6th of Jadi: Bloody Historical Turning Point and Symbol of National Awakening
DID Press: The 6th of Jadi 1358 (December 27, 1979) is not merely a date on Afghanistan’s calendar. It stands as a stark symbol of occupation, betrayal, and arrogance in the country’s modern history.
From Red Occupation to the Defeat of Superpowers
The 6th of Jadi marked the logical continuation of the violent coup of 7th of Saur, culminating in the official and overt occupation of Afghanistan by the Red Army of the Soviet Union. It opened a dark yet deeply awakening chapter in the collective memory of the Afghan nation.
The Saur coup was not an internal political transformation, but an imposed project aimed at dismantling the identity pillars of a nation. Executed by the Marxist–Leninist Khalq and Parcham factions under Moscow’s direct guidance, it led to widespread repression of religious scholars, executions of elites, humiliation of Islamic beliefs, and the destruction of Afghanistan’s cultural and social fabric. When this dependent regime failed to suppress popular resistance, military occupation was imposed as the final tool of Soviet colonialism.
On the 6th of Jadi 1358, Soviet forces officially entered Afghanistan. While some researchers trace the initial troop movements to days earlier, this date marks the beginning of open and full-scale military aggression. In the early hours of the invasion, Soviet special forces stormed the Darulaman Palace and killed then-president Hafizullah Amin, ending his short but notoriously brutal rule. Power was subsequently handed to the Parcham faction led by Babrak Karmal, with direct Soviet backing.
The Red Army’s entry was not to “save a revolution,” but to rescue a failed ideological project and safeguard Soviet strategic interests. It represented a declared confrontation between faith and atheism, nation and empire, popular will and colonial domination. On that day, the true nature of Marxist slogans was laid bare.
Yet Afghanistan history once again proved that occupation — even with tanks and aircraft — cannot break the spirit of a nation. The 6th of Jadi gave birth to a popular jihad, rising not from political chambers but from mosques, mountains, villages, and wounded hearts. This resistance ultimately dragged one of the world’s largest military forces — the Soviet 40th Army, numbering around 110,000 troops — into defeat, shattering the myth of the Red Army’s invincibility.
Strategically, the 6th of Jadi marked the beginning of the erosion of a global empire. Massive military costs, human losses, psychological defeat, and declining international legitimacy set the Soviet Union on a path that eventually led to its collapse. After nearly a decade of war, with more than 50,000 killed, wounded, or missing, Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan. Accounts recall General Boris Gromov, the last Soviet commander to leave, pausing briefly at the border before departing with a bitter smile — a silent admission of failure.
However, victory came at a devastating cost: more than one million martyrs, millions wounded, and nearly three million displaced. Afghanistan became the graveyard of empires, but the scars of that victory remain. Worse still, weak leadership, internal divisions, selfishness, and failure to manage the post-jihad period plunged the country into civil war, undermining many of the resistance’s historic achievements.
The 6th of Jadi is not only about the past; it is a benchmark for the present and a guiding light for the future. It warns that dependence on foreign powers leads inevitably to occupation, that humiliating a nation’s faith and identity breeds explosive resistance, and that great powers recognize neither friendship nor partnership — only interests.
The Soviet occupation was not the end of foreign interventions. Two decades later, U.S. and NATO forces entered Afghanistan under different slogans but with similar objectives, and after 20 years of war and occupation, they too left without achieving their stated goals.
This repetition once again turned Afghanistan into a symbol of the failure of interventionist powers.
The 6th of Jadi is not merely a day of mourning; it is a day for conscious reflection on history — for reassessing positions, distinguishing friend from foe, and redefining the responsibility of generations toward the country’s independence and dignity. A nation that preserves its historical memory will not be caught off guard again.
If Afghanistan truly learns from the 6th of Jadi, it can build a future in which occupation is not repeated and sacrifices are not in vain — a future where independence is not a slogan, but the product of awareness, unity, and collective wisdom.
By Abdul Raouf Tawana — DID Press Agency