When Soviet forces mounted an invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, they entered a nation already in the grips of a complex civil war. Speaking to Matt Elton, Elisabeth Leake reveals how the invasion and ensuing occupation would go on to shape not only modern Afghanistan but also the course of the Cold War and subsequent international relations.
Elisabeth Leake is the author of Afghan Crucible: The Soviet Invasion and the Making of Modern Afghanistan (Oxford University Press, 2022)