“To what extent was the Taliban/Mujahideen a major role player in the Soviet-Afghan war, 1979 to 1989”
The Taliban formerly known as the Mujahideen rebels, played a huge role in the Soviet-Afghan war as it created the theocracy in Afghanistan and gained full support of the people. Due to the fact that the Taliban were extremely effective in using guerrilla warfare, it can be justified that they were the extremist militant group who won this war in Afghanistan and forced the Soviet troops out of the country. However, other countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, United States, Britain and Pakistan also played a large role in the war as they supported and supplied the Mujahideen (Taliban) with weapons to utilise against the USSR, resulting in this becoming a war by proxy on the basis of the fear of communism. Furthermore, After the Taliban began their extremism, the United States switched allegiances and as a result of anger, the Taliban
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Despite Soviet modern weapons, the USSRs army was never able to defeat the local rebels, and they often were able to shoot down the USSR helicopter. Photographs were taken where the Mujahideen rebels proudly display their victory, with rifles in the air after gunning down a soviet helicopter. The rebels can be seen as a force to be reckoned with. The picture captured to show the extremism and tenacity of the rebels – documented by a journalist, (Source 3). Weapons were supplied by Pakistan and the USA increasingly. Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the USA, he created the Reagan administration which proceeded to arm Afghan freedom fighters and as a result the U.S also continued to design and create ground-to-air stinger missiles which were popularly used for shooting down soviet