Mujahideen Conflict Analysis
U.S. Intervention in the USSR Mujahideen Conflict:
An Invaluable Lesson in Follow Through
By
Rachel Goldwasser
“War diminishes everyone and all states, even the victors, and that is especially true if the war is characterized by broken promises and dashed hopes, perceptions of betrayal, and disappointment in an ally. For the people living in this theater of war, the litany of such disappointments is long.” This sentiment from Afghani journalist Ahmed Rashid illustrates the path that has taken America and Afghanistan, over a 30 year span from allies to enemies.
The United States, a capitalist democracy founded on Christian beliefs, but technically secular, and Afghanistan, a tribal society that is majority Muslim are very dissimilar, as was also the case in the late 1970’s when each state found that despite their differences, each had something that the other needed. …show more content…
These groups had unified in order to more efficiently fight the USSR and Afghan Army and acted under the direction of a Tribal Chief or Mullah, who is a person trained in Islamic doctrine and law. There were 7 main groups and any others if they wanted funding had to join one of them to receive it (Grau). Though fighting for the same cause and united under the Mujahideen umbrella, these groups were very different and received very different amounts of support. Each group was Muslim, though four were fundamentalist and three were moderates. Because Pakistan, which had become a wholly Islamic state acted as trustee and bagman for the Mujahideen, the more extreme Islamic groups received more funding than the moderate groups, and the most fundamentalist group, Hizb-e-Islami run by Gulbadeen Hekmatyar received the most financial assistance of the 7. Hekmatyar also received additional money from The Muslim Brotherhood, and Saudi Arabia to fight the anti-Soviet Jihad (Giraldo,
An Invaluable Lesson in Follow Through
By
Rachel Goldwasser
“War diminishes everyone and all states, even the victors, and that is especially true if the war is characterized by broken promises and dashed hopes, perceptions of betrayal, and disappointment in an ally. For the people living in this theater of war, the litany of such disappointments is long.” This sentiment from Afghani journalist Ahmed Rashid illustrates the path that has taken America and Afghanistan, over a 30 year span from allies to enemies.
The United States, a capitalist democracy founded on Christian beliefs, but technically secular, and Afghanistan, a tribal society that is majority Muslim are very dissimilar, as was also the case in the late 1970’s when each state found that despite their differences, each had something that the other needed. …show more content…
These groups had unified in order to more efficiently fight the USSR and Afghan Army and acted under the direction of a Tribal Chief or Mullah, who is a person trained in Islamic doctrine and law. There were 7 main groups and any others if they wanted funding had to join one of them to receive it (Grau). Though fighting for the same cause and united under the Mujahideen umbrella, these groups were very different and received very different amounts of support. Each group was Muslim, though four were fundamentalist and three were moderates. Because Pakistan, which had become a wholly Islamic state acted as trustee and bagman for the Mujahideen, the more extreme Islamic groups received more funding than the moderate groups, and the most fundamentalist group, Hizb-e-Islami run by Gulbadeen Hekmatyar received the most financial assistance of the 7. Hekmatyar also received additional money from The Muslim Brotherhood, and Saudi Arabia to fight the anti-Soviet Jihad (Giraldo,