Qualla: Operation Storm-333 https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/w/1/h/operation-storm-333-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Operation Storm-333 https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333 Operation Storm-333: Introduction https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333/ Photo credit Абрамов Андрей, CC BY-SA 4.0. The palace guards never had a reason to suspect the soldiers protecting them. The 154th Separate Spetsnaz Detachment -- known informally as the "Muslim Battalion" because its 520 men had been recruited exclusively from the Soviet Union's Central Asian republics -- had been stationed at the Tajbeg Palace at the personal request of Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin. He did not trust his own troops. So he invited soldiers who looked like Afghans, spoke Turkic and Persian languages, and answered to Moscow. On the evening of December 27, 1979, those soldiers turned their weapons on the palace they had been hired to protect.

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Image: Абрамов Андрей | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/w/1/h/operation-storm-333-wp/tw1h-operation-storm-333-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Operation Storm-333: A Puppet Who Cut His Strings https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333/ Photo credit Абрамов Андрей, CC BY-SA 4.0. The road to the Tajbeg Palace began with a revolution. In April 1978, the Saur Revolution brought the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan to power under Nur Muhammad Taraki, a Marxist who aligned closely with the Soviet Union. Moscow was pleased. But the party was split betw...

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Image: Абрамов Андрей | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/w/1/h/operation-storm-333-wp/tw1h-operation-storm-333-a-puppet-who-cut-his-strings.mp3 0:06 2 full Operation Storm-333: Thunder and Zenith https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333/ Photo credit Абрамов Андрей, CC BY-SA 4.0. Operation Storm-333 was the spearhead of a larger campaign called Operation Baikal-79, which aimed to seize roughly 20 key installations in and around Kabul -- military headquarters, communications centers, prisons. But Storm-333 had only one target: the Tajbeg Palace and the man...

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Image: Абрамов Андрей | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/w/1/h/operation-storm-333-wp/tw1h-operation-storm-333-thunder-and-zenith.mp3 0:06 3 full Operation Storm-333: The Assault on the Hill https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333/ Photo credit Абрамов Андрей, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Tajbeg Palace sat on a high, steep hill in Kabul -- a naturally defensible position that Amin had reinforced with a substantial guard force. Soviet historian Aleksandr Lyakhovskiy, who later documented the operation in detail, noted the ferocity on both sides. The defenders f...

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Image: Абрамов Андрей | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/w/1/h/operation-storm-333-wp/tw1h-operation-storm-333-the-assault-on-the-hill.mp3 0:06 4 full Operation Storm-333: The War That Followed https://qualla.com/operation-storm-333/ Photo credit Абрамов Андрей, CC BY-SA 4.0. Operation Storm-333 lasted hours. The war it started lasted a decade. The Soviet-Afghan War, which officially began on December 27, 1979, would kill an estimated 15,000 Soviet soldiers and over one million Afghans before the last Soviet troops withdrew in February 1989. The invas...

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]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/w/1/h/operation-storm-333-wp/tw1h-operation-storm-333-the-war-that-followed.mp3 0:06 5 full