rltipton

Throughout the Soviet occupation, one of the largest problems was Afghan refugees. Millions of dislocated Afghans fled to Pakistan in droves. This created many problems along the Pakistan-Afghan border region, as Pakistani tribes clashed with the fleeing Afghan refugees over land and limited resources in the region. Many political and religious differences between the peoples added to the tension. Disease, starvation, poverty, all contributed to the misery. The large numbers of refugees put tremendous economical and political pressure on Pakistan.

The Soviet Union began intense aerial bombardment campaigns throughout Afghanistan to destroy nodes of rebels. This indiscriminate “carpet bombing” killed hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians, who left villages completely abandoned to escape imminent death. The majority of these Afghanis fled to Pakistan.

The U.S. organization, Agency for International Development (AID), began cross-border humanitarian aid to Afghans so they would not have to flee to Pakistan to survive. By giving funds to Afghans to build hospitals, schools, and growing crops, this also helped to keep bases of support for the rebels inside Afghan borders as well as ease the pressure on Pakistan to support so many displaced refugees. Interestingly, a large percentage of money and materials sent as humanitarian aid for the refugees ended up in the hands of the rebels.

An estimated $6 billion went to fund the Afghan rebels, though approximately only 10% of it actually made it into the hands of the rebels themselves. Much of the funds went into the hands of corrupt Pakistanis. Saudi Arabia also sent large amounts of money and other forms of aid to the Afghan rebels throughout the conflict.

The CIA continued to equip and train rebels, most of which were Islamic radicals who did not favor the United States, yet they shared a common enemy – the Soviets. The U.S. used the rebels as proxies to combat the spread of Communism with little regard to the long-term effects of training and arming such a large number of anti-American radical Islamic groups. Some of the leaders of those groups are still active today, now fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Two of the principal rebel leaders from the Soviet era still active today are Ishmael Khan and Hekmatyar. In 2004 Ishmael Khan was removed as the governor of Herat Province in Western Afghanistan and he fled to Iran to escape arrest. Forces loyal to him still conduct operations in Western Afghanistan. Hekmatyar’s Hizb-I Islami remains active throughout Southern Afghanistan and along the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

The Islamic rebels were taught the basics of Islam and how to conduct guerrilla warfare. They became the “Taliban”, which means student - students of Islam, students of war.

By late 1986 the Soviets were realizing that they could not defeat the rebels in guerilla war. There were no rebel bases to bomb, no relatively easily targeted rebel leaders to assassinate. The Soviets had spent nearly a decade and over six billion rubles in their attempt to reinforce the socialist Afghan government and remove the rebels and had made little progress. In fact, late 1986 to early 1987 were some of the bloodiest months of the occupation in terms of Soviet losses. This was probably largely due to the introduction of more sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons to the rebels.

Soviet Muslims had also been in contact with Afghans across the border and unrest had begun within Soviet borders. The Soviet economy was not doing well, and their efforts to support Cuba as well as Afghanistan were financially draining. In an attempt to cut down the cost of operations in Afghanistan and focus funding on domestic issues, Gorbachev announced a cease-fire and offered amnesty to armed rebels in December of 1986, but the war continued.

In 1988 negotiations began in the UN and between the rebels, PDPA Afghan government, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The U.S. offered to cut aid to the rebels as soon as the Soviets began to withdraw forces from Afghanistan, but only as long as the Soviets stopped funding the PDPA government. Neither the Soviets, nor the Americans trusted the other to hold up their end of the deal and cut support, so the negotiations failed to solve anything.

The U.S. would continue to support the rebels as long as the Soviets were supporting the PDPA. Negotiations between the rebels and PDPA and attempts to form a coalition Afghan government between the different factions there also failed, largely due to mistrust after so many years of brutal war between them.

Eventually an agreement known as the Geneva Accords was reached, which settled the major differences between Pakistan, the U.S., Soviets and Afghanistan. With this agreement the Soviets and U.S. would both stop interfering with the internal affairs of both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The accord also set a timetable for the Soviet departure and in May of 1988 the Soviet Union began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

The U.S. saw this as a Cold War victory and a victory for the rebel fighters, but the actual war in Afghanistan continued. The rebels were still fighting the PDPA government that it had been fighting before Soviet and U.S. intervention, but they were now better equipped, better trained, and more experienced. None of the rebels were repatriated or demilitarized after the Soviet withdrawal. There were armed rebels all over Afghanistan, with bombs and explosives scattered throughout the countryside.

Once the PDPA were removed from power in 1992, a former rebel leader, Rabbani, took power through a United Nations charter, but several other Islamic rebel groups failed to recognize the government as legitimate. Hekmatyar and Massoud, formerly trained and supported by the CIA, opposed Rabbani and continued to wage war on Kabul. The civil war continued until 1996 when the “Taliban” began gaining recognition, offering peace and security to this war-torn country. The Taliban offered an attractive choice for Afghans, who were still being murdered, tortured, their cities rocketed, and women raped, and with refugees still flowing into Pakistan eight years after the Soviets began their withdrawal. The Taliban took power and was recognized by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. At first Afghans welcomed the Taliban after so many years of war and torture. Little did they know that the Taliban’s true ambition was a strict Islamic state with very few freedoms and that they would soon suffer human rights violations, and atrocities against minority populations.

The Taliban’s support of and refusal to hand over Al Quaeda suspects after the September 11th terror attacks in the United States would bring the U.S. back to Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Many of the weapons being used against U.S. forces today are remnants of the Soviet occupation, and many of the fighters were once trained and equipped by the CIA.