In 1978, Afghanistan
became mired in civil war
as two Communist parties
seized control of the
country. When it began to
look like anti-Communist
rebels were gaining a
foothold, the Soviet Union
invaded the country to
lend support. And that’s
when the US, of course,
decided to get involved.
The CIA set up camps to
train the rebels
, known as Mujahideen, in
the necessary tactics for
beating back the Soviets.
Advanced weaponry was
also part of the deal,
including—importantly—
Stinger surface-to-air anti-
aircraft missiles. Soviet
airstrikes had driven
hundreds of guerrillas out
of the cities and into the
surrounding hills, and
mitigating the
effectiveness of those
strikes proved to be
essential in prolonging the
conflict, placing a great
strain on Soviet resources.
The Soviet Union occupied
Afghanistan almost until
its collapse in the early
1990s, but the legacy of
the Mujahideen lives on.
The CIA are finding their
own tactics and training
turned against them by
Mujahideen veterans who
have begun their own
training programs,
producing highly trained
and skilled terrorists who
now make up the
backbone of Al-Qaeda and
other radical groups. The
US discovered these
ramifications the hard way
after invading Afghanistan
in 2001. The invasion led
to a quagmire of an
occupation, which—as of
this writing—has dragged
on for just as long as that
of the Soviets.