“We Support the Mujahidin”

The last of the major Cold War conflicts took place in Afghanistan starting in 1979. After Islamic leaders took control of the country in response to a pro-Soviet coup the previous year in this formally non-aligned state, Soviet forces swept in to restore the communist government in Afghanistan. What the Soviet Union thought would be an easy battle became a 9 year long bloodbath that the Soviet government would consider, by 1986, too costly and unwinnable. Because the U.S. was still on a Cold War footing, even at this very late date, it lent its support to the mujahidin (literally, “Islamic warriors”) fighting against the Soviets, including a certain Saudi member by the name of Osama bin Laden. Although the U.S. did not send any of its troops into Afghanistan, the mujahidin would be supplied with state of the art training and weapons (including U.S. Stinger missiles). Along with the support, the U.S. promised support in rebuilding Afghanistan after war’s end. Sadly, such support never came because the U.S. quickly lost interest in Afghanistan after the Cold War had run its course, and the U.S. become vilified in the eyes of the mujahidin, a vilification that would eventually culminate in the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

Although the U.S. generally kept quiet about its support for the mujahidin, there is an excess of documents that exist that prove that such support indeed took place. You can read a Soviet intelligence report from 09/01/80 by clicking here, as well as a report from 09/01/81 by clicking here, which describes the type of training that counterrevolutionaries were receiving from U.S. military personnel. In fact, by 1988, even President Ronald Reagan was open about U.S. support for the Mujahidin in his State of the Union Address (you can read that by clicking here; you don't have to read the whole thing, but please read his comments on the Mujahidin near the end of his speech).

You may also find it interesting to look at the BBC’s timeline of the war in Afghanistan by clicking here. You may also find it enlightening to read a BBC news article about the Taliban that was written in 1998 (by clicking here) and the dangerous threat the BBC reported Osama bin Laden to be as early as 1999 (by clicking here).

After reading the documents, I would like you all to think about and discuss the following: In what way are Afghan counterrevolutionaries being trained according to Soviet intelligence reports? What type of warfare are they being taught? What kinds of weapons are being used? What types of characters are being trained by U.S. forces? Is the U.S. responsible for training terrorists during the Cold War? By 1988, was the U.S. any longer secretive of its support of the mujahidin in Afghanistan? What does Reagan specifically state in the latter part of his State of the Union Address? What is your opinion of U.S. support of the mujahidin during the war? Do you feel that our Cold War policies there backfired in the end? Why or why not? Has U.S. Cold War foreign policy caused foreign policy issues for the country in the early part of the 21st century? Your thoughts…