Image of Russia in Afghanistan 30 Years after the Soviet Union Collapse

Image of Russia in Afghanistan 30 Years after the Soviet Union Collapse


Isaev L.M.

Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Assoc. Prof., Saint Petersburg School of Social Science and Aria Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg; Vice-Head of Laboratory for Sociopolitical Destabilization Risks Monitoring, National Research University Higher School of Economic; Research Fellow, Institute for African Studies of RAS, Moscow, Russia lisaev@hse.ru

Korotayev A.V.

Dr. Sci. (Hist.), Head of the Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilization, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”; Chief Researcher at the Institute for African Studies of RAS, Moscow, Russia. akorotayev@gmail.com

Bobarykina D.A.

Student, Saint Petersburg School of Social Science and Aria Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia d.bobarykina@mail.ru

ID of the Article:


The research has been supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), Project No. 18-18-00254.


For citation:

Isaev L.M., Korotayev A.V., Bobarykina D.A. Image of Russia in Afghanistan 30 Years after the Soviet Union Collapse. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2020. No 9. P. 134-146




Abstract

For a long period of time, Russia and Afghanistan relations could be described as close ones. There was an active cooperation between two countries in the educational, economic and cultural fields. The Soviet invasion negatively affected the image of the USSR, and its echo still has an influence on the image of Russia. However, the image has improved largely due to the supply of Afghanistan with humanitarian and economic aid, military support in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as assistance in the field of education. The authors conducted a survey of the population of Afghanistan, which revealed that there is a significant part of the population that has a positive attitude towards Russia and its policies, although the negative opinion as a consequence of the Soviet intervention still exists. The recovery of the image became possible due to the more subtle policy of Russia and its negotiations with the Taliban. Nevertheless, there are also people extremely negativelyminded, but basically, they belong to the older generation.


Keywords
Afghanistan; image of Russia; USSR
Content No 9, 2020