Wars in Afghanistan 1979-2001

AD – MPE: 0.1

ND – MPE: 0.9

White cites 5 estimates for the number of people who died in the Soviet-Afghan War from 1979 1989 and the Afghan civil war of the 1990s, which range from 1.5 to 2 million. The Website “Mass Atrocity Endings” analyses casualty numbers for Afghanistan between 1979 and 1998 in an article called “Afghanistan: Soviet Invasion and civil war” . They conclude that reasonable estimates range from 0.8 to 1.5 million war deaths. They cite one estimate that 80 percent of the victims were civilians and around half of the deaths were caused by Soviet bombing.

Plausible estimates for the number of innocent people killed by nondemocratic forces in the Afghan wars in the whole time period range from 0.5 to 1.7 million. The most plausible estimate is 0.9 million.

US support for the Mujahideen fighters was highly significant. Plausible estimates for the number of innocent people killed by this support from democratic frontrunners range from 0.05 to 0.15 million. The most plausible estimate is 0.1 million.