It was to last nearly a decade and would plant the seeds for the rise of the Taliban and Islamic terrorism and the subsequent invasion by the U.S. more than 20 years later. On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. It was the only time the Soviet Union invaded a country outside the Eastern Bloc (it also nearly fit the 12-year pattern of major Soviet invasions — Hungary 1956 and Czechoslovakia 1968.)
The invasion could be viewed as the culmination of growing Soviet domination going back to 1973 when Mohammed Daoud, the former Afghan Prime Minister, launched a successful coup against King Zahir. Although Daoud was more nationalist than socialist, his coup was dependent on pro-Soviet military and political factions. Since 1955 Moscow had provided military training and materiel to Afghanistan; by 1973, a third of its active troops had trained on Soviet soil. Then in April 1978, soldiers aligned with Noor Taraki's “Khalq” faction executed Daoud and his family. Taraki became the Prime Minister, and Babrak Karmal (from Daoud's party) became Deputy Prime Minister. The Carter administration ultimately recognized the new government and soon named Adolph “Spike” Dubs its Ambassador to Afghanistan, who pursued good relations with the regime in the hopes that U.S. support would keep Soviet influence at bay.
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