Why did Russia invade Afghanistan in 1980? What did Russia want from Afghanistan?
Russia is virtually land-locked during winter and has had an ages-old quest for warm water ports. It was the cause of numerous military conflicts with Turkey, and The Crimean War over control of the Black sea and the Bosporus/Dardanelles passage into the Mediterranean Sea, and the Russian/Japanese conflict in 1903. There are no warm water ports in Afghanistan, but they were in control of the Khyber Pass (an ancient trade route to China) on the East, and one step closer to Iran and Turkey on the West and Pakistan on the South, all with warm water ports. The old Russian Czars also saw themselves as modern-day crusaders who would re-conquer Istanbul from the Moslems and re-establish it once again as Constantinople. For the modern day Soviets, it was not only control of the trade route but the oil that passed through it. Also, Afghanistan was politically fragmented, militarily weak and not an ally of the U.S.
