| The dominant historical narrative surrounding US policy and actions during the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) maintains that the US government launched its extensive covert operation in support of the Mujahedin (Arabic for those who wage jihad, or holy war) against the Soviet army in response to the Soviet Union’s December 25, 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. Show
Supposedly, according to such historical accounts, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan blindsided US officials and, in response, the US government began supporting the Mujahedin in order to defend Afghanistan’s sovereignty and religious freedom, and forestall Soviet expansion into the Middle East and South Asia. In reality, however, US aid to the Mujahedin began in July 1979 (six months before the Soviet invasion) and, as former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted in a 1998 interview, this aid increased the probability that the Soviet Union would invade Afghanistan. Using declassified US government documents and memorandums from the 1970s and 1980s, this essay substantiates, corroborates, and develops the admissions made in Brzezinski’s 1998 interview, arguing that Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan was not a catastrophe for US foreign interests, but rather a US provocation that bolstered US Cold War foreign policy objectives. Ultimately, the Soviet-Afghan War launched a cascade of devastating long-term and large-scale consequences, including the solidification of the concept of global violent jihad, the formation of al-Qaeda, and the rise of the Taliban regime. Given these consequences, it is imperative that we take a critical approach to the historical treatment of US foreign policy leading up to and during the Soviet-Afghan War. The current situation dates back to the late 70s, when the Soviet Union chose to invade their neighbours. But why did they do that? Here’s everything you need to know. Why did Russia invade Afghanistan?The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 24 1979 under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty. The treaty was signed in 1978 and the two countries agreed to provide economic and military assistance. Afghanistan borders Russia and was always considered important to its national security and a gateway to Asia. Russia had long tried to establish strong ties, holding interests there for centuries. A 1978 communist revolution in Afghanistan and its subsequent one-party state, run by head of the communist party Nur Mohammed Taraki, was extremely unpopular with the Afghan people and the Soviets attempted to bolster it with the treaty.  However, in September 1979 Taraki was overthrown and killed by members of the Afghan Communist Party who were unhappy with him. So, in December Russia entered Afghanistan to re-establish a government closer to its desires. The subsequent 10 year war has been described as ‘Russia’s Vietnam’, with the country sending in thousands of troops, spending millions, and ultimately retreating. The war helped create the terrorist and extremist groups that are still in place today. What happened between 1979 and 2001?1979 24 December 1979: Russia begins a massive military operation, with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sending in an estimated 280 transport aircraft and three divisions of almost 8,500 men each. Within a few days, the Soviets completed a special assault against Tajberg Palace and secured Kabul. The resistance was fierce but brief.27 December 1979: The exiled leader of the Parcham faction of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), Babrak Karmal, was installed as Afghanistan’s new head of government. Soviet ground troops enter from the north. Factions of rebel fighters across the country begin to unite to form the Mujahideen, a word that means ‘those engaged in jihad’ in Arabic. The groups united through their belief the invading atheist Soviets undermined Islam and their culture. The groups crossed ethnic and ideological lines, but initially were defectors from the Afghan army. They were backed by the West who often referred to them as freedom fighters. They were funded by the United States and Pakistan. 1980 US President Carter initiates a programme to arm the Mujahideen through Pakistan’s intelligence service. Saudi Arabia agrees to match America’s contributions. Funnelling money and weapons through Pakistan leads to fraud, and Pakistan would pick which of the Mujahideen factions would receive the most support, often favouring those with more fundamentalist views. The Mujahideen controls most of rural Afghanistan. Read MoreAfghanistan debate live: Watch as Parliament is recalled after Taliban takeover – and why it’s happening 1981 The US starts the first of two packages of economic assistance and military sales to support Pakistan’s role in the war. Under President Reagan US support increased. Named Operation Cyclone, it became the largest covert operation ever and the total cost to US tax payers was $3bn. 1987 The US introduces shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, called Stingers, which allowed the Mujahideen to shoot down Soviet planes and helicopters. This turned the war. The Mujahideen controlled most of the country by this point. The government announces an end to the one-party state and elections are to be held. 1988 Soldiers start withdrawing, as Gorbachev admits no victory is in sight. 6 – 15 April 1988: Elections are held and a coalition government is formed with incumbent leader Mohammad Najibullah at the head. 50 seats are left open to encourage the Mujahideen to put down their arms. 11 August 1988: Militant Sunni Islamist terror group al Qaida is formed by Osama Bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and other parties from the Soviet-Afghan war. Based in Pakistan, bin Laden had been a a major financier of the Mujahideen in the 80s, spending his own money and using his connections. He also trained foreign Muslim volunteers who wished to fight. 1989 15 February 1989: The last Soviet soldier crossed back across the border. Some 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed. The Mujahideen, which is still receiving funding from Washington and Islamabad, continues to fight against the Najibullah Government, which is still being backed by Moscow.9 November 1989: The Berlin wall falls and thus begins the end of the Soviet Union. 1990 The Afghan constitution is written and confirms that the country is officially an Islamic state and the last references to communism are removed. The head of state must now be from a Muslim Afghan family. 1991 25 December 1991: The Soviet Union officially collapses. 1992 January 1992: Without the support of the Soviet Union Najibullah’s government is weakened immediately. The air force is grounded due to lack of fuel and major cities fall to the Mujahideen.18 March 1992: Najibullah resigns.28 April 1992: Mujahideen factions sign a power-sharing agreement named the the Peshawar Accord but cracks remain and in some groups remain militias, rather than political parties. Civil war begins and vicious fighting is allowed to continue under a young state with no law enforcement or established legal and governmental systems. Atrocities are committed. 1994 August 1994: The Taliban is formed and supported by Pakistan. They recruited members from religious students from madrasas across the border, but nearly all of the original leadership fought in the Soviet-Afghan War for either the Hezb-i Islami Khalis or Harakat-i Inqilab-e Islami factions of the Mujahideen. November 1994, the Taliban conquers Kandahar city. Read MoreTaliban attack women and children with whips as they desperately try to reach Kabul airport 1995 January 1995: The Taliban controls 12 Afghan provinces. 1996 27 September 1996: The Taliban enters Kabul and establishes the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They go on to establish an Islamic government based upon their interpretation of sharia law. Women’s rights are diminished. 1998 The Taliban controls 80 per cent of the country. Osama bin Laden, who has been expelled from Saudi Arabia, enjoys protection in Afghanistan and his terror group is based there. 2000 19 December 2000: The UN issues Resolution 1333, which recognises the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people. It also condemns the use of Taliban territory for the training of “terrorists” and that they have provided a safe haven to Osama bin Laden. Sanctions are issued. What has happened since 2001?2001 11 September 2001: Al Qaida attacks the US and claims the lives of 2,977 victims.The US and its allies prepare to invade when the Taliban refuse to hand over Osama bin Laden. 7 October 2001: Prime Minister Tony Blair announces British forces are involved in military action against al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan. November 2001: The first UK troops are deployed after Royal Marines from 40 Commando help secure Bagram airfield. Taliban rulers swiftly flee Kabul – either to Pakistan or the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, where they prepare to mount a counteroffensive. December 2001: Western forces take the final Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in the south of the country. Read MoreAfghanistan: How to help women in Kabul, as charity says ‘terrified’ girls have been left in limbo The Bonn Conference, in Germany, sets up interim government the Afghan Transitional Authority and the UN-backed International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) to try to maintain security. 2002 May 2002: UK Royal Marines are deployed to mountain regions to flush out Taliban fugitives in Operation Jacana. 2003 May 2003: George W Bush delivers a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner reading “Mission Accomplished” about the US invasion of Iraq. “The War on Terror continues, yet it is not endless,” he said. “We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide.” 2006 January 2006: The UK Government announces 3,300 British troops are to be deployed in Helmand province, one of the most volatile regions of the country. June 2006: Captain Jim Philippson, 29, of the 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, is the first British serviceman killed in fighting after a gun battle with suspected Taliban militants in Helmand. 2007 December 2007: UK forces are heavily involved in heavy fighting and tactical operations in Helmand following escalating attacks from insurgents. 2008 March 2008: Prince Harry flies back to the UK after serving in Helmand when foreign websites break a media blackout on details of his deployment. June 8 2008: Three British soldiers are killed in a suicide attack in Helmand, taking the number of military personnel killed in the conflict since 2001 to 100. 17 June 2008: Lance Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, of the Intelligence Corps, becomes the first British servicewoman to die in Afghanistan. 2009 July 2009: Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, becomes the most senior British Army officer to die on operations since the Falklands. 15 August 2009: Fusilier Shaun Bush, 24, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, dies in hospital in Britain from injuries sustained in Afghanistan, bringing the UK death toll to 200. 14 October 2009: New prime minister Gordon Brown announces he will send 500 extra British troops to Afghanistan, taking the total to 9,500. 3 November 2009: Five British soldiers are killed by a rogue Afghan policeman in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand. December 1 2009: US president Barack Obama announces he is sending another 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan in what is referred to as his “surge”. 2010 June 10 2010: On his first visit to Afghanistan as prime minister, David Cameron warns that the Nato coalition is facing a “vital year”, adding he does not want UK forces to remain there “a moment longer than is necessary”. June 20 2010: The British death toll in the conflict reaches 300 when a Royal Marine from 40 Commando dies in hospital in the UK eight days after being wounded in the Sangin area of Helmand province. Read MoreAfghanistan crisis: How the UK is racing to get its staff out of Kabul – the ARAP visa scheme explained July 2010: The UK Government announces it is increasing development aid spending in Afghanistan by 40 per cent, including a new Business Challenge Fund aimed at increasing enterprise. November 2010: At a Nato summit in Lisbon, a timetable for the handover of security control from the ISAF to Afghan forces by the end of 2014 is agreed. 2011 May 2 2011: Osama bin Laden is killed by a US special operations unit after being tracked down living in a compound near Abbottabad, Pakistan. June 23 2011: US President Obama announces the withdrawal of 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, to be followed by a further 23,000 by the end of September 2012. July 6 2011: Mr Cameron announces that the UK will withdraw another 500 troops from Afghanistan in 2012, to follow 400 due to withdraw over the course of 2011. July 20 2011: British troops hand responsibility for security in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, to Afghan soldiers and police in line with the planned pullout of UK combat forces by the end of 2014. 2012 March 6 2012: The British death toll in the conflict reaches 400 when an explosion in Helmand province kills six British soldiers as they travelled in a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle. 11 March 2012: US Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales murders 16 Afghan civilians and wounds six others in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar. Nine of his victims were children, and 11 of the dead were from the same family. A jury at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis, Washington sentences him to life in prison without parole. 7 September 2012: Prince Harry arrives at Camp Bastion to serve a 20-week deployment as an Apache co-pilot/gunner with the Army Air Corps which concludes on January 21 2013. 16 December 2012: Prime minister David Cameron says troops will be coming home in “two relatively even steps” in 2013 and 2014, leaving around 5,200 troops after the end of 2013. 2013 18 June 2013: The transfer of security responsibilities from Nato to Afghan forces is completed. 2014 1 April 2014: The UK’s military headquarters in Helmand is disbanded after eight years of frontline operations. 26 April 2014: Five British troops, including personnel from Prince Harry’s former unit, are killed in the UK’s worst helicopter crash in Afghanistan. 26 October 2014: UK troops hand Camp Bastion over to Afghan officials, concluding their eight-year campaign in Helmand province ahead of the complete withdrawal of combat personnel entirely from Afghanistan expected by the end of the year. An estimated 450 British troops remain in the country to train and support the Afghan security forces. 2015 December 2015: A Taliban resurgence in Helmand prompts the UK Government to deploy a “small number” of personnel to Camp Shorabak to prevent insurgents overrunning the town of Sangin. Read More‘The Taliban are outside my house’: Chilling last message sent by Afghan trapped in Kabul to cousin in London The Government says British troops will be in an advisory role only as part of a larger Nato team and will not be in frontline combat. 2020 29 February 2020: US president Donald Trump’s administration agrees a peace deal with the Taliban, pledging to withdraw all of its troops and those of its Nato allies within 14 months if certain conditions are met. Under the deal, brokered in Doha, the Taliban agreed to withdraw support for terrorist groups and commence talks with the Afghan government. A prisoner swap of 5,000 Taliban members and 1,000 Afghan security forces is also arranged. 2021 January 2021: President Joe Biden’s new administration reviews Mr Trump’s deal with the Taliban and pushes the final withdrawal date for US troops back to September 2021. What has happened in the past few months?
Read MoreAfghanistan: People on Kabul’s streets ‘tired of war’ and accepting Taliban rule, says CNN reporter in capital What led up to the SovietThe foundations of the conflict were laid by the Saur Revolution, a 1978 coup in which the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power, initiating a series of radical modernization and land reforms throughout the country.
What country invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s?At the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country.
Why did the Soviet Union decide to pull out of Afghanistan in the late 1980s?Events leading up to military withdrawal. Understanding that the Soviet Union's troublesome economic and international situation was complicated by its involvement in the Afghan War, Gorbachev "had decided to seek a withdrawal from Afghanistan and had won the support of the Politburo to do so [by October 1985]".
Why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan in 1979 quizlet?*In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to try to prop up the communist government there, which was being attacked by Muslim Mujahideen fighters. It marked the end of any further negotiation between the superpowers.
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