The New Cold War's Forgotten Front: Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been a site of conflict for decades, with the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) being a major conflict of the Cold War. The war was fought between the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, and their paramilitary allies, and the Afghan Mujahideen and their foreign fighters. The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans, with millions more fleeing the country as refugees. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support the local pro-Soviet government, but they were met with fierce resistance from Afghan guerrillas. The war ended with the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, which was also the year the Berlin Wall fell, marking the end of the Cold War.

The Soviet-Afghan War was a major conflict of the Cold War

The war resulted in significant casualties, with an estimated 3 million Afghans killed and millions more displaced. The conflict also had a profound impact on Afghanistan, causing widespread destruction and contributing to the rise of terrorism and the emergence of groups like al-Qaeda. It also had significant consequences for the Soviet Union, with the war's financial and political costs contributing to the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Soviet-Afghan War was a significant Cold War conflict, pitting the Soviet Union against a coalition of Afghan guerrillas and their foreign backers. The war caused immense suffering and had far-reaching geopolitical consequences, shaping the course of events in the region and beyond.

The US backed Afghan reactionaries to fight a Soviet-friendly regime

The Soviet-Afghan War was a major conflict of the Cold War, with the US and the Soviet Union vying for influence in Afghanistan. The US backed Afghan reactionaries to fight a Soviet-friendly regime.

In the 1970s, the US was hesitant to support any military expansion in Afghanistan. Mohammed Daoud Khan, the then-prime minister of Afghanistan, started allying himself with the Soviet Union, which made the US nervous. In 1978, Daoud Khan was overthrown in the Saur Revolution, and a Marxist-Leninist government was established. The US started to funnel money towards some resistance groups, but it did not have a unified policy. The US was also worried that Daoud Khan's allying with the Soviet Union would prompt Pakistan, a state that was allied with the US, to strengthen its own ties with China.

The US was particularly concerned about the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which was divided into two factions: the Khalq faction, led by Nur Muhammad Taraki, and the Parcham faction, led by Babrak Karmal. The Khalq faction believed in rapidly transforming Afghanistan into a Communist society, while the Parcham faction favoured a more gradualist approach. The US was worried that the Khalq faction's plans to transform Afghanistan would provoke a rebellion from the general population.

The US started to funnel money to Pakistan's intelligence services, which was then funnelled to the resistance. This eventually induced a Soviet invasion in 1979. The US then threw its full backing behind the anti-communist resistance movement, the mujahedeen. The mujahedeen was a coalition of groups with different aims and only aligned when the Soviets were in Afghanistan. The US's involvement was uneven, with money mostly going to the more organised and reactionary elements of the mujahedeen.

The US also inadvertently imported Ayman al-Zawahiri, who would later become the second-in-command of al-Qaeda, by pressuring Egypt to release a group of Islamists that it had arrested.

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978

The Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty, also known as the Soviet-Afghan Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness, was signed in December 1978 between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. The treaty established a 20-year period of "friendship and cooperation" between the two nations, with the Soviets agreeing to provide economic and military assistance to Afghanistan.

The treaty was signed in an attempt to bolster the unpopular pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan. Afghanistan had always been considered important to the national security of the Soviet Union, and since the 1950s, the Soviets had been working to establish close relations with their neighbour.

In April 1978, members of the Afghan Communist Party overthrew and murdered President Sardar Mohammed Daoud. Nur Mohammed Taraki, the head of the Communist Party, took over and immediately declared one-party rule in Afghanistan. The regime was extremely unpopular with many Afghans, so the Soviets sought to bolster it with the December 1978 treaty.

However, the treaty did little to help Afghanistan. Taraki was overthrown and killed by members of the Afghan Communist Party who were dissatisfied with his rule in September 1979. In December 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, citing the need to uphold the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty as a pretext.

On 24 December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan, immediately assuming complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. This marked the beginning of a brutal, decade-long attempt by Moscow to subdue the Afghan civil war and maintain a friendly and socialist government on its border.

The invasion was met with fierce resistance from Afghan guerrillas, known as the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen employed guerrilla tactics, attacking and then disappearing into the mountains. They were also backed by the United States, who provided them with weapons.

The Soviet-Afghan War lasted from 1979 to 1989 and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans, while millions more fled the country as refugees. The war caused grave destruction in Afghanistan and is considered a significant factor that contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The US inadvertently imported Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became the second-in-command of al-Qaeda

Ayman al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian-born militant and physician who served as the second-in-command of al-Qaeda from 2004 until his death in 2022.

Al-Zawahiri was a close associate of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and held significant sway over the group's operations. He was wanted by the United States and the United Nations for his role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2002 Bali bombings.

Al-Zawahiri was a leading figure in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, an Egyptian Islamist organisation, and eventually attained the rank of emir. He was imprisoned from 1981 to 1984 for his role in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

In 2001, al-Zawahiri was listed as under indictment in the United States for his role in the 1998 US embassy bombings. In the same year, he was named as one of the 22 "most wanted terrorists" by the US government.

In 2004, al-Zawahiri was named as bin Laden's deputy. After bin Laden's death in 2011, al-Zawahiri succeeded him as the leader of al-Qaeda.

In 2022, al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan marked the end of a period of improving relations (known as détente) in the Cold War

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 marked the end of a period of improving relations (known as détente) in the Cold War.

The invasion was the first Soviet military expedition beyond the Eastern Bloc since World War II. It was met with fierce resistance from Afghan guerrillas and resulted in the deaths of 15,000 Soviet soldiers. The Soviets dealt with the resistance by using aerial power to destroy villages and deny safe havens to the Mujahideen rebels. They also laid millions of landmines across Afghanistan.

The invasion was a watershed event of the Cold War. It was motivated by the Soviet Union's desire to maintain a friendly and socialist government on its border and curb the growing influence of the United States in Afghanistan. The invasion was also a response to the growing instability in Afghanistan, which included the assassination of President Mohammed Daoud Khan in 1978 and the kidnapping and murder of the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, in 1979.

The invasion was met with global condemnation, including a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow by over five dozen countries. The US also imposed sanctions and trade embargoes on the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was a strategic miscalculation. It did not curb US influence in the region but instead led to an increase in US involvement. By the mid-1980s, the Soviets had enough. The war was unpopular at home, and the Soviets were suffering heavy casualties. In 1988, the Soviets signed the Geneva Accords, agreeing to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan. The last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan in February 1989.

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan did not cause the collapse of the Soviet Union, as is sometimes claimed. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 due to a complex set of political, ideological, economic, military, and social factors.

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