Editing Soviet–Afghan War (section)

=== Soviet personnel strengths and casualties ===
[[File:RIAN archive 476785 Soviet Army soldiers return from Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|Soviet soldiers return from Afghanistan, October 1986]]
[[File:Разведрота на рейде.jpg|thumb|[[Spetsnaz]] troops interrogate a captured [[mujahideen]] with an RPG, rounds and AK47 in the background, 1986]]

Between 25 December 1979, and 15 February 1989, a total of 620,000 soldiers served with the forces in Afghanistan (though there were only 80,000–104,000 serving at one time): 525,000 in the Army, 90,000 with border troops and other [[KGB]] sub-units, 5,000 in independent formations of [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)|MVD]] [[Internal Troops]], and police forces.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}} A further 21,000 personnel were with the Soviet troop contingent over the same period doing various white collar and blue-collar jobs.

The total official fatalities of the Soviet Armed Forces, frontier, and internal security troops came to 14,453.<ref name="vfw.org" /> Other estimates give a figure of 26,000 killed Soviet soldiers.<ref name="Beaumont">{{cite news| work=Guardian| author=[[Peter Beaumont (journalist)|Peter Beaumont]]| title=Same old mistakes in new Afghan war|date=18 October 2009| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/18/afghan-war-soviet-invasion-mistakes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Grau |editor-first1=Lester W. |editor-link1=Lester W. Grau |editor-last2=Gress |editor-first2=Michael A. |date=2002 |title=The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost |url=https://archive.org/details/The_Soviet-Afghan_War_How_a_Superpower_Fought_and_Lost/page/n71/mode/2up |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=0-7006-1185-1 |pages=43–44}}</ref> Soviet Army formations, units, and HQ elements lost 13,833, KGB sub-units lost 572, MVD formations lost 28, and other ministries and departments lost 20 men. During this period 312 servicemen were missing in action or taken prisoner; 119 were later freed, of whom 97 returned to the USSR and 22 went to other countries.

Of the troops deployed, 53,753 were wounded, injured, or sustained concussion and 415,932 fell sick. A high proportion of casualties were those who fell ill. This was because of local climatic and sanitary conditions, which were such that acute infections spread rapidly among the troops. There were 115,308 cases of infectious [[hepatitis]], 31,080 of [[typhoid]] fever, and 140,665 of other diseases. Of the 11,654 who were discharged from the army after being wounded, maimed, or contracting serious diseases, 10,751 men, were left disabled.<ref>{{cite book|first=G. F.|last=Krivosheev|year=1993|title=Combat Losses and Casualties in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Greenhill Books|location=London}}</ref>

Material losses were as follows:<ref name="vfw.org">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060718225045/http://www.vfw.org/resources/levelxmagazine/0203_Soviet-Afghan%20War.pdf The Soviet-Afghan War: Breaking the Hammer & Sickle] by Lester W. Grau and Ali Ahmad Jalali| vfw.org</ref>
* [[List of Soviet aircraft crashes in Afghanistan|451 aircraft]] (includes 333 [[helicopters]])
* 147 [[tank]]s
* 1,314 [[IFV]]/[[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]]
* 433 [[Artillery|artillery guns]] and [[Mortar (weapon)|mortars]]
* 11,369 cargo and fuel tanker trucks.

In early 1987 a CIA report estimated that, from 1979 to 1986, the Soviet military spent 18 billion rubles on the war in Afghanistan (not counting other costs incurred to the Soviet state such as economic and military aid to the DRA). The CIA noted that this was the equivalent of US$50 billion<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170119060458/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000499320.pdf The Costs of Soviet Involvement in Afghanistan.] Directorate of Intelligence. Langley, United States. Feb. 1987. Page 4.</ref> ($115 billion in 2019 USD).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm|title=CPI Inflation Calculator|website=www.bls.gov}}</ref> The report credited the relatively low cost to the small size of the Soviet deployment and the fact that the supply lines to Afghanistan were very short (in some cases, easier and cheaper than internal USSR lines). Military aid to the DRA's armed forces totaled 9.124 billion rubles from 1980 to 1989 (peaking at 3.972 billion rubles in 1989).<ref>Anton Minkov and Gregory Smolynec. [https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a475460.pdf Economic Development in Afghanistan During the Soviet Period, 1979–1989: Lessons Learned from the Soviet Experience in Afghanistan.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702232823/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a475460.pdf |date=2 July 2019 }} DRDC Centre for Operational Research & Analysis, Canada. p. 4.</ref> Financial and economic aid were also significant; by 1990, 75% of the Afghan state's income came from Soviet aid.<ref>Minkov and Smolynec, p. 17.</ref>