Our long and crazy history with Afghanistan dates back further than most Americans realize. It all started during the Cold War with Russia. During that time there was unrest in Afghanistan that led to a coup on 11 September 1979. Coincidence? I wonder. In December 1979 the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan. This prompted the Soviet rival countries of Pakistan, United States, China and Saudi Arabia to aid the religiously motivated mujahideen (meaning jihadists or those engaged in jihad) in fighting against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Regardless of the name the political leanings for the DRA were socialist/communist in nature. The CIA worked closely during this time with the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI - there seems to be more than one coincidence here...) to funnel their support for the mujahideen. Many Arab volunteers were attracted by this war including one named Osama bin Laden. (well fancy that how did he creep into this story?)
Just as an aside the first George Bush who was CIA director from 1976-1977 was still in the CIA at this time and I seem to recall reading somewhere that he had a hand in this operation but I have no back up for that and could be wrong on that point. To clear up this history a bit while America did fund the mujahideen and as a result Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda during the 80's it was funneled through Pakistan via the ISI and left to the Pakistani how to distribute the funds and weapons (so they say anyway). It wasn't until a decade later that the name Osama bin Laden was known in the US. This operation lasted from 1979 until at least 1989 when the Soviets withdrew. During those years Reagan was president with Bush as VP (1981-1989 ).
There was civil war in Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 after the collapse of the Soviet Union ended aid to the Afghan leaders. As the warlords fought among themselves for control the Taliban was formed by Mullah Omar. With the help of Pakistan military and Saudi money they took control on September 27, 1996.
Between 1996 and 2001 the Taliban was ruthless in their drive to control Afghanistan committing many atrocities. With the help of Pakistani troops and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda the Taliban controlled as much as 90% of the country by 2001. Al-Qaeda kept their own camps in Afghanistan as well as aiding in the training camps set up by other organizations. During the period of the Taliban securing Afghanistan Al-Qaeda often acted to secure special targets much like a group of special forces personnel might act along side the American military. After consolidating their hold on Afghanistan in 2001 they began a campaign to rid the country of the #1 crop - opium poppy.
To be continued in part 2 of:
Afghanistan - Are there really still terrorists there?
Afghanistan - Are there really still terrorists there?
Sources:
NOTE: You will no doubt notice that all reference is from Wikipedia. I did this because trying to find news sources of this period of Afghanistan history in English was pretty futile. What little there is doesn't agree with each other at all. If you are aware of reliable sources other than Wikipedia for this era of Afghanistan History that are reliable sources and not just random websites please send me links and I will include information from them in an update on this article. I normally include at least one dissenting opinion web link but again ... if you can find a reliable one please send it.
