PART ONE: 1979 – 2001
The roots of the prevailing maelstrom in FATA can be traced back to the era of the anti-Soviet resistance. Prior to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the postcolonial administrative setup in the tribal areas was preserved. There was no major unrest or armed movement. This changed on the night of December 24, 1979: Soviet troops entered Afghanistan, crossing the international border and the pro-Soviet Babrak Karmal assumed control (CITE KAKAR).
The Mujahedeen soon followed, to fight as allies of the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) Operation Cyclone against the Soviet forces (CITE KAKAR daily times). The conflict spillover into FATA triggered a massive shift in the area’s character and social fabric, and the systematic militarization of the tribal areas began. Ten years later in 1989, another shift would occur – the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the subsequent Talibanization of the region.
The Spillover Effect: The Mujahedeen and the Militarization of FATA (1979 – 1989)
In October 1980, it had become apparent to the U.S that Pakistan was being dragged into the Cold War, and in light of its
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The CIA through the ISI continued to funnel in huge sums of money to help create madrasas (religious seminaries) to train a generation in warfare and militancy (Cite Lu-Wei). The tradition of carrying weapons that is part of tribal culture made possible the militarization of FATA, which was used as the launching pad for the holy warriors coming from all over the world to fight against the ‘godless’ Soviets (GROUND ZERO). The Mujahedeen secreted their arms and ammunition in the tribal areas. They would use the region as a launch pad while attacking the Soviets and Afghan soldiers, and then retreat to safety. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan gave a strong boost to the ammunition industry in the tribal
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border. Operation Jawbreaker, one of the first post-9/11 covert operations carried out by the United States in support of its national security interests, had proved successful. Word of the operation’s swift success astounded those back in Washington; dubbed the CIA’s “finest hour,” it signified the first of many victories by deposing the Taliban’s control of Northern Afghanistan.
September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.” The US immediately sent SOF units and CIA officers to recon the area and meet with the Northern Alliance. The primary battle leading up to this operation was Tora Bora, which was absent of conventional forces. Up until this point, the war on terror was predominantly a Special Operations fight along with Air Force for overhead support.3 SOF and the Northern Alliance had already displaced Taliban forces out of many towns and villages in northern Afghanistan to gain control of key terrain. Key towns in northern Afghanistan including Taloqan, Konduz, Herat, and Mazar-e Sharif took only three weeks to clear.4 The SOF units were making huge impacts across the country calling in air strikes. At the same time the SOF units were diligently...
The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle.
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
QUESTION 2: The Cold War is an international conflict, a global fight between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in Europe in the wake of World War II but quickly expanded into Asia and the Third World. These international events, however, undoubtedly influenced domestic American politics between 1945 and 1965. How did the international Cold War shape, influence, or change domestic American politics in the first twenty years of the conflict?
However, on Christmas 1979, Soviet Union paratroopers landed in Kabal, the capital of Afghanistan. The country was already at the grip of war and its monarchy was decreasing in power. The Prime Minister of Afghanistan, Hazifullah Amin, wanted to add more Western culture into the country and relieve the country of its Muslim tradition. A majority of the country was angered by this because Muslim belief was common. Soon enough, Afghan residents would react by joining the Mujahdeen, a guerrilla force composed of Muslims.
After World War II America and Russia became superpowers. Even thought they fought together against the Nazis they soon became hostile rivals. Between 1945 and
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan began pursuing what became known as the Reagan Doctrine: “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings” (Smith 130). This renewed the US’s appeal to moral authority to fight Communism. Reagan backed up this doctrine with drastic increases in defense spending and massive projects like the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This required the Soviet Union to also increase their defense spending in order to remain militarily competitive with the United States. However, the Soviet Union was in a much worse place to do so as they already had considerable debt and a much weaker economy. Paradoxically, the USSR’s push for new military spending ended up only weakening their power by destabilizing their economy further. SDI was particularly worrisome to the Soviets because it completely threatened the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) whose balance of power had prevented nuclear war for the past 40 years (Smith 133). The United States also used the CIA to funnel money and arms to rebels and dissenters in Communist countries (Smith 130). While in most cases only a minor cause of the end of Communism, this support was especially important in Poland where it helped keep Solidarity alive during its years underground and in Afghanistan where the United
The war began on December 27, 1979 when Soviet paratroopers invaded Kabul, Afghanistan. The Soviet troops made assaults on key positions like military and communication centers. The main objective was to kill Hafizullah Amin, who was the leader of Afghanistan after ordering the assassination of Nur Muhammad Taraki, who was the leader of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Soviets succeeded in killing Amin after assaulting his presidential palace and set up a “puppet government”. The “puppet government” would be led by Banner party leader Babrak Karmal. Karmal had no significant power in Afghanistan, only the Soviet army to keep him in power and control Afghanistan. Within weeks after the invasion, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan would be ousted from the region and replaced by Soviet forces. Soviet forces would next encounter an enemy that hid in the mountains and fought with guerilla tactics. This Muslim rebellion group would be known as the Mujahideen.
The Web. 11 Feb 2014. Mondloch, Chris. A. “Bacha Bazi: An Afghan Tragedy.” Foreign Policy.
One aspect of the novel that highlights this struggle is its setting, as it takes place during four time periods, each at a different stage in Afghan history. Throughout these unstable decades, the country’s government went through continuous upheavals with each new government advocating different
Afghanistan since its beginning has been a place of conflict, despair, and at times lost hope. It has been taken advantage of and lost its sense of identity, which has had a direct effect on its people, and there own sense of what justice truly is.
The Cold War (1945-1991) was a substantial war that was fought on an. economic, philosophical, cultural, social and political level. This impacted globally and changed the majority of the world’s societies to a. liberated fashion, rather than the archaic and conservative ways. Global war is a war engaged in by all if not most of the principle nations of the world, a prime example of such would be of the two great wars. Therefore the cold war can’t be classified as a global war in terms of the military and actual warfare’s, as the two superpowers (Soviet Union and USA) fought indirectly with each other, however to an extent the cold war can be said it’s a global war in terms of its politics and economics. The The effects of the Cold War were definitely felt globally and had an aftermath.
Lopez, Brendan CDT H-4 ’12. Assistance given to the author, verbal discussion. CDT Lopez edited my paper and gave me feedback on style and format. He recommended that I reword the intent behind the Soviet contributions to Afghan infrastructure. He also recommended that I discuss the lengths that the American government had gone to build cell towers in Afghanistan.
Samad, Omar. "Ethnic Politics: A dangerous Fault Line." Afghan Analytica (2013): n.pag. Web. 18 Nov 2013.