During the 1980s, the United States provided weapons and support to the Afghan Mujahideen, a group of Islamist fighters who were fighting against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. This covert operation was part of a larger strategy to weaken the Soviet Union and prevent its expansion into Central Asia.
The Afghan Mujahideen were seen as freedom fighters by the United States and its allies, who saw the Soviet invasion as a threat to regional stability. The CIA funneled weapons, including Stinger missiles, to the Mujahideen through Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI.
The Mujahideen used these weapons to great effect, shooting down Soviet helicopters and inflicting heavy casualties on Soviet troops. This support played a key role in the eventual withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.
However, the consequences of arming the Mujahideen would come back to haunt the United States in the years to come. Many of these fighters would later form the core of groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda, who would go on to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies.
President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan brings to an end a 20-year chapter between the two countries. The legacy of the US support for the Mujahideen in the 1980s continues to shape the geopolitics of the region to this day.
Western leftists think the CIA created al Qaeda by helping the Mujahideen shoot down Russian helicopters. They're wrong. The relationship between the US and the Mujahideen was more complex and had unintended consequences.
US forces left a trove of weapons behind when they withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Some of those weapons have turned up in Pakistan, raising concerns about their potential use by militant groups in the region.
The general in charge of US forces in Afghanistan appeared to confirm Monday that Russia is sending weapons to the Taliban. This highlights the ongoing proxy wars and power struggles in the region.
Veterans of the Soviet Union's decade-long war in Afghanistan see parallels — and stark contrasts — with the US experience and exit after. The cycle of conflict and intervention in Afghanistan continues to repeat itself.
US Ambassadors Dean and Raphel warned Washington unconditional support to Pakistan and fundamentalist factions of Mujahideen was destabilizing the region. The unintended consequences of arming proxy groups in Afghanistan continue to reverberate.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, the Soviet Union pulled its last troops out of Afghanistan, ending more than nine years of direct involvement. The legacy of the Cold War proxy conflicts in Afghanistan continues to shape the region's politics and security landscape.
