During its 10 years in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union controlled the major urban centres of the country, and was usually able to use the highways that connect these together, although even that could not always be guaranteed. (Soviet motor traffic did risk being ambushed when it travelled those roads).
As for the remainder of Afghanistan - which makes up the large majority of its surface area - the best that can be said is that this was "contested". All too often, Soviet soldiers "controlled" the ground immediately below their army boots, but very little else.
Diverging a little now, but the matter of WWII has been raised by other, so a few comments about that are appropriate. The fact is, during the early stages of the war against Japan, none of the Western allies fought particularly well. (Jungle warfare was something that had previously been hardly thought of, and only the Japanese were in any way prepared for it). The debacle at the British "fortress" of Singapore is well known, and the ease with which the Japanese over ran all European territories in South East Asia quickly led to them gaining the reputation of being supermen.
Included in that list of Allied forces who initially performed badly against the Japanese are those of the United States. Despite being full of bravado when first deployed to New Guinea, US army units broke and ran during their first encounter with the Japanese. (For a full description of these events, Lex Macaulay's To the Bitter End is an informative read). According to the memoirs of Lieutenant General George Kenny (USAAF), when the Commander of Allied Land Forces in the SW Pacific Command, General Thomas Blamey, was asked what reinforcements he wanted to finish clearing the Japanese from the north Papuan Coast area, he said bluntly "Australians, because I know they will fight".
Also, Japan's first defeat on land occurred in the Milne Bay area of what is now Papua New Guinea. That defeat was inflicted on them by Australian forces - some of whom (the 61st Battalion of the Australian militia) were regarded as decidedly second rate troops. (Another very informative read is Peter Brune's A Bastard of a Place - Australian Operations in Papua, in which the Battle of Milne Bay is described in detail).
Concurrent with that battle was an epic campaign fought along the Kokoda Track in New Guinea. Anybody that has read the history of that campaign, in which the Japanese were halted within just one day's march of Port Moresby, could hardly use the word "soft" to describe the Australian and Papuan personnel who took part in it. Even today, it is quite a challenge just to trek through the Owen Stanley Ranges from Ower's Corner in the south to Kokoda village to the north. One can only imagine the difficulties of carrying out military operations at the same time.
To be fair on everybody, Allied forces soon adapted to jungle warfare, and then proved themselves more than adequate for the task. (This includes the British 14th Army that cleared the Japanese out of Burma, and particularly the special forces, the "Chindits" under Major General Orde Wingate).