You're listening to an airwave media podcast.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Wesley Levisa from the History of the Second World War podcast.

Join me on a journey to the most destructive conflict in human history.

A journey that will take us not just through the famous campaigns and cataclysmic battles,

but also to the lesser well-known corners of the war that touched millions all over the

world as we try and answer not just the questions of what and where, but how and why.

You can find History of the Second World War on all major podcast platforms or at History

of the Second World War dot com.

Explaining the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan is not hard.

They sent troops to help a friendly government, a government which they had a relationship

and a treaty with, at the request of the leader of that government, except that they ended

up killing that leader.

The Russians went in to secure a seaport as they always wanted and as Americans always

suspected they did, except that most of the fighting was elsewhere.

They didn't really get a seaport out of the whole deal, and in any case, prior to the

invasion, they had basic control of the country's government and could have used a seaport

for whatever purposes they wished.

The probably most puzzling is this.

No one at the upper levels of the Soviet Union may have ordered an invasion at all.

It's a puzzling matter and one that's all the more so because the Soviets never actually

allowed their press to cover the operation, let alone allow Western media in.

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