The Significance Of The Soviet-Afghan War

In order to understand the rise of Jihadist movements and the War on Terror, it is imperative to analyze the significance of the Soviet-Afghan war. Beginning in the late seventies and continuing throughout the eighties, the Soviet-Afghan war was a strife that ensued on Afghan soil as the Soviet response to a growing civil war between conventional Muslims and the Communist leaning government of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). The conflict became a decisive incident that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. (To be clear, it was not the reason why the Soviet Union collapsed but a major event that led Soviet leaders to question the relevance of the Soviet model for other countries.) Not only did this mark the

“[T]he Cold War world was dominated by the superpower rivalry but not by the superpowers. Moscow and Washington saw themselves as the puppeteers pulling the strings. More often than not, however, they were manipulated by clients who had their own agendas.” This especially applies to the Soviets and their skewed alliance with the PDPA. This PDPA gained power as a result of a coup d’état that took place under the leadership of Mohammad Nur Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. Together, the two became the president and prime minister, respectively, of the new communist government. The implementation of rushed reforms struck a nerve with a large portion of the Afghan population. Groups of Islamic guerrilla factions, known informally as the Mujahideen, wanted nothing more than to displace the communists. In the form of counsel and provisions, The Soviets decided to give military support to the PDPA, which ultimately led to the onset of their proxy war. It is clear that the war harbors parallels to the failure that was the Vietnam War. By the time they got out of there in 1989, the Soviet Army had taken several losses, economically and through troop malaise. The strain of international pressure felt by the Soviet Empire ultimately led to its

A figurehead in all of this was no other than Osama Bin Laden, who at first operated as an intermediary for the CIA and the Mujahideen. After the Soviet-Afghan war, the Mujahideen dissolved into the various groups notably Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Their rise to power created a safe space for the likes of terrorists (Osama bin Laden) and dictators (Saddam Hussein). The U.S. initially perceived the Taliban as a good thing. A devoutly Islamic agenda made them seem as if they were maintaining the peace and making sure that oil relations with the West were fine:

"The U.S. didn't provide arms or anything to them, but the U.S. was very sympathetic to them because they were anti-Iran, anti-Shiite. And the U.S. at that time was looking for allies in its confrontation with Iran. The U.S. at that time was also looking for pipeline routes out of the Gulf, which would be under the control of U.S. allies. And they hoped [it would be] through Pakistan to the Gulf. So that was their other