Did the Soviets wish to Annex Afghanistan?

My answer on Quora.

No, that was not their intention. The Soviets intervened in Afghanistan to prop up the Pro-Soviet government that had held power in the country since 1978. It was facing a guerrilla war against anti-communist mujaheddin forces.

Nur Muhammad Taraki was the first of the pro-Communist stooges who relied on Moscow for help. He was president and prime minister of Afghanistan from 1978–1979. Taraki was one of the founders of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in the 1960s and headed the People’s (Khalq) faction that arose soon after the party split in 1967. Its chief rival on the Left was the Banner (Parcham) faction.

The two factions clashed throughout the 1970s but with Soviet aid Taraki helped oust the government of Mohammad Daud Khan who at one time was backed by the Banner party (although they had since flipped to align themselves with Taraki).

Taraki was not a popular leader and his collectivist land and social reforms were resented in the rural areas. Mujahideen forces with a strong Islamist orientation took up arms against Taraki who himself was replaced as Prime Minister by the US educated fellow traveler Hafizullah Amin.

Amin would later become President but his administration was short lived. His regime could not control the rebellion and from a Soviet perspective the situation looked bleaker by the moment.

On the 24th of December 1979 (yes… Christmas Eve) the Soviets decided to take matters into their own hands. They invaded Afghanistan with a force of about 30,000 troops overthrew Amin’s regime and replaced him as President with another lackey Babrak Kamal of the Banner Party.

However he too was unpopular thereby necessitating a long term Soviet military involvement.

Little did they know at the time of course, how much of a chain of regionally and globally defining events they would be setting in motion by the consequences of their action. A butterfly flapping its wings can indeed cause a hurricane. Although with all fairness it was a pretty large butterfly.