The USSR’s economic assistance strategy to Afghanistan on the threshold of the Soviet Troops’ withdrawal

Abstract

The article examines the USSR’s economic assistance strategy to Afghanistan on the threshold of the Soviet Troops’ withdrawal on the basis of recently declassified data from the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History. The main aspects of the Soviet economic assistance strategy are analyzed in detail, including cooperation with the Afghan private sector, a program of “direct links” between the Soviet Republics and the provinces of Afghanistan, as well as a multiple increase in the volume of gratis aid. The author concludes that with the emergence of a new military and political situation in Afghanistan on the eve of the Soviet Troops’ withdrawal, the USSR developed a special strategy of economic assistance to Afghanistan aimed at increasing support for the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and President Najibullah among the population of this country.