Originally Posted by el_guapo

Soviet tanks were not good in the Hindu-Kush mountains. They lacked gun elevation to fire at the Mujahadeen. However, Mujahadeen could fire at them with RPGs. Which I acknowledged, but explained that it is not a no brainer to engage Soviet armor columns. It usually did not happen. Not to mention that MGs can shoot back at the Muj, and cutting past any propaganda, none of the Muj had as much of a death wish as was attributed to them. Again, pay attention to what I said. Ammunition supply was not infinite, they could not engage every armor column head. It would have been stupid in both their purpose (attrition, attacking supply lines) and feasibility.It's a no brainer they wouldn't engage Soviet armor head on. Soviet supply lines were very vulnerable, and there was very, very few roads that the Soviets could use for supply transport. Mujahadeen didn't have much modern weapons. Even the Soviets themselves admitted they were caught unprepared though they did adapt eventually with helicopters, appropiate weapons, and more mobile forces.

Ahmad Shah Massoud was undefeated in 9 campaigns against the Soviets. That's because he was smart enough to recognize reality. He didn't fight maybe battles, only ones he could insure to win. I'm not sure how that proves your point at all.He would lure Soviet forces into valleys creating bottlenecks for advancement, and making them stationary targets to ambush.

Stinger missle changed Soviet tactics dramatically. Once dominant gunship helicopters, they had to resort to flying extremely low since the Stinger couldn't engage them from a high angle.
If gunships were SOO dominant, then why were they killed more by heavy machine guns (incidentally of Soviet make) than by Stingers. A helicopter is really a contraption that's fighting against gravity.. and flying at 100%, it is just barely winning. It doesn't take much to bring it down. Ask another WAB member, Glyn, if you want to know more about exactly how easy it is to bring a helo down