against rebels, and their tactics of fighting mass battles agains NATO proved to be obsolete.
Some other reasons for their faliure mite be the weapons that they used.
In order to fight rebels/terrorists effectivly you need a large variaty of guided air-to-ground and ground-to-ground weapons- somethng the USSR had only a limited amount and variaty of.

The US and Israel, for example, proved to be very effective against rebels/terrorists because they devloped new tactics and use a wide variaty of guided air-to-ground and ground-to-ground weapons.

Disagree. At first, mass battles occured only in early 80-ies, until Mujahadeen side understud that they can not win such battles. After that they adopted guerilla tactics, started to use ambushes on Soviet convoys, hit&run tactics and so one. Soviets just had nobody to attack with classical combined arms attacks, if they even wanted such.

Further, Soviets developed a new methods of combats with rebels: small, company-level infantry patrols in the area of responsibility, Spetsnaz ambushes on Mujahadeen caravan routes, airmobile attacks like those that US used in Vietnam. Nothing of it were described in Soviet Field Manual before - they improvised and did it, in generally, good.

I think, that guided air-to-ground or ground-to-ground weapons could not help as Wonder-Weapon, because of 2 factors:
1) Rebel forces was quite mobile and did not sit in one place too long. They moved day-after-day, changing their location. Especially, after contact with Soviet forces.
2) I'm not sure, how there was situation with guided air-to-ground weapons in USSR in 80-ies.

Originally Posted by Dean

The Soviets did lose the war. They were unable to take the initiative anywhere outside of their bases, and the mujahadeen were able to move anywhere at anytime.

Particularly, Mujahadeen moved around as civilians or shepherds...

There were many places in Afghanistan that never fell to the Soviets in spite of repeated attacks (Panjashir Valley (sp?) and the Wakhan Corridor). When it became apparent that the Soviet Army could not do more than they had already accomplished, the Soviet leadership (quite rightly) pulled them out.

Soviets won battles of Panjshir, but weren't able to establish loyal administration there, i.e. to stabilize their conquers politically.

Unfortunately, the Soviet Army was doomed to failure due to the fact that it was an army that was designed from the individual private up to the General Staff to repel invaders along long fronts. As such they were heavily mechanized which made them very dependent on the roads, (which the rebels owned) and any movement into the mountains away from the roads was deadly. The Afghan conflict could not be fought or won by such an army, and I think that the Kremlin showed breathtaking stupidity in ordering their army in. From what I have heard, the only units that did well were special forces units, and that was because they were the only ones who were able ot fight in the mountains without mechanized support. At least the Americans in Vietnam were able to better adapt to the situation, and their effective use of helicopters gave them an advantage in mobility that the Red Army in Afghanistan could not even dream of. In fact, the Mujahedeen, most of whom were on foot, seemed to be far more mobile than the fully mechanized Soviet Army. Pretty sad, really.

If we take a look into history, we see that none army ever entered the war, being ready for it. The solutions, both tactical and technological, always have been find, developed and implemented during war. So was also with Soviet Army in Afghanistan.

What comes to mobility of Mujahadeen, they did not always move only by foot. They used horses, camels and even Toyota jeeps, but their main strength was knowing the area. They knew all the paths, caves, ways. Soviets didn't, because no mountain paths and caves were showed on their maps. Only main roads were there, but they were not used by Mujahadeens... at least not in their `combat` gear, only as civilians...

Originally Posted by Rabs

The red soldiers did there job, and whooped the afghans up and down the country. They lost the same way we did in vietnam.

here here!