Afghanistan

Osama bin Laden with family, ObL second from right

Today, Afghanistan appears to be a very primitive society, with few of the resources available to modern states. However, between the late 1950s through the late 1970s many of Afghanistan’s urban areas were highly developed and western-style. This was in large part a result of the generous aid package that Afghanistan’s government received from the Soviet government. This involvement had a long history and dated back to Tsarist efforts in the 19th century, during the expansion of the British Empire into the region.  Increasing Soviet influence in Afghanistan eventually led to the Saur Revolution, which took place on April 27, 1978. The new, revolutionary government had close relations with the Soviet Union. On December 5, 1978, a treaty was signed between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan.

In February of that year, the Islamic Revolution ousted the American-backed Shah from Afghanistan's neighbor Iran. The United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, was abducted and killed by Islamists associated with the Iranian Revolution. The death of the U.S. Ambassador led to a major degradation in Afghanistan–United States relations. In response, President Jimmy Carter signed the first directive for covert financial aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul on July 3, 1979.

On Christmas Day 1979, Russian paratroopers landed in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Already in the grip of a civil war, Afghanistan was on the verge of collapse. Soviet troops had been brought in, at the request of Communist sympathizer Hafizullah Amin, the enormously unpopular Prime Minister. Amin, in keeping with his Marxist beliefs was seeking eliminate Muslim tradition within Afghanistan. This outraged many, more traditional, rural Afghans. Thousands of Islamic leaders had been arrested and many more fled to the mountains, in order to escape Amin's police. Thousands of Afghan and foreign Muslims joined the Mujahedeen - a guerilla force dedicated to regaining Islam’s preeminence in Afghanistan. These soldiers included a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden. As part of this effort, the Mujahedeen declared a jihad - a holy war - on the supporters of Amin. This was then extended to the Russian army which was now supporting him. The Russians claimed that they had been invited in by the Amin government and that, as such, they were not an invading army.

On December 27th, 1979, Amin was shot by the Russians and he was replaced by Babrak Kamal. His position as head of the Afghan government depended entirely on Russian military support. Many Afghan soldiers began to desert to the Mujahedeen. As a result the Kamal government requested a semi-permanent force of 85,000 Soviet troops.

The Mujahedeen proved to be a formidable opponent. They were equipped with very old weaponry but had knowledge of terrain and the weather conditions gave them the upper hand. The Russians resorted to using napalm, poison gas and helicopter gunships against the Mujahedeen - but this proved to be of limited utility. By 1982, the Mujahedeen controlled roughly seventy-five percent of Afghanistan despite the best efforts of the world's second most powerful military power. Young Russian soldiers, drafted into service, were no match against men fuelled by a belief in fundamentalist Islam. The war in Afghanistan showed the world just how badly the Soviet Army had declined. Soviet Army boots often lasted no more than ten days before falling to bits in the harsh environment of the Afghan mountains. The United Nations condemned the invasion as early as January 1980 but a Security Council motion calling for the withdrawal of Russian forces was vetoed by the Soviet Union.

America put a ban on the export of grain to Russia, ended the important treaty talks then taking place, and boycotted the Olympic Games due to be held in Moscow in 1980. Other than that, Mujahedeen fighters were given access to American surface-to-air missiles. Mikhail Gorbachev took Russia out of the Afghanistan fiasco when he realized that Russia could not win the war and the cost of maintaining such a vast force in Afghanistan was crippling Russia's already weak economy. By the end of the 1980s, the Mujahedeen was at war with itself in Afghanistan with hard line Taliban fighters taking a stronger grip over the whole nation and imposing very strict Muslim law on the Afghanistan population. Taliban leadership, established with the help of neighboring Pakistan helped Afghanistan to become a major center of Islamism. As a result of these changes, Islamic radicals were provided a safe haven from Western and Israeli efforts to capture terrorists protected by the Taliban leadership. After 9/11 Afghanistan was targeted, after it was discovered that Al Quaeda attacks had been organized in Afghanistan by figures such as Osama bin Laden.