Operation Typhoon (1989)
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| Operation Typhoon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Afghanistan Soviet Union |
Supported by: Pakistan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Aslam Watanjar |
 Ahmad Shah Massoud | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Light |
Soviet claim:[2]
| ||||||
| 1,000+ Afghan civilians killed | |||||||
Operation Typhoon is the penultimate planned military operation of Soviet troops during the Soviet–Afghan War. It was carried out from January 23, 1989, to January 26, 1989, in the provinces of Parwan, Baghlan, and Kunduz with the aim of "causing as much damage as possible to the opposition forces in the central and northern provinces of the country".[3][4]
A combined arms operation of units and units of the 108th and 201st motorized rifle divisions and other units of OKSVA on a wide front of the provinces of Parwan, Baghlan, Kunduz with the aim of stabilizing the military-political situation in the northeastern zone of the Republic of Afghanistan before the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the DRA.[4] Soviets flew over 1,000 sorties against the Mujahedeen targets, next to conducting hundreds of artillery strikes. This operation, dubbed "Operation Typhoon," killed over 600 of Masooud's fighters, according to Soviet estimates.
The command of the operation was carried out by Lieutenant General B.V. Gromov.
According to the memoirs of the Hero of the Soviet Union, General Valery Vostrotin, quoted:[5]
We had an agreement with Ahmad Shah Massoud, who at that moment was popular among the other Mujahideen groups, and that he would not interfere with the withdrawal of our troops, whereas we would not fight with him... They say that Shevardnadze insisted on carrying out the operation, or perhaps Najibullah had persuaded him? But in any case, the decision was made by Gorbachev, although the military command, including the army commander, division and regiment commanders were against this operation. We were given the task of destroying Ahmad Shah's group just before leaving. But it's simply dishonest if we had an agreement. We simply knew their work schedule, the locations of their posts and their nightly deployment locations. And then, thirty minutes before they crawl out of their holes and start drinking tea, launch crazy artillery and air strikes on all these points. We simply vilely destroyed them.
Progress of the operation
In order to minimize the losses of the Soviet Army, combat operations were carried out primarily in a non-contact manner: massive aerial bombing and artillery shelling of the positions of the militants of Ahmad Shah Massoud were carried out; tactical missiles were also used