America in Afghanistan
The Backlash of the 1980s
Where is Afghanistan?
Background to Afghanistan
• April 1978 - People's
Democratic Party of
Afghanistan (PDPA)
• supported strengthening
relationships with the USSR
• policies enraged the wealthy
semi-feudal landlords, the
Muslim religious establishment
and the tribal chiefs.
• began organizing resistance to
the government's progressive
policies, under the guise of
defending Islam.
Christmas Day 1979
• December 1979
Afghanistan's
government fell to the
PDPA
• Soviet troops entered the
country to prevent the
new government's fall
• reactionary jihad now
gained legitimacy as a
“national liberation”
struggle in the eyes of
many Afghans.
Mujahideen
• many tribal groups
were hostile on ethnic
and political grounds.
• Mujahid (Arabic for
“struggler”) - a person
involved in a jihad
(holy war)
• Mujahideen (plural) also describes the
Afghan resistance
Operation Cyclone
• Massive CIA operation
funding of the Afghan
mujahideen
• training, arming, and
supplying of mujahideen
• Initially considered a
major success
• Under Reagan funding
reached levels of $600
million/year.
Why?
• Washington feared
the spread of Soviet
influence to its allies
in Pakistan, Iran and
the Gulf states
• The goal was to drain
the USSR dry; the
war would be too
costly for them
How?
• CIA provided
assistance through
the Pakistani secret
services, InterService Intelligence
(ISI)
• CIA entered
Afghanistan directly
and established
secret relationships
with Afghan fighters
• $3–$20 billion
funneled to the
mujahideen to train
and equip troops with
weapons
• US goal of driving
Soviet forces from
Afghanistan "by all
means available"
Brzezinski Interview
•
•
Interview with Zbigniew
Brzezinski,
President Jimmy Carter's National
Security Adviser
Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 1521 January 1998
Posted at globalresearch.ca 15
October 2001
•
•
•
•
Q: And neither do you regret
having supported the Islamic
fundamentalism, having given
arms and advice to future
terrorists?
B: What is most important to the
history of the world? The Taliban
or the collapse of the Soviet
empire? Some stirred-up Moslems
or the liberation of Central Europe
and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But
it has been said and repeated
Islamic fundamentalism
represents a world menace today.
B: Nonsense! It is said that the
West had a global policy in regard
to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't
a global Islam.
Backlash
• CIA’s covert war
created a pan-Islamic
identity and unity
• Islamists from around
the globe came to
defeat Soviets
• Huge success – belief
they took down a
world power
Unintended Backlash
• Washington's
favoured mujahideen
faction was one of the
most extreme, led by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
• OBL was a close
associate of
Hekmatyar and his
faction.
Al-Qaeda
• Means “the base”
• created in 1989
• OBL and colleagues
began looking for new
jihads
• OLB and his fighters
received American and
Saudi funding
• Some analysts believe
OBL had security training
from the CIA
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
Overall, the U.S. government looked favorably on the
Arab recruitment drives. ... Some of the most ardent cold
warriors at [CIA headquarters at] Langley thought this
program should be formally endorsed and extended. ...
[T]he CIA "examined ways to increase their participation,
perhaps in the form of some sort of international
brigade," ... Robert Gates [then-head of the CIA's
Directorate of Intelligence] recalled. ... At the Islamabad
station Milt Bearden felt that bin Laden himself "actually
did some very good things" ... But nothing came of it ...
[Steve Coll, Ghost Wars (Penguin, 2005 edn), pp.145-6,
155-6.]
Bin Laden Quotes
• “bin Laden said that, in Afghanistan, ‘the
largest heretic power on earth was
destroyed and [it was] where the
superpower myth vanished in the face of
the mujahedin’s outcry of Allah Akbar [God
is great].’”
Bin Laden Quotes II
• “Miller says bin Laden told him “There is a
lesson to learn from this [the Afghans’
victory] for he who wishes to learn….The
Soviet Union entered Afghanistan in the
last week of 1979, and with Allah’s help
their flag was folded a few years later and
thrown in the trash, and there was nothing
left to call the Soviet Union….It cleared
from Muslim minds the myth of
superpowers.’”
Result of the War
• OBL stepping stone to
leadership
• Leader – valiant
battlefield warrior
• Allied with many
fundamentalist groups
• Revered because he
gave up riches
More Results
• Unquestioning faith in
Allah’s victory
• Belief in destruction of
world powers
• Forged a military
brotherhood united by
Islam
Rise of al-Qaeda
• The "Arab Afghans", as
they became known,
were battle-hardened and
highly motivated.
• 1996 - HQ and a dozen
training camps moved to
Afghanistan, where Bin
Laden forged a close
relationship with the
Taliban.
Afghanistan  9/11?