*The Soviets decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was made before the first Stinger missile arrived in theater.*
Interesting-didn’t know that-Proof?
There is a great book called the Long Goodbye on the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It’s a troubling read because page after page you could substitute USA for USSR as 30 years later we kept trying to do the exact things the USSR did.
Gorbachev was selected in part because he wanted to end the war and the Politburo had decided on a withdrawal by the end of 1985.
After that the Soviets began to pull back their troops and instead rely on their Afghan allies. This process lasted three long years as they wanted to somehow arrange the withdrawal to not look like a defeat.