Editing Soviet–Afghan War (section)

=== December 1979 – February 1980: Occupation and national unrest ===
The first phase of the war began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and first battles with various opposition groups.<ref name=ppg1/> Soviet troops entered Afghanistan along two ground routes and one [[air corridor]], quickly taking control of the major urban centers, military bases and strategic installations. However, the presence of Soviet troops did not have the desired effect of pacifying the country. On the contrary, it exacerbated [[Nationalism|nationalistic]] sentiment, causing the rebellion to spread further.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Olivier|author-link=Olivier Roy (professor)|title=Islam and resistance in Afghanistan|year=1990|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|page=118}}</ref> [[Babrak Karmal]], Afghanistan's new leader, charged the Soviets with causing an increase in the unrest, and demanded that the 40th Army step in and quell the rebellion, as his own army had proved untrustworthy.<ref>Russian General Staff, Grau & Gress, ''The Soviet-Afghan War'', p. 18</ref> Thus, Soviet troops found themselves drawn into fighting against urban uprisings, tribal armies (called ''lashkar''), and sometimes against mutinying Afghan Army units. These forces mostly fought in the open, and Soviet airpower and artillery made short work of them.<ref name="mired">{{cite web|url=http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/documents/miredinmount.htm|title=The Soviet-Afghan war: a superpower mired in the mountains|access-date=15 September 2007|last=Grau|first=Lester|date=March 2004|publisher=[[Foreign Military Studies Office]] Publications}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The Soviet occupation provoked a great deal of fear and unrest amongst a wide spectrum of the Afghan populace. The Soviets held the view that their presence would be accepted after having rid Afghanistan of the "tyrannical" Khalq regime, but this was not to be. In the first week of January 1980, attacks against Soviet soldiers in Kabul became common, with roaming soldiers often assassinated in the city in broad daylight by civilians. In the summer of that year, numerous members of the ruling party would be assassinated in individual attacks. The Soviet Army quit patrolling Kabul in January 1981 after their losses due to terrorism, handing the responsibility over to the Afghan army. Tensions in Kabul peaked during the [[3 Hoot uprising]] on 22 February 1980, when the Soviet soldiers murdered hundreds of protesters.<ref name="thekabultimes">{{cite web|url=http://thekabultimes.gov.af/index.php/editorial/5945-3rd-hoot-uprising%3B-a-millstone-in-afghanistan%E2%80%99s-freedom-fighting-history-against-invaders.html|title=3rd Hoot uprising; a millstone in Afghanistan's freedom-fighting history against invaders|website=The Kabul Times |date=February 21, 2015 |access-date=2017-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042135/http://thekabultimes.gov.af/index.php/editorial/5945-3rd-hoot-uprising%3B-a-millstone-in-afghanistan%E2%80%99s-freedom-fighting-history-against-invaders.html|archive-date=2017-12-01|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="cdlib" /> The city uprising took a dangerous turn once again during the [[1980 student protests in Kabul|student demonstrations]] of April and May 1980, in which scores of students were killed by soldiers and PDPA sympathizers.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7b69p12h&chunk.id=s1.6.4&toc.id=ch06&toc.depth=1&brand=ucpress&anchor.id=d0e3434 |chapter=Urban Uprisings and Their Suppression: Student Uprisings |title=Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979-1982 |first1=M. Hassan |last1=Kakar |date=1995 |via=UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230406213318/https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7b69p12h&chunk.id=s1.6.4&toc.id=ch06&toc.depth=1&brand=ucpress&anchor.id=d0e3434 |archive-date= Apr 6, 2023 }}</ref>

The opposition to the Soviet presence was great nationally, crossing regional, ethnic, and linguistic lines. Never before in Afghan history had this many people been united in opposition against an invading foreign power. In [[Kandahar]] a few days after the invasion, civilians rose up against Soviet soldiers, killing a number of them, causing the soldiers to withdraw to their garrison. In this city, 130 Khalqists were murdered between January and February 1980.<ref name="cdlib" />

According to the [[Mitrokhin Archive]], the Soviet Union deployed numerous [[active measures]] at the beginning of the intervention, spreading disinformation relating to both diplomatic status and military intelligence. These efforts focused on most countries bordering Afghanistan, on several international powers, the Soviet's main adversary, the United States, and neutral countries.<ref name="digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org">{{cite web|title=KGB Active Measures in Southwest Asia in 1980-82 |url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/110013|access-date=13 November 2021|website=Wilson Center Digital Archive }}</ref> The disinformation was deployed primarily by "leaking" forged documents, distributing leaflets, publishing nominally independent articles in Soviet-aligned press, and conveying reports to embassies through KGB residencies.<ref name="digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org" /> Among the active measures pursued in 1980–1982 were both pro- and anti-separatist documents disseminated in Pakistan, a forged letter implying a Pakistani-Iranian alliance, alleged reports of U.S. bases on the Iranian border, information regarding Pakistan's military intentions filtered through the [[List of diplomatic missions of Pakistan|Pakistan embassy]] in [[Bangkok]] to the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter Administration]], and various disinformation about armed interference by India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Jordan, Italy, and France, among others.<ref name="digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org" />