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I believe the biggest problem the Soviets had in Afghanistan was US Stinger missiles. If I remember correctly Afghani’s were getting their buts kick until Stingers showed up.

Wikipedia:

“Whether the introduction of the personal, portable, infrared-homing surface-to-air “Stinger” missile in September 1986 was a turning point in the war is disputed. Many Western military analysts credit the Stinger with a kill ratio of about 70% and with responsibility for most of the over 350 Soviet or Afghan government aircraft and helicopters downed in the last two years of the war.[122] Some military analysts considered it a “game changer” coined the term “Stinger effect” to describe it.[123] According to US Congressman Charlie Wilson who was instrumental in funding the Stingers for the Mujahideen, before the Stinger the Mujahideen never won a set piece battle with the Soviets but after it was introduced, the Mujahideen never again lost one.

However many Russian military analysts tend to be dismissive of the impact to the Stinger. According to Alan J. Kuperman, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev decided to withdraw from Afghanistan a year before the mujahideen fired their first Stinger missiles, motivated by U.S. sanctions, not military losses. The stingers did make an impact at first but within a few months flares, beacons, and exhaust baffles were installed to disorient the missiles, along with night operation and terrain-hugging tactics to prevent the rebels from getting a clear shot. By 1988, Kuperman states, the mujahideen had all but stopped firing them.[124] Another source (Jonathan Steele) states that stingers forced Soviet helicopters and ground attack planes to bomb from higher altitudes with less accuracy, but did not bring down many more aircraft than Chinese heavy machine guns and other less sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry.”

I’m inclined to think that those who survived the initial Soviet onslaught learned how to fight the Russians. They were never going to have an exchange ratio anywhere near parity, but they figured the Russians would eventually get tired of wasting men in the wasteland that is the vast majority of Afghanistan. They were right.

Putin was not head of Russia then.