Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part one War is a Terrible Thing!
- Part Two Guarding One’s Humanity During War: World War II
- Part Three Other Voices, Other Wars: From Indochina to Iraq
- Part Four Civil Wars and Genocides, Dictators and Domestic Oppressors
- 13 Grandfather Had his Head cut off
- 14 A Resistance to Keep You Alive
- 15 Stuck in the Mud in the Middle of a Civil War
- 16 Too Much was Seen
- 17 Care about other People
- 18 People Suffered Great Loss
- 19 Religion Mixed with Politics Creates Bad Things
- Part Five My Story, Your Choice How to Use it
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments by the Senior Author
- Index
18 - People Suffered Great Loss
Reza and Afghanistan under the Soviets
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part one War is a Terrible Thing!
- Part Two Guarding One’s Humanity During War: World War II
- Part Three Other Voices, Other Wars: From Indochina to Iraq
- Part Four Civil Wars and Genocides, Dictators and Domestic Oppressors
- 13 Grandfather Had his Head cut off
- 14 A Resistance to Keep You Alive
- 15 Stuck in the Mud in the Middle of a Civil War
- 16 Too Much was Seen
- 17 Care about other People
- 18 People Suffered Great Loss
- 19 Religion Mixed with Politics Creates Bad Things
- Part Five My Story, Your Choice How to Use it
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments by the Senior Author
- Index
Summary
From December 1979 through February 1989, the Soviet Union supported the Marxist–Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in a battle against the Afghan Mujahideenand foreign “Arab–Afghan” volunteers. The Mujahideen received extensive military and financial support, unofficially and often covertly, from many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, and Israel. As Soviet involvement dragged on, bleeding the USSR, the Afghanistan occupation became known as the “Soviet Vietnam.” Russian forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 but war then broke out among the various warlords and militia units, with the Islamic fundamentalist group known as the Taliban taking charge. After the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked on 9/11, the United States targeted Afghanistan as a hiding place for Islamic terrorists. United National Security Council Resolution 1378, of November 2001, condemned the Taliban for “allowing Afghanistan to be used as a base for the export of terrorism by the al-Qaeda network and other terrorist groups and for providing safe haven to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and others associated with them, and in this context supporting the efforts of the Afghan people to replace the Taliban regime.” War ensued, led by the United States, which continues to have troops in Afghanistan in 2014.
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- Information
- A Darkling PlainStories of Conflict and Humanity during War, pp. 238 - 248Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014