Lol in war casualties aren't as important as achieving your goals---the red army didn't.
Of course, but that doesn't negate anything I said above. The muj had a significant numerical advantage (13-1) over the Red Army, billions of dollars in aid, knowledge of the territory and support of many of the people, and yet they still couldn't inflict a heavy casualty rate, and took them 10 years to make it costly enough for the Soviets Union to finally withdraw troops. Even after the Red Army left it still took 2 years for them to take Kabul. It's not the David and Goliath myth it's portrayed as-- if it hadn't been for the aid of the US, UK, and Pakistan, the incompetent and disorganized insurgents would have been crushed by a numerically smaller force.
Although I agree with you about the social progress and women's rights, I don't agree that the PDPA brought freedom, nor did red army. SHUTTING, BURNING and PISSING in mosques, killing political opposition and promoting state atheism isn't freedom to me, its imposing an ideology on people that didn't like it well the majority didn't. Many of the fighters, fighting then and today saw their families killed in indiscriminate aerial bombings and shellings and since then have used the rifle and continue to do so. Fuck the PDPA and red army--well they're not around any more lol
Well, there were pretty huge differences in policy during this time period (Afghanistan went through 5 Presidents in 10 years) between the Khalq and Parcham factions, the latter being much more extreme in their attempts to build a communist nation. The Soviets supported the more moderate PDPA leaders, and advised them not to get too aggressive in their program lest they piss off the majority of people. Were there atrocities committed by the Red Army and their allies? Of course-- in war there always are. But were these atrocities part of a systematic campaign of terror and war crimes by the Soviet Union? Hell no. The Soviets weren't stupid. They knew from the very beginning the operation could turn into their Vietnam War, which is why they were reluctant to intervene initially and never committed that many troops to the operation (about 2% of their total military). They therefore attempted, with mixed success, to avoid some of the US's errors in Vietnam.
Were the Red Army and PDPA angels? Certainly not-- they had a lot of blood on their hands, but they were very clearly the lesser of two evils. If I were a woman in Afghanistan in 1980 who wanted to someday go to university, have a job, wear a damn skirt, and not be forced into an arranged marriage, there wouldn't be any doubt as to which side I'd be hoping won the war. It's a no-brainer really.
None of this would have happened if ignorant savages hadn't decided to rebel against some basic progressive reforms (ending peonage, basic women's rights, lowering dowry prices, universal education, etc.) implemented by the PDPA, and the US, UK and Pakistanis supporting these fucking bastards. That hadn't happened there would have never been a large-scale or long-term Soviet intervention, may not have been a direct military intervention by the USSR at all-- millions of lives would have been saved and millions of women would have had a path out of slavery. You want someone to blame for that shit? Blame your former Muslim "brothers" and their imperialist sponsors.
Topic: UK discussed plans to help mujahideen weeks after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan