Military deployment in Afghanistan February 1982.

This is not so much of a game but a reference point regarding Soviet forces in Afghanistan in February 1982.

https://www.modernwar.games/game-overview/afghanistanfebruary1982/

The Times article states that there were 12 Soviet Divisions in Afghanistan in February 1982. The article goes on to discuss some of the issues relating to the Afghanistan Army which was described as being useless.

The Soviet Divisions in Afghanistan at the time were:

• 16th Motor Division, Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif
• 201st Motor Rifle Division, Jalalabad
• 305th Motor Rifle Division, Gardez
• 306th and 225th Motor Rifle Divisions and 105th Airborne Division, Kabul
• 357th Motor Rifle Division, Kandahar
• 275th Motor Rifle Division, Ghazni
• 54th Motor Rifle Division, Herat
• 66th Motor Rifle Division, Sindand
• 103rd Motor Rifle Division and 104th Airborne Division, Bagram

It was reported that each division was thought to have 10,000 troops, the airborne divisions having 8,000 each and that the total Soviet troops in Afghanistan was about 120,000.

It was repoted that since the Soviet entry into Afghanistan that the Afghan army had shrunk from 100,000 to 30,000. It was said that in early 1982 that the Afghan governemnt attempted to recruit soldiers to bring their forces up to 200,000 and called on all men under 35 years old to come forward, but it was reported that the eligible men mostly dissapeared overnight rather than join up even though the pay and conditions were good. It was also heard that 10,000 Afghan soldiers due to be dicharged in December 1981 had been kept on, mostly due to the fear that they would join the Mujahidin, taking their experience with them.

What was left of the Afghan army was said to have been spread across 14 divisions, 11 infatry divisions and 3 armoured divisions, each of which with barely 2,500 men. THe locations of the afghan divisions was:

• 7th and 8th Infantry Divisions, Kabul
• 12th Infantry Division, Gardez
• 11th Infantry Division, Jalalabad
• 14th Infantry Division, Ghazni
• 25th Infantry Division, Khosht
• 15th Infantry Division, Kandahar
• 9th Infantry Division, Chugha Serai
• 19th Infantry Division, Herat
• 18th Infantry Division, Mazar-i-Sharif
• 20th Infantry Division, Nahrin in Baghlan
• 4th and 15th Armoured Divisions, Kabul
• 7th Armoured Divisions, Kandahar

It was said that morale was low in the Afghan army and where they were used they were pushed to the front with the Soviet forces bhind them to ensure that they did not desert or defect to the Mujahidin before the first shot was fired.

The Mujahidin placements on the map are random and just to give a sense for where they might have had influence.