Editing Soviet–Afghan War (section)

=== Stinger missiles and the "Stinger effect" ===
[[File:First Sting.jpg|thumb|Painting of the first Stinger Missile kill in 1986]]
Whether the introduction of the personal, portable, infrared-homing "[[FIM-92 Stinger|Stinger]]" [[surface-to-air missile]] in September 1986 was a turning point in the war is disputed.
Many Western military analysts credit the Stinger with a [[kill ratio]] of about 70% and with responsibility for most of the over 350 Soviet or Afghan government aircraft and helicopters downed in the last two years of the war.<ref>{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=Michael M.|url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204138204576598851109446780|title="Launching the Missile That Made History," by Michael M. Phillips, Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2011|publisher=wsj.com|access-date=15 February 2012|date=1 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717205723/http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204138204576598851109446780|archive-date=17 July 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some military analysts considered it a "game changer" and coined the term "Stinger effect" to describe it.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schroeder|first=Matthew|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/28/The_Taliban_Doesn%E2%80%99t_Have_Stingers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731223411/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/28/The_Taliban_Doesn%E2%80%99t_Have_Stingers|archive-date=31 July 2010|title="Stop Panicking About the Stingers," by Matthew Schroeder, Foreign Policy, July 28, 2010|work=Foreign Policy |publisher=foreignpolicy.com|access-date=15 February 2012}}</ref>
[[US Congress|Congressman]] [[Charlie Wilson (Texas politician)|Charlie Wilson]] claimed that before the Stinger the Mujahideen never won a [[set piece battle]] with the Soviets, but after it was introduced, the Mujahideen never again lost one.<ref>{{cite book |last=Manchanda |first=Nivi |title=Imagining Afghanistan: The History and Politics of Imperial Knowledge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |date=2020 |isbn=978-1-108-49123-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81DuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |doi=10.1017/9781108867986 |page=35|s2cid=211440686 }}</ref>

However, these statistics are based on Mujahideen self-reporting, which is of unknown reliability. A Russian general claimed the United States "greatly exaggerated" Soviet and Afghan aircraft losses during the war. According to Soviet figures, in 1987–1988, only 35 aircraft and 63 helicopters were destroyed by all causes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hammerich | first = Helmut | title = Die Grenzen des Militärischen | publisher = Hartmann, Miles-Verl | location = Berlin | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-3-937885-30-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWuwxZeYsZQC&pg=PA195 | page=195}}</ref> The [[Pakistan Army]] fired twenty-eight Stingers at Soviet aircraft near the border without a single kill.<ref name="dtic.mil">{{cite journal|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a413880.pdf|title=The Stinger missile and U.S. intervention in Afghanistan|first=Alan J.|last=Kuperman|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=114|issue=Summer 1999|pages=219–263|doi=10.2307/2657738|jstor=2657738|year=1999|access-date=26 April 2018|archive-date=21 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021160520/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a413880.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many Russian military analysts tend to be dismissive of the impact of the Stinger. [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet General Secretary]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] decided to withdraw from Afghanistan a year before the Mujahideen fired their first Stinger missiles; Gorbachev was motivated by U.S. sanctions, not military losses. The Stingers did make an impact at first but within a few months flares, beacons, and exhaust baffles were installed to disorient the missiles, while night operation and terrain-hugging tactics tended to prevent the rebels from getting a clear shot. By 1988 the Mujahideen had all but stopped firing them.<ref name=Kuperman-2002-CFR>{{cite journal|last1=Kuperman|first1=Alan J.|title=Stinging Rebukes|journal=Foreign Affairs|volume=81|issue=January/February 2002|pages=230–231|date=January–February 2002|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2002-01-01/stinging-rebukes|access-date=16 July 2015|doi=10.2307/20033070|jstor=20033070}}</ref> Stingers also forced Soviet helicopters and ground attack planes to bomb from higher altitudes with less accuracy but did not bring down many more aircraft than Chinese heavy machine guns and other less sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry.<ref name=Steele-2010>{{cite journal|last1=Steele|first1=Jonathan|title=Afghan Ghosts: American Myths|journal=World Affairs Journal|year=2010|url=http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/afghan-ghosts-american-myths|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908150210/http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/afghan-ghosts-american-myths|url-status=usurped|archive-date=8 September 2012|access-date=16 July 2015}}</ref> Gorbachev stated in an interview in 2010 that the Stinger did not influence his decision-making process.<ref>{{cite book |last=Braithwaite |first=Rodric |author-link=Rodric Braithwaite |date=2011 |title=Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979–1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=13cTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA205 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=205, 369 |isbn=978-0-19-983265-1}}</ref>