america in afghanistan the backlash of the 1980s
TRANSCRIPT
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America in AfghanistanAmerica in Afghanistan
The Backlash of the 1980sThe Backlash of the 1980s
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Where is Afghanistan?Where is Afghanistan?
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Background to AfghanistanBackground 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.
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Christmas Day 1979Christmas 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.
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MujahideenMujahideen
• 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
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Operation CycloneOperation 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.
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Why?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
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How?How?
• CIA provided assistance through the Pakistani secret services, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)
• CIA entered Afghanistan directly and established secret relationships with Afghan fighters
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• $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"
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Brzezinski InterviewBrzezinski Interview
• Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser
• Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 15-21 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.
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Backlash 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
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Unintended BacklashUnintended 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.
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Al-QaedaAl-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
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Ghost WarsGhost Wars by Steve Coll 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.]
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Bin Laden QuotesBin 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].’”
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Bin Laden Quotes IIBin 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.’”
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Result of the WarResult of the War
• OBL stepping stone to leadership
• Leader – valiant battlefield warrior
• Allied with many fundamentalist groups
• Revered because he gave up riches
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More ResultsMore Results
• Unquestioning faith in Allah’s victory
• Belief in destruction of world powers
• Forged a military brotherhood united by Islam
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Rise of al-QaedaRise 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.
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Afghanistan Afghanistan 9/11? 9/11?