Sam+West

**A. Plan of Investigation**

**To what extent did American aid and intervention in Afghanistan, lead to the pullout of the Soviet Union in the Soviet-Afghan War?** In 1979, Operation Cyclone began, which was a CIA backed effort to fund the Mujahideen against the Soviets. This investigation will not explore the blowback or effects caused by the United States, but the damaged caused against the Soviets, due to weapons supplying, training, financing, etc. I will be reading two books, //Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001// by Steve Coll, and //Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History// by George Crile. I will also be reading excerpts from //The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War// by Ali Ahmad Jalali and Lester W. Grau, along with excerpts from another book called Bear //Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan,// also by Lester W. Grau. Finally I will be reading numerous other academic journals on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the aid given to the Mujahideen guerrillas.

**B. Summary of Evidence**

Key Events
 * April 27, 1978: Communists overthrows the unpopular authoritarian government headed by Mohammad Daoud and elect new president, Nur M. Taraki. The Soviet Union quickly welcomes the new government, but extent of Soviet involvement is unclear. Taraki instigates numerous purges in the military leading to mass desertion [1].
 * July 3, 1979: President Carter signs the first order for secret aid toward the rivals of the pro-Soviet regime and anti-communist guerillas. Small arms that date back to the Korean War such as assault rifles and grenade launchers are sent to numerous disorganized Islamic tribal warrior groups, also known as the Mujahideen [2].
 * September 1979: Taraki’s Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin executes Taraki. Mass rioting, desertion and civil war breaks out. The country spirals out of control and away from Soviet hands. The CIA and Pakistani equivalent Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) begin to set up camps to train the Mujahideen in guerilla warfare and proper tactics to defeat the Soviets [3].
 * December 27, 1979: Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev calls for a stabilization of the situation. Spetsnaz paratroopers capture key positions such as the main cities, radio stations, television stations, and execute Hafizullah Amin. The Soviets replace him with Babrak Karmal, a communist in exile [4].
 * December 1979-1982: Soviets continue to occupy Afghanistan, due to lack of stability in Karmal’s government. The Soviets continue to fight against sporadic and disjointed resistance. The USSR begins to use their Special Forces group Spetsnaz and Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters on a nightly basis to wreck havoc on the Mujahideen. [5].
 * 1983: After inheriting President Jimmy Carter’s aid program and under increasing pressure from the CIA, President Reagan decides to step up the program. Numerous small arms are purchased and 10,000 tons of weapons and ammunitions are sent to the Mujahideen by a joint coalition consisting of the United States, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia [6]
 * March 1985: After much debate, President Reagan and his national security advisors decide to up their aid. The cabinet come to a decision that they wanted to drive the entire Soviet army out of Afghanistan [7]
 * September 1986: The first shipments of FIM-92 anti-aircraft missiles, also known as the “Stinger” missile, are ordered by Texas congressman Charlie Wilson. 250 Stingers are sent to numerous CIA and ISI run bases along the Pakistani border to train and equip the Mujahideen [8]
 * 1987-1988: Stinger missiles continue to ship, along with vast quantities of other firearms and munitions. The stinger missiles and also improvised explosive devices(IED) cause chaos and mayhem among Soviet troops as the death toll skyrockets for the Soviet army [9]
 * May 15, 1988: The Soviets begin the long process of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Casualties are still inflicted on the withdrawing troops from the Mujahideen
 * February 15, 1989: The final Soviet battalions pullout of Afghanistan. The United States slows aid in agreement to the Geneva Accords [10]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** C. Evaluation of Sources **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**Grau****, Lester W.** **//The Bear Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan//. Diane Pub, 1996. Print.** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Lester Grau compiled this book to “capture the lessons their tactical leaders learned in Afghanistan and to explain the change in tactics that followed and so that senior leaders may find invaluable insights into the dangers and opportunities tactical units under their command may face in limited wars”. Grau compiled the book from thousands of memos and manuscripts from the Frunze Military Academy (Russia’s West Point). This book’s purpose is to provide hundreds of in depth conflicts and battles of the Soviet-Afghan War. This book is the counter to //The Other Side of The Mountain//, also by Grau, and provides a deep look into the Soviet side of the war by looking at tactics, ambushes, causalities, and use of support such as helicopters, artillery and tanks. This book was extremely important for my research. It shows hundreds of conflicts between the Mujahideen and the Soviets. Since the Soviet-Afghan War was not a war full of large scale conflicts and battles, this book is extremely important in detailing the conflicts, and the weapons used. //The Bear Went over the Mountain// is not focused on American and CIA involvement. While it does mention the U.S. involvement, it does not provide a whole lot of information on the involvement. Also it does not focus on the human toll of the war, and only focuses on the military aspect of the conflict.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**Coll****, Steve****. "Blood Brothers." //Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001//. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print.** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Steve Coll is a writer for The New Yorker, and served for more than twenty years, as a foreign correspondent, reporter and managing editor of The Washington Post. Ghost Wars provides an in depth look at the CIA’s involvement in Afghanistan and the region. The section of the book that I read focused on the CIA, and the funding and supplying of Mujahideen freedom fighters in Afghanistan. It also provides a brief overview of the tactics used by the Mujahideen to fight the Soviets. This book provides a incredibly in-depth look at the CIA’s involvement, usually taken from many CIA agents interviews. It provides real conversations and actions from these agents, many of which were stamped confidential until the time that the book was published. It also provides a description of many figures that are extremely important to my research. The book does have one large limitation. It is solely focused on the CIA and its agents, not the rest of the American government and its actions.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** D. Analysis **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">When Soviet paratroopers first dropped into Afghanistan on December 27, 1979, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, said to Carter “We now have the opportunity of giving the USSR its Vietnam War” [11]. Over a 10 year period, the Soviet Union would suffer over 450,000 in casualties [12], thousands of destroyed vehicles, and billions of dollars that would send the Soviet Union spiraling into debt [13]. The only opposition the Soviets faced were the Mujahideen, a loosely aligned Islamic fundamentalist guerilla force, but backed by another superpower, the United States of America. The United States’ foreign aid and training given to the Mujahideen, helped the Mujahideen greatly, and in turn, helped push the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Ever since the establishment of the pro-Soviet Afghani government in 1978, the CIA and the State Department funneled aid towards the opponents of the regime, and more specifically, the Mujahideen. On July 3, 1979, five months before the Soviet invasion, President Carter agreed for small arms, such as grenade launchers, recycled AK-47s from Pakistan and Egypt, and weapons dating back to the Korean War to be sent to the Mujahideen. While the amount of casualties inflicted on the Soviet Union by these weapons is unclear, the impact in helping the Mujahideen was great. Before this aid, the Mujahideen would ambush pro-Taraki and Soviet soldiers using colonial-era British flintlock muskets [14].

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> During the first days of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, “ US policy officials, including President Jimmy Carter, almost unanimously expressed surprise over the Soviet move--especially its size and scope” [15]. The United States stood by and watched as the Soviet Union took numerous power centers around Afghanistan, especially around Kabul, and smashed what was left of the Afghan army. From 1979-1982 the invasion turned into “stabilizing the country by garrisoning the main routes and the relieving the Afghan government forces of garrison duties, along with pushing the resistance into the countryside to battle the resistance” [16]. This lead to a major decrease in Mujahideen activity, and resistance only continued because of the aid and training the Mujahideen were receiving from the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI. It was not until President Ronald Reagan was elected, that the Mujahideen began to fight back.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Due to increasing pressure from the CIA, President Reagan decided to increase the aid given to the Mujahideen in 1983. In agreement with Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia, the United States shipped 10,000 tons of weapons and ammunition to Mujahideen bases in Pakistan. In return Mujahideen resistance increased greatly, and Soviet causalities swelled [17]. In 1984 and 1985, President Reagan decides to boost aid given to the Mujahideen even more, sending over 200 million dollars to the Mujahideen and the ISI [18], wanting to push the Soviets out of Afghanistan completely.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In September of 1986, the first shipments of anti-aircraft missiles known as Stinger missiles, are sent to CIA and ISI bases along the Pakistani border. At these bases, the Mujahideen are trained and equipped with these weapons. The Stinger missile has a dramatic effect on Soviet casualties. The Mi-24 Hind helicopter, first seen as a “devil out of the sky” by the Afghani peoples [19], could now be destroyed with relative ease, all because of the American-made Stingers. The Mujahideen also turned to improvised explosive devices, which maim and kill thousands of Soviet soldiers. Even as the Soviets started troop withdrawals in May of 1988, the Mujahideen continue their attack on the withdrawing enemies. On February 15, 1989, the Soviet Union finally pulled out of Afghanistan completely, and the United States of America slows aid in agreement with the Geneva Accords [20]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**E. Conclusion**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">When the final Soviet troops left Afghanistan, the casualties for the Soviets were immense. 119 jets and 333 helicopters were destroyed because of American-made Stinger missiles [21] and over 13,500 vehicles were destroyed too [22]. The weapons, financial aid, and training which the Mujahideen received from the United States, had a vast effect on effect on the Soviet invasion, and also enormous repercussion that are still seen today. Although American assistance in Afghanistan staved off communism from the Middle East, the United States actions led to the rise of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. When asked whether or not he regretted supporting Islamic fundamentalism former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said “ What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?” [23].

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**F. List of Sources**

<span style="color: #121917; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">DeHart, Bruce J. "Soviet-Afghan War: Cold War." //World at War: Understanding// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// Conflict and Society //. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Coll, Steve. "Blood Brothers." //Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan,// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 //. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Grau, Lester W. //The Bear Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// Afghanistan //. Diane Pub, 1996. Print. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Jalali, Ali Ahmad., and Lester W. Grau. //The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War //. Quantico, VA: U.S. Marine Corps, Studies and Analysis Division, 1999. Print. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Coll, Steve. "Anatomy of a Victory: CIA's Covert Afghan War." //The Washington Post.// <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">19 July 1992. Print. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Crile, George. //Charlie// //Wilson////'s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// Operation in History //. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2003. Print. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Brzezinski, Zbigniew. "The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan." Interview. //Le Nouvel// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">// Observateur // 15 Jan. 1998. Print. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">MacEachin, Douglas. "Predicting the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The Intelligence <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Community's Record." // Center for the Study of Intelligence //. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 June 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2012.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Word Count:1,874 (not including Section F)

[1] DeHart, Bruce J. "Soviet-Afghan War: Cold War." //World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society//. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. [2] Coll, Steve. "Blood Brothers." //Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001//. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print. 3 Grau, Lester W. //The Bear Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan//. Diane Pub, 1996. Print. [4] Jalali, Ali Ahmad., and Lester W. Grau. //The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War//. Quantico, VA: U.S. Marine Corps, Studies and Analysis Division, 1999. Print. [5] Grau 15. [6] Coll, Steve. "Anatomy of a Victory: CIA's Covert Afghan War." //The Washington Post.// 19 July 1992. Print. [7] Crile, George. //Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History//. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2003. Print. [8] Crile 402-405 [9] Grau 236-252 [10] Jalali 5-10 [11] Brzezinski, Zbigniew. "The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan." Interview. //Le Nouvel Observateur// 15 Jan. 1998. Print. [12] 13,833 were killed and 469,685 became either sick or wounded. [13] Grau xix [14] Crile 212 [15] MacEachin, Douglas. "Predicting the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The Intelligence Community's Record." // Center for the Study of Intelligence //. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 June 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. [16] Grau xviii [17] Jalali 33 [18] Coll 89 [19] Crile 111 [20] DeHart [21] Grau xix [22] Vehicles include tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks, engineering vehicles and artillery pieces. [23] Zbigniew Brzezinski interview