Stamford Harbor, on the north side of Long Island Sound about 33 miles east of New York, comprises the bay north of a line from Shippan Point on the east through Stamford Harbor Ledge Obstruction Light to the west shore north of Greenwich Point. The harbor is shoal, and the approach is obstructed to a large extent by ledges and rocks. Shippan Point, the eastern point at the entrance, is surrounded by rocks which show at low water. Stamford Harbor Ledge Obstruction Light (41°00'49″N., 73°32'34″W. ), 80 feet above the water, shown from a white conical tower on a red cylindrical pier, is a private light visible from a considerable distance offshore. Also prominent are a microwave tower westward of the city and the large brown office buildings locally known as Harbor Plaza on Ware Island. Stamford Harbor West Breakwater Light 3 (41°00'54″N., 73°32'17″W. ), 37 feet above the water, is shown from a tower with a square green dayboard at the east end of the west breakwater. Stamford Harbor East Breakwater Light 4 (41°00'54″N., 73°32'06″W.
The regime's survival increasingly was dependent upon Soviet assistance as the insurgency spread and the Afghan army began to collapse. In September 1979, Hafizullah Amin, who had earlier been Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, seized power. By October 1979, however, relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union were tense as Hafizullah Amin refused to take Soviet advice on how to stabilize and consolidate his government. Over the next 2 months, instability plagued Amin's regime as he moved against perceived enemies in the PDPA. By December, party morale was crumbling, and the insurgency was growing. On December 12, 1979, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev and a special commission of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU decided to introduce Soviet troops in Afghanistan "in order to provide international assistance to the friendly Afghan people, as well as to create favorable conditions for the prohibition of anti-Afghan actions by neighboring countries. "