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Soviet Invasion
On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union sent paratroopers into the capital city of Kabul. The Soviets claimed they were invited by the current government in Afghanistan and that they were there to help the government fight off the Mujahideen. Three days after USSR troops entered Afghanistan; they shot and killed the prime minister. He was replaced by Babrak Kamal who depended on Soviet forces to keep him in power. Info from: http://www.guidetorussia.com/russia-afghanistan.asp -
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Hisory of Afghanistan
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Soviet Withdrawal
The main reason the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan was the harsh environment that the locals knew much better than them. Some Soviet armor was useless in the mountains because of the narrow passages and little room to maneuver. The Soviets were losing too many men and supplies, and their economy was in a slump which could not support the war. On May 15-August 16, 1988, half of the Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan under the ceasefire made between them and the Mujahideen officers. -
Soviet Withdrawal Cont.
Later, between November 15 and February 15, 1989, the second half of USSR soldiers exited Afghanistan and ended the Soviet-Afghan war.
Info from: http://www.guidetorussia.com/russia-afghanistan.asp
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan#January_1987-February_1989:_Withdrawal
Picture from: http://100treatises.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/russian-army-withdrawing-from-afghanistan.jpg -
Jamiat-i-Islami Civil War
After the Soviets left, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) was fighting alone against the Mujahideen, but still had some support from the USSR. They were donated about 1,500 tanks, 800 armored personal carriers, 5,000 artillery pieces, 100 fighter-bombers, and 10 attack helicopters, with an additional 2 billion dollars a year from the Soviets. On March 5, 1989, the Mujahideen fought to take the major city of Jalalabad, but failed. This battle showed that the DRA could still fight -
Jamiat-i-Islami Civil War Cont.
without Soviet forces. Later, in 1992, cities all over Afghanistan started to fall to the Mujahideen with support from the United Nations, but the Afghanistan government entered a critical state with no one in control of it.
info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_war_in_Afghanistan_(1989%E2%80%931992)
pic from: http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/50430975.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=E41C9FE5C4AA0A141B0FF30EFB267C40973DB92BE76524422A3B7BB67822D8CDB01E70F2B3269972 -
Taliban Uprising
The Taliban began as a group of Mujahideen fighting off rival groups of Mujahideen attacking convoys on a trade route. Then the Taliban made a quick advance and took the city of Kandahar and later the capital of Kabul. They met with some resistance from the other Mujahideen groups and the weak Afghan Government, which kept them from taking the country till 2001. At first, many people wanted the Taliban to take over because they restored order to the country, but once they started issuing their -
Taliban Uprising Cont.
laws many people began to dislike them. The laws included everything that would get rid of non-Islamic influence.
info from: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html
by:Laura Hayes, Borgna Brunner, and Beth Rowen
pic from: http://iaoj.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/taliban.jpg -
U.S. Involvement
Main US involvement in Afghanistan began on September 11, 2001 with the Al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The US determined that Al-Qaeda was responsible and that the Taliban was protecting them in Afghanistan. The first bombing campaign in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001 and was targeted at political buildings and areas. The US’s goal was to get rid of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. This goal began to take shape on November 13, 2001 when a -
U.S. Involvement Cont.
government supported by the United Nations took control of Afghanistan. Last, January 17, 2002 was the date when the American Embassy opened in Kabul.
info from: http://www.answers.com/topic/u-s-intervention-in-afghanistan
by: Grant Farr
pic from: http://moblog.whmsoft.net/zenphoto/en/themes/default/imgread.php?fullimage=news_english_2009_10/capt.photo_1256650836943-1-0.jpg -
Operation Anaconda
The reason for Operation Anaconda was US intelligence picked up on a gathering of Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in the Shahi-Kot Mountains. The hostile forces were going to use the area as a base for launching attacks on US and Afghan forces similar to what the Mujahideen did against the Soviet forces. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda, dug into the mountains, used small arms, RPGs, and mortar fire to fight against US and Afghan forces. Commanders predicted that about 200 enemy insurgents were in the -
Operation Anaconda Cont.
mountains, but actually there were about 2,000. In the end, a few hundred insurgents escaped while the others were either killed or captured.
info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)#2002:_Operation_Anaconda
pic from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Northernalliance2002_crop.jpg -
Loya Jirga
The Loya Jirga meeting was held on December 14, 2003 and had 500 delegates to examine the proposed constitution for Afghanistan. The former constitution was created by the DRA and no longer fit the Afghan way of life. The way the delegates were selected was 344 delegates by caucus elections at district level, 64 female delegates by caucus elections at provincial level, 42 from small communities, and 50 appointed by the president. The arguments on issues the constitution addressed got to a point -
Loya Jirga Cont.
where nearly half of the delegates boycotted the meeting for a period of time. Last, on January 4, 2004, the new Afghan Constitution was ratified by consensus of the delegates after many alters to the original proposal.
info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_loya_jirga
pic from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Loya_Jirga_2002.jpg -
First Presidential Elections
The first Afghan presidential election was held on October 9, 2004 and had about ¾ voter turnout. The new president was Hamid Karzai, who had 55.4% of the votes. The runner up, Yanus Qanuni, had only 16.3% of the votes. To prevent fraud, after each person voted they had to dip their thumb in ink so it could easily be recognized that they already voted. Some people argued that the elections were unfair for many reasons including the ink could be easily removed, but with 40% more votes than Yanus, -
First Presidential Election Cont.
