Soviet Withdrawal From Afghanistan - Intense Combat Footage of Soviet-Afghan War's End (1988–1990)

On 15 February 1989, Lieutenant General Boris Gromov became the last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan, bringing an end to the Soviet–Afghan War. The military fanfare that accompanied Gromov’s journey over the “Bridge of Friendship" into Soviet Uzbekistan aimed to divert attention away from what had, over nine years, amounted to a costly and futile military campaign and humanitarian catastrophe. Following the signing of the Geneva accords in April 1988, news of the Soviet withdrawal was met with jubilation among the various factions of Afghanistan’s mujahideen, whose dogged guerrilla resistance had harassed the occupying forces of the USSR since the invasion of December 1979. With the United States providing financial and military support to the mujahideen insurgency, the conflict had become a proxy for the Cold War competition between the world's superpowers. International observers had little faith that the Soviet-backed Marxist regime of Mohammad Najibullah would survive without the support of his superpower sponsor. Presented here is a compilation of news footage covering the Soviet withdrawal and its aftermath, from the signing of the Geneva accords in April 1988 through to the one year anniversary of Soviet departure. Over the final two years of a war that resulted in somewhere between 1 and 3 million dead, ITN covered the the military, diplomatic, and humanitarian aspects of the conflict. Between 850,000 and 2 million civilians died as a result of the Soviet-Afghan War, many from starvation and disease amid the breakdown of Afghanistan’s national infrastructure. A further 7 million Afghans were displaced. It would take two more years of civil war and the dissolution of the USSR for the Najibullah regime to collapse. #Afghanistan #SovietUnion #USSR #Soviet #Soviets #SovietWave #SovietAfghanWar #1988 #1989 #1990 #Communism #Mujahideen #Conflixct #War #CombatFootage #Combat #AfghanistanWar #Communists #ColdWar #USA #ProxyWar #ProxyWars #Russia #Withdrawal #MilitaryHistory #Military #History #Afghan 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:53 14 April 1988 - Geneva Accords (News at Ten) 00:07:15 Moscow citizens react to news of withdrawal 00:09:25 11 May 1988 - Withdrawal begins 00:24:24 13 May 1988 - Behind the lines with mujahideen 00:27:20 14 May 1988 - Life in Kabul 00:28:40 15 May 1988 - Parade of defeat 00:30:49 15 May 1988 - Refugee camps of Pakistan 00:32:37 19 May 1988 - Soviet casualty figures released 00:33:37 11 May 1988 - Mujahideen of Kandahar 00:38:55 15 July 1988 - Afghanistan's internal problems 00:40:13 22 August 1988 - Report from Peshawar, Pakistan 00:45:11 7 November 1988 - Revolution Day in Moscow 00:46:38 13–16 January 1989 - Crisis in Kabul 01:08:58 19 January 1989 - Western embassies closing down 01:13:22 20 January 1989 - Kabul rocket attack 01:15:31 23 January 1989 - Soviet soldiers depart Kabul airport 01:22:30 25 January 1989 - Kabul's food supply crisis 01:27:14 27–30 January 1989 - UK and US diplomatic withdrawal 01:36:31 31 January 1989 - Soviet army withdrawing under fire 01:38:25 1 February 1989 - Afghan forces of the Najibullah regime 01:39:44 Interview with Richard Murphy (Former Asst. Secretary of State) 01:42:19 2–3 February 1989 - Snowstorms slow withdrawal 01:46:19 5 February 1989 - Soviet convoy departs Afghanistan 01:48:52 Najibullah rally in Kabul 01:50:17 6–7 February 1989 - Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Journal 02:03:38 Elite forces of the Najibullah regime 02:05:50 8 February 1989 - Role of Iran 02:11:57 Mujahideen closing on Jalalabad 02:16:04 9 February 1989 - Kabul under siege 02:17:19 Report from mujahideen-controlled Afghanistan-Pakistan border 02:19:57 11 Feb 1989 - Battle for Salang Highway 02:21:15 12 Feb 1989 - Soviet forces handover control of Kabul airport 02:22:25 15 February 1989 - Last Soviet forces leave Afghanistan 02:32:40 Sandy Gall with mujahideen outside Jalalabad 02:38:20 20 February 1989 - Mujahideen closing on Kabul 02:39:35 10 March 1989 - Mujahideen establish Afghan Interim Government 02:41:01 11–23 March 1989 - Battle of Jalalabad 02:47:49 12 April 1989 - Mujahideen advance on Kandahar 02:52:23 8 November 1989 - Kabul under siege 02:56:17 10 November 1989 - Battle for Salang Highway 02:58:19 6 December 1989 - Sandy Gall interviews Ahmad Shah Masoud 03:04:19 7 December 1989 - Sandy Gall reports from Taloqan 03:07:14 9 February 1990 - Kabul under siege 03:09:52 15 February 1990 - Afghanistan one year after Soviet withdrawal 03:13:08 Epilogue To search the ITN Archive collection on Getty Images, follow the link below: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/footage/itn 🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube channel (tap the bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest ITN Archive videos!) - https://www.youtube.com/@ITNArchive 🎥 Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/ITNArchive 🎥 Like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ITNArchiveITNP 🎥 Check out our TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@itnarchive1955