The United States backed the mujahideen in its fight against the government, and the rebellion grew. Initially, the Soviets left the fighting to the Afghan army. When desertion became too rampant to continue, however, the Soviets deployed over 100,000 troops to crush the guerilla fighters.
The mujahideen were able to escape their bombing attacks and eliminate the Soviet air power there using weapons and missiles from the United States. It would turn out that the mujahideen the United States supported just 30 years ago would become the terrorist organizations they are fighting today, such as the Taliban. The war in Afghanistan showed the gradual disintegration of the Soviet Union that would occur for the next ten to twenty years.