The Activities That Lead to the Afghanistan War Research Paper

Introduction

Background Of The Study

Afghanistan has been predominantly a Muslim nation since its invasion by Arabs who converted the natives from their diverse faiths into the Muslim faith. The country’s population is however diverse in terms of ethnic and linguistic divisions. It comprises the Uyghur, Turkmen, Tajiks and Aimak among other groups (Rubin, p. 20).

The Afghanistan war is attributed to the Soviet’s involvement in internal affairs of the then-Democratic republic of Afghanistan, conflicts of the superpowers, internal anti-government rebel groups and interference from Pakistan. The coup that occurred in 1975 ushered in the Democratic government under the Democratic Peoples’ Party led by Nur Mohammed Taraki who was also the president of the democratic republic of Afghanistan (Fry et al. p. 356). This government was supportive of the soviet ideologies and against western activities. This led to its division into two groups; the extremist and the moderate factions. The extremist group led by Hafizullah Amin had the president assassinated thereby prompting the soviet invasion of Afghanistan on the 24^th of 1979. Under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, the soviet’s invasion was to ensure that a government is in place that was loyal to the Soviet Union in order to overcome the USA and Chinese influence in the east and the Islam-dominated regions. The Soviet forces killed Amin and installed Barbrak Karmal as the new president of the democratic republic of Afghanistan. Consequently, the movie made the Karmal government unpopular even among its Army (Fry et al. p. 356).

The Soviet Union’s invasion and involvement in the internal affairs of the Afghan Government signaled the beginning of the Afghanistan War that lasted well over ten years. The war was fought with the Soviet Unions troops that were supporting the Marxist government of the Karmal government on one hand and the Mujahideen rebels on the other. The move by the Soviet Union also prompted the involvement of the USA, UK, Pakistan and Egypt in the war. These latter countries were all in support of the Mujahideen resistance to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The war was fought from 1979-1989 with the exit of the last Soviet Union troops under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev (Goodson, p. 3).

This paper seeks to give an account of the activities that lead to the war. It provides in-depth discussions into the Soviet Union’s involvement in the war, the international position on the activities of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, foreign involvement and help to Mujahideen, the withdrawal and exit of the Soviet Union’s troops in addition to the Consequences of the war.

The Afghanistan War

The Soviet Union’s involvement in the War

The end of the Second World War is marked by the signing of numerous treaties between nations. One such treaty had been signed between the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The treaty allowed the Afghan government to seek military assistance from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union used this treaty as an excuse to invade Afghanistan and help the Afghan government in fighting the Mujahideen rebels (Artyom, p. 5). The first group of the Soviet paratroopers arrived in Afghanistan without their paraphernalia and worked as presidential aides for President Taraki. As time went by, the Afghan government made more requests to their Soviet counterparts for more military support since Taraki’s government had become unpopular even among its army. However, the Soviet government was not ready to commit its military to its interests in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the USA had begun providing financial aid to the anti-government rebels long before the Soviet Union responded to the Afghan government’s requests. The propaganda operations that were being carried out by the US officials that they were supplying the Mujahideen rebels with arms further pushed the Soviet Union to retaliate upon the occurrence of the coup that saw Amin assassinate president Taraki and rise to power (Garthoff 1023). Amin’s involvement with the US and the signing of the SALT II treaty between the US government and the communist government of Afghanistan finally got the Soviet troops to invade Afghanistan in December 1979. Their main aim was to offer military support to the communist government in order to stabilize and preserve it.

The initial invasive troops of the Soviet Union comprised of the KGB and GRU officers who accomplished their first mission which was to kill Amin and install Karmal as the new leader within a single night. They called their intervention a friendly move that complied with the provisions of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness signed in 1978 between the two countries. Meanwhile, more troops were en route and within the next two weeks, the number of Soviet military personnel had reached about 100,000 (Fisk, p. 40). Their battles with the rebellious groups involved both ground attacks and air battles thereby taking control of major towns and military bases. However, the invasion did not achieve much as more rebel groups were up on arms in a war that saw the Soviet forces fall short of airpower and artillery (Fisk, p. 41). The war changed patterns with the Soviet troops taking control over major cities and the Mujahideen waging guerrilla battles. With the rise into power of Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet leader, he issued orders to increase the military personnel in Afghanistan and by 1985; the Soviet military personnel had reached 108,800. During this period, the war became fierce and bloody though it did not serve to counter the Mujahideen resistance.

The international position on Soviet’s activities

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan did not receive much support especially from its international relations and agencies. The move by the Soviet government to launch battles on foreign soil prompted about 34 Islamic countries to protest against the move and in unison, they demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan soil. Additionally, the UN committee agreed in unison on efforts to protest against the offensive activities of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (Artyom, p. 12).

Foreign involvement in the war and the help to Mujahideen

Foreign intervention in the war intensified in the mid-1980s with countries such as the US, UK, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia offering financial support to the resistant groups in Afghanistan. This move served to hurt the Soviet Union financially and destroyed the international relations between the participating nations and the Soviet Union. The Afghanistan war was once again viewed as a Cold war by many nations especially the US which got involved in the war through the operation cyclone in collaboration with Pakistan (Weiner, p. 149). The United States’ involvement in the war started long before the Soviet invasion and continued in the later stages of the war particularly after the rise into power of Ronald Regan as the United States president during which time the financial aid to Mujahideen increased significantly. US officers were also involved in training and sometimes fighting with the Mujahideen. Moreover, after the Soviet invasion, the Pakistan government started mobilizing financial aid from the western powers in order to support the Mujahideen insurgents. Pakistan also took in millions of Pashtun refugees fleeing the Afghan war. Similarly, other Muslim countries allowed their willing civilians to cross the borders and participate in the guerilla battles in the faith of Jihad. This period also served to bring Osama bin Laden into the international picture together with his terrorist group better known as al-Qaeda (Artyom, p. 43).

The war went on until the mid-1987 when the Soviet Union expressed interest in withdrawing from Afghanistan. This move saw the rise of Sibghatullah Mojaddedi into power as the leader of the Islamic Interim Government of Afghanistan thereby signaling the victory of the invasion resistance (Goodson, p. 56). This also allowed for the signing of the Geneva accord that was meant to settle the differences between the Afghanistan and Pakistan governments with the United States and the Soviet Union overseeing the process. The accord also provided the timetable for the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in addition to spelling out that the United States and the Soviet Union should stop interfering with the internal matters of the Afghan and the Pakistan governments.

The Consequences of the War

The war destroyed international relations with the US terming the invasion as the greatest threat to world peace since after the end of the Second World War. The war heightened tension and anxiety among the western nations, which felt that the Soviet Union was getting closer to the Persian Gulf which was known to be rich in oil. Consequently, the invasion signaled the beginning of other events such as the Iranian revolution and the tension between Pakistan and India among others which hurt the diplomatic relations among many nations in the Middle East. These also made the Middle East one of the volatile regions in the world during the period of the war (Artyom, p. 7). The Soviet Union was also weakened by the war in terms of losses suffered through the army personnel who lost their lives or suffered injuries. After the war, about 13,836 men were either dead or missing. Moreover, the Soviet Union suffered a lot of material losses in terms of destroyed or stolen aircraft, tankers, artillery guns and cargo trunks among other army gears.

The death toll on the Afghanistan civilians and rebel fighters is estimated to be 100,000-1,000,000 by the end of the war. Millions of other civilians and Mujahideen fighters sustained serious injuries and others became disabled. The war reduced the Afghan population significantly with reports indicating that 3-4% of those who survived were disabled. It also hurt the agricultural sector in terms of the destroyed irrigation systems and lack of manpower. This increased malnutrition among the Afghan children most of which were refugees. In addition, the Afghanistan culture was severely hurt with the country being split along ethnic lines.

The Geneva accord that saw the withdrawal of the Soviet forces left the country in a critical condition with the beginning of the civil war which further hurt the already destroyed economy making the country one of the most undeveloped nations in the world (Goodson, pp. 133-167).

Conclusion

This research paper offers an in-depth review of the Afghanistan war that was fought in 1979-1989. The paper also provides the major participants in the war and the reasons behind their participation. Finally, the paper gives the consequences of the war on all the participants. As indicated, the war was initiated by nations such as the Soviet Union and the United States which had some vested interests in the Persian Gulf. Consequently, many people got hurt, others killed and the economies of many nations suffered huge losses. But of particular significance, in this case, is the impact that the war had on the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan which has seen the country suffer economically, politically and culturally in the aftermath.

Works Cited

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