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Babrak Karmal installed as ruler
Her was a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). He was leader of the faction of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union sent 75,000 troops to enforce the installation of Babrak as the new leader of the nation. -
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Cold War Legacies - Afghanistan
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Mujahideen Alliance
Resistance fighters, called Mujahideen, saw the Christian or atheist Soviets controlling Afghanistan as a defilement of Islam as well as of their traditional culture. Proclaiming a “jihad”, a holy war, they gained the support of the Islamic world. The Mujahideen employed guerrilla tactics against the Soviets. They would attack or raid quickly, then disappear into the mountains, causing great destruction without pitched battles. The fighters used whatever weapons they could grab from the Soviets. -
U.S. Support of Mujahideen
In March 1986, however, President Reagan, approved providing Stinger missiles to the Mujahideen, according to the original program signed by President Carter. -
USSR, US, Pakistan Peace Accords
Representatives of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, the U.S, and Pakistan sign an agreement calling for the Soviet forces to leave Afghanistan. In exchange for the Soviet occupation to end, the U.S agreed to end its arms support for the Afghan anti-Soviet factions, and Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed not to get involved in each other’s affairs. -
1992 Civil War
It began after the resignation of the communist President. It was the collapse of the communist Najibullah government. -
Taliban seize Kabul
when a U.S.-led invasion toppled the regime for providing refuge to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. The Taliban regrouped across the border in Pakistan, where its central leadership, headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar, leads an insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul. -
UN air embargo on Afghanistan
UN Security Council Resolution 1267 imposed a ban on air transport related to and a freeze of all assets of one group in Afghanistan, the Taliban. This was done in response to the Taliban being involved in human rights abuses, the killing of Iranian diplomats, opium trade and providing a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and his associates. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. ini -
US Invasion of Afghanistan
In the aftermath of the (9/11) attacks, The U.S. invaded with the goal of first ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan and dismantling al-Qaeda, though others contemplated actions in Iraq, including long-standing plans for toppling Pres. Ṣaddām Ḥussein. Bush demanded that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar “deliver to [the] United States authorities all the leaders of al-Qaeda who hide in your land,” and when Omar refused, U.S. officials began implementing a plan for war.
