By: Chris Boulton
Afghanistan has been a hub for conflict for a long time but the civil war that continues to this day started In 1953 General Mohammed Daud was elected prime minister and turned to the soviet union for fanatical and military assistance. (web1) He also pushes for social reforms such as the abolition of purdah (covering women from public view) (web1) In 1963 minister Daud is forced to resign due to his social reforms mostly attempting to abolish purdah In 1964 a democratic constitution was approved that limited power for Islamic law and limited the powerof the monarchy. In 1973 Mohammed Daud seizes power in a coup and declares that Afghanistan is a republic He also attempts to play off the USSR against western powers. (web 1) General Daud the military leader in charge was killed in a coup and a violent revolt started.(1978) (web 1)
In December of 1979 the soviet army invaded Afghanistan and set up a communist government. (Web1) Babrak Karmal is installed as the soviet ruler of choice in (web 1) The USSR was not the only ones to involve themselves with the conflict. China and Iran backed the soviet union. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the US backed the Mujahedeen a local militia fighting the communists. (web 1) The Soviet Union decided it would be a good idea to set up a puppet government in Afghanistan because they thought it would be a quick victory and they hoped it would influence the rest of the middle east to follow after their lead in the region During this time the US and Soviet union were locked in the Cold War and they were the two largest nuclear armed super powers on the planet. The fact that they even considered getting involved was a huge international problem because people were unsure if this would be the starting battlefield of world war three. By 1986 the conflict had significantly escalated. The US backed mujahedeen were putting up an impressive fight. In response the soviet’s removed prime minister Karmal and replaced him with the former chief of the secret Afghan police Mohammad Najibullah
The Russian invasion if anything helped fuel a conflict’s fire that had been burning for generations. The Russian involvement lasted only ten years from 1979 to 1989 (web 4) The civil war and the Russian invasion ha left 1.7 million people dead, 2 million permanently disabled and 5 million driven from their homes.(web 4) They did of course attempt to push communism onto the population but with scale of the war and the amount of death and destruction within the country left more people dead and injured then really influenced by the government. A coup by the communist Khalq party resulted in the imposition of extreme education reforms which almost immediately began an uprising by the mujahideen. For 18 months, the Soviets tried to stabilize the regime by supporting it with money, arms and advisers with no success. (web 4)
This defeat greatly embarrassed the Soviet Union who as suppose to have one the most powerful militaries in the world. Coincidentally the soviet union dissolved two years after the withdrawal. The United States wasn’t safe from repercussions from this. Ironically the weapons that the US gave the mujahedeen to fight the Russians were turned against the US and used during the invasion and current war in Afghanistan. Also because the US pulled all support from Afghanistan after the Russians left the mujahedeen wasn’t receiving the support of supplies it needed to fight the Taliban. Now the US in fighting the Taliban with weapons supplied by the CIA with too many American lives being lost. Too add to that the countries surrounding Afghanistan have seen the death and destruction brought by western intervention and have grown weary whenever
Unfortunately the war was not just between the communists and the mujahedeen. There were mass killings between different tribes within Afghanistan including the hazaras. (web 3) There is an eight hundred page report on human rights violations including the known one hundred and eighty mass graves scattered throughout the country side. These are only the ones that have been excavated and known about. (web 3) In 1985 and estimated one half of the country’s population was displaced by the fighting with people fleeing to neighboring Pakistan, India, and Iran. (web 1)
The Soviet Union hoped that the invasion of Afghanistan would only last a few months and were surprised at their lack of progress after the first few years. The Soviet Union attempted to starts a puppet government and appointed two prime ministers during the 10 year occupation Mohammed Daud and Babrak Karmal The region was already very unstable and with the involvement of the large powerful superpowers it essentially set off a bomb in a room filled with TNT. The people of Afghanistan for generations have only known war and conflict. For the foreseeable future the middle east will be the center of international attention whenever a new war begins. If the Soviet’s accomplished anything with invading Afghanistan it was killing huge amounts of people and making themselves look like fools in front of the rest of the world.
(web 1) "Afghanistan Profile." BBC. N.p., 30 Sept Web. 18 Oct (web 2) "Chronology of Events." Security Council Report. N.p., 28 Sept Web. 18 Oct (Web 3) Kabul, Afghanistan., Rod Nordland; Alissa J. Rubin Contributed Reporting From. "Top Afghans Tied to '90s Carnage, Researchers Say." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 July Web. 18 Oct (web 4) "Country Report on Afghanistan." ICRC. Greenberg Research, Inc, n.d. Web. 18 Oct Google images supplied the pictures :&imgrefurl= pictures.html&docid=PXSOtlLOjJNsnM&imgurl= 0E3BF _964x657.jpg&w=964&h=657&ei=z8SAUJzMHpCn0AGAuoHYDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=649&sig= &page=2&tbnh=150&tbnw=232&start=20&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:20,i:167& tx=81&ty=61 :&imgrefurl= afghan/&docid=tv05kqPSFEo59M&imgurl= han-civil- war1.gif&w=450&h=300&ei=z8SAUJzMHpCn0AGAuoHYDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=98&vpy=155&dur= 888&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=130&ty=116&sig= &page=1&tbnh=135&tbnw=19 1&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72