Feature History - Soviet-Afghan War
Summary
TLDRThis video explores the Soviet-Afghan War, highlighting how Afghanistan became the battleground for superpowers like the Soviet Union and the U.S. Following a coup, Soviet-backed communists took control, leading to unrest among Afghanistan's rural population. The Soviet invasion in 1979 triggered a fierce resistance by the Mujahideen, backed by the U.S., and international fighters like Osama Bin Laden. Despite military victories, the Soviets ultimately failed to win the war, leaving behind deep political instability. The video also discusses the war's lasting influence on Islamic terrorism and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan post-9/11.
Takeaways
- 📜 Afghanistan's geographical location has made it a strategic crossroads for empires, leading to numerous invasions throughout history.
- 👑 In the 1960s, Afghanistan saw modernization under King Mohammad Zahir Shah, but internal ethnic tensions continued to simmer.
- 🛑 In 1973, Mohammed Daoud Khan staged a coup, ending the monarchy and leading Afghanistan toward a republic, but his policies caused unrest.
- 🔴 The Soviet-backed Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power in 1978, but their progressive reforms were met with resistance, especially from rural populations.
- 🔪 Hafizullah Amin's brutal tactics to suppress dissent led to Soviet intervention, culminating in the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
- 🕌 The Soviet invasion united the Mujahideen, a group of Afghan warlords, in a jihad against the atheist/communist occupiers, with significant support from the U.S. and Pakistan.
- 💥 The Soviet-Afghan war became a protracted conflict, with the Soviets winning battles but failing to suppress the insurgency, leading to their withdrawal by 1989.
- ⚔️ After Soviet withdrawal, the Mujahideen continued fighting amongst themselves, leading to the rise of the Taliban in 1996 and the establishment of an Islamic emirate.
- 🌍 The war had global implications, with figures like Osama Bin Laden emerging and the subsequent U.S. intervention in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks.
- 🕊️ Despite its historical significance, the Soviet-Afghan war is often forgotten, though its consequences are still deeply felt, particularly in the rise of Islamic terrorism.
Q & A
What is the historical significance of Afghanistan's geographic location?
-Afghanistan is located at the crossroads of several great powers, including India, the Far East, the Middle East, and the West. Throughout history, many empires have tried and failed to conquer it, leading to its nickname, 'the graveyard of empires.'
Why were Afghanistan's borders arbitrarily drawn?
-Afghanistan's borders were drawn as a buffer zone between the British and Russian Empires during the 19th century, leading to the mixing and splitting of various ethnic groups without much regard for local demographics.
How did Mohammad Daoud Khan come to power in Afghanistan?
-In 1973, Mohammad Daoud Khan staged a bloodless coup against his cousin, King Mohammad Zahir Shah, in response to the perceived neglect of the Pashtun people. He declared himself president and prime minister of the new Afghan Republic.
What led to the rise of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1978?
-Discontent with Daoud Khan's rule, particularly his Pashtun nationalism and suppression of civil liberties, led to a revolution in April 1978. The PDPA, supported by the Soviet Union, took control of Afghanistan, replacing Daoud Khan.
Why did the Soviet Union intervene in Afghanistan in 1979?
-The Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan to remove the unstable Hafizullah Amin, who had seized power through violence. The Soviets were also concerned that the Islamic revolution in Iran might inspire similar uprisings in Afghanistan, threatening Soviet control over Muslim regions.
What was the Mujahideen, and how did they gain support?
-The Mujahideen were a group of Afghan warlords united in their resistance against the Soviet invasion. They framed their struggle as a Jihad, or Holy War, which attracted support from other Islamic countries and fighters, as well as financial and military aid from the U.S. and Pakistan.
How did the introduction of Stinger missiles affect the Soviet-Afghan War?
-The U.S. supplied Stinger missiles to the Mujahideen in 1986, which greatly diminished Soviet helicopter superiority. This allowed the Mujahideen to more effectively resist the Soviets in Afghanistan's mountainous terrain.
What were the consequences of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989?
-Although the Soviet Union withdrew in 1989, the war in Afghanistan continued. The Mujahideen kept fighting against the Afghan government, which eventually collapsed in 1992, leading to further internal conflict and the rise of the Taliban.
How did the Taliban come to power in Afghanistan?
-The Taliban, led by Mohammed Mullah Omar, gained power by defeating other factions in the Afghan civil war. With support from Pakistan, they captured Kabul in 1996 and executed the former president, Mohammad Najibullah, establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
What is the long-term significance of the Soviet-Afghan War?
-The Soviet-Afghan War had far-reaching consequences, including the rise of Islamic terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. The war also contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and set the stage for decades of instability in Afghanistan, which has had global implications, particularly in relation to the War on Terror.
Outlines
🚩 Introduction to the Soviet-Afghan War and Afghanistan's History
The speaker introduces the Soviet-Afghan War, describing Afghanistan as a strategic, landlocked country known as the 'graveyard of empires.' It highlights the historical role of Afghanistan as a buffer between Russian and British empires in the 19th century, leading to arbitrary border divisions. The nation gained independence in 1919, evolving into a modernizing kingdom under King Mohammad Zahir Shah in the 1960s, before a coup by his cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan, in 1973. Daoud Khan’s progressive policies caused unrest, eventually leading to the communist takeover with Soviet support.
🕌 The Mujahideen and the Rise of Jihad
With Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, the warlords united under the banner of Mujahideen, declaring a Jihad against the atheist Soviet invaders. The U.S. took the opportunity to arm the Mujahideen through Pakistan to weaken the Soviet influence. The Mujahideen engaged in guerrilla warfare under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Massoud, slowly wearing down Soviet efforts. Soviet political patience was tested by 1985, especially with the arrival of Stinger missiles that weakened Soviet forces. Gorbachev’s anti-war stance shifted the tide, leading to Soviet withdrawal by 1989, but conflict persisted within Afghanistan.
🎯 Internal Struggles and the Rise of the Taliban
Post-Soviet withdrawal, Afghanistan was left in turmoil as Mujahideen warlords clashed over control. Though Massoud's coalition attempted to form an Islamic government, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar rejected the agreement, leading to continued warfare. By 1994, Massoud had gained an upper hand until the emergence of the Taliban under Mullah Omar, backed by Pakistan. In 1996, the Taliban seized Kabul, executing former president Najibullah and establishing an Islamic emirate. Massoud continued his resistance in the north but was assassinated just days before the 9/11 attacks, which subsequently drew U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.
💥 The U.S. War on Terror and Afghanistan's Legacy
The aftermath of 9/11 led to the U.S. declaring war on the Taliban, which had sheltered Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. The speaker reflects on the ongoing instability in Afghanistan, which had been deeply shaped by the Soviet-Afghan war. The Soviet involvement laid the groundwork for the rise of radical Islamic groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Millions of Afghans suffered from the war, with many becoming refugees. The speaker emphasizes the overlooked significance of the Soviet-Afghan conflict in shaping current global terrorism and geopolitical dynamics.
🎥 Final Remarks and Acknowledgements
The speaker concludes the video by thanking the sponsor, The Great Courses Plus, and encourages viewers to check out their educational content. Specific mentions are given to Patreon supporters, with a humorous and sarcastic tone aimed at non-paying viewers. The outro retains a lighthearted, self-aware style, wrapping up the video with both gratitude and playful dismissal.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Soviet-Afghan War
💡Mujahideen
💡Leonid Brezhnev
💡Guerrilla warfare
💡Stinger missiles
💡Jihad
💡Geneva Accords
💡Mikhail Gorbachev
💡Taliban
💡Osama Bin Laden
Highlights
Afghanistan has historically been referred to as the 'graveyard of empires,' with many powers attempting and failing to conquer it.
In the 19th century, Afghanistan’s borders were carved out as a buffer between the Russian and British empires.
By 1919, Afghanistan became an independent emirate, later evolving into a kingdom.
Afghanistan's King Mohammad Zahir Shah pushed for modernization in the 1960s, including elections and women's education.
In 1973, Mohammad Daoud Khan staged a bloodless coup and declared Afghanistan a republic, pushing for progressive policies but facing opposition.
A revolution in April 1978 brought the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) to power, with full Soviet support.
Hafizullah Amin, PDPA prime minister, implemented radical reforms, which led to unrest among the rural population.
Soviet intervention began in 1979, with Leonid Brezhnev ordering the invasion to stabilize Afghanistan and remove Amin.
The Mujahideen formed in response to the Soviet invasion, leading to a guerrilla war with support from the U.S. through Pakistan.
Mujahideen's success grew with the introduction of U.S.-supplied Stinger missiles, which neutralized Soviet air superiority.
Mikhail Gorbachev’s leadership in 1985 marked a shift in Soviet foreign policy, ultimately leading to the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
Despite the Soviet withdrawal, civil war continued, culminating in the rise of the Taliban by 1996, with support from Pakistan.
The Taliban seized control of Kabul and declared an Islamic emirate, with brutal executions, including former president Najibullah.
The U.S. declared war on the Taliban in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, which were orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden, who was sheltered by the Taliban.
The Soviet-Afghan war is considered a catalyst for the rise of Islamic terrorist groups, shaping modern global conflicts.
Transcripts
It's time we stop Stalin and Marx this topic off the list.
And if you're hoping for something else, well
Soviet.
Oh god what have I done.
Hello and welcome to Feature History.
Brought to you by the Great Courses Plus, more on that later,
and featuring the Soviet-Afghan war.
A war where the battles were won and the war was... lost.
How does that happen?
Well let's find out.
First we must understand what Afghanistan is.
It's a landlocked country that sits in a harsh, almost inhospitable area
between the traditional crossroads of great powers.
Forces from India, the Far East, the Middle East, and the West
have all attempted to pass and fallen before Afghanistan,
the graveyard of empires.
Initially inhabited by many mixed tribal groups,
its people survived in the many valleys of the region
completely isolated from the outside world.
The politics and diplomacy of it, simply irrelevant to them.
In the 19th century, the region was of interest
to the large Russian and larger British empires
who had swooped across Asia, taking as much land as they could.
Constantly cautious of one another.
Afghanistan's borders were rather incidentally
carved as a buffer between the two empires,
leading to many arbitrary mixing and splitting of ethnic groups.
The British would take many tours into Afghanistan
to seize its pivotal central position on the map.
However by 1919, after only managing to slowly chip away at its frontier,
Afghanistan would be affirmed as an independent emirate.
And slightly later, kingdom.
Under their king, Mohammad Zahir Shah,
the country was rapidly pushed into modernizing in the 1960's.
The urban folk of the few cities and highways
rejoiced the establishment of elections, political rights, and women's education.
At the same time, the Cold War had entered into full swing.
Afghanistan once again the interest of two rivaling powers,
the U.S. and the U.S.S.R,
who both sought to gain favor in the country.
All [?]would not remain well though is the king's cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan,
feeling the pleas of the Pashtun people,
long ago split by the Pakistani border,
had gone ignored far too long,
staged a bloodless coup against his cousin.
Soon declaring himself both president and prime minister
of the new Afghan Republic in 1973.
Daoud Khan continued to push for progressive policies.
However, other ethnic groups did not appreciate
his Pashtun nationalism.
His response:
crack down and restrict civil liberties.
Both the left wing and traditionalist groups despised him.
And this would culminate in a revolution in the April of 1978,
ousting Daoud Khan for the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.
That, of course, had full Soviet support.
The PDPA's prime minister, Hafizullah Amin,
radically pushed the envelope of progress.
More women's rights,
more equality,
more socialism.
These top-down changes were very invasive on the
self-sufficient rural people,
who, now being bombarded with tax and land reform
and threats to their traditional power structures,
were very displeased.
Amin, even worse than his predecessor,
responded to dissent with imprisonment and execution.
Apprarently leading to riots in March of 1979.
His president, Nur Muhammad Taraki,
was forced to turn to the Soviets for aid in combating
both the rioters, and secretly,
the radical Amin.
When Amin caught wind that Taraki sought to disempower him,
he had Taraki killed, and took on the vacant presidency for himself.
Further weakening the government stability,
and resolve agains the rebels.
General secretary of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev,
decided the U.S.S.R must take control of the situation themselves.
Remove the uncontrollable Amin and pacify the anarchy.
Brezhnev was anxious that the Iranian revolution
that had seen that country turn Islamic
could spread to Afghanistan,
and further the Muslim areas under Soviet control,
meaning utter collapse of rule there.
This could not, and would not, happen.
Now briefly to interrupt myself, I'm sure you wouldn't mind,
we've learned about the Soviet stance on the Middle East,
how about the U.S.'s stance?
It just so happens the Great Courses Plus has a course on that.
The Great Courses Plus is a subscription on-demand video learning service
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Starting is always 14.99 a month.
Now on with the show.
On Christmas Eve 1979,
a combined air and land invasion of Afghanistan commenced.
The Red Army quickly seized many urban areas,
roads, and communication lines.
Amin himself was captured and executed
to be replaced by the more moderate Babrak Karmal.
Disputes swiftly erupted internationally on whether this was an intervention
or an invasion.
The West and many Muslim countries decided on the latter.
The tribal warlords had been repulsed to the mountains by the invasion.
But this would only spell a new stage in their struggle.
The foreign atheist/orthodox invader gave credence
to this being a Jihad, or Holy War.
And the warlords were soon united as the Mujahideen.
Committed to combating the Soviets.
The U.S. had had their eyes on things for some time,
and now saw a lovely opportunity to sow shit in the Soviet's backyard.
They began funneling equipment through Pakistan to the Mujahideen.
The U.S. wanted to contain communism, of course.
The Mujahideen wanted Afghanistan independent and Islamic,
and Pakistan didn't mind some pan-Islamic cooperation.
Really, everybody wins.
Oh, except the Soviets, of course.
That wasn't it, though, as the Mujahideen's call for Jihad
had also seen many independent fighters and financiers
come from abroad to join.
One such notable figure was Osama Bin Laden.
You might have heard of him.
In the end, despite all the support,
the Soviets still held a clear upper hand.
Under the guidance of Ahmad Shah Massoud,
the Mujahideen indulged in guerilla warfare.
Initiating a repeated and gruelling effort for the Soviets
to drive away the fighters, and then for them to boomerang right back.
It seemed as if for every fighter they'd killed,
his death aided in the recruitment of five more,
eager to become a martyr.
The Red Army's constant successful search & destroy missions were also in vain.
As no matter how many battles they won,
they continued to lose the war.
It wasn't until 1985, this routine had finally worn on the patience
of Soviet politics and people.
The illusion of the grand communist power
beginning to disintegrate before them.
Mikhail Gorbachev took over as general secretary the same year,
his unique foreign policy and anti-war sentiment
rapidly shifting opinion in the Union.
The next year, the war effort was only further degraded
as Stinger missiles began to be supplied to the Mujahideen.
Accurately downing Soviet helicopters and crippling the army's ability
to scale the high mountains.
An exit strategy would be put in place.
It switched out Karmal for Mohammad Najibullah,
and saw new attempts to transfer the burden
of fighting on the Afghan army itself.
This would be ramped up further in 1988,
when Gorbachev officially signed off on the Geneva Accords,
an agreement that would see the U.S.S.R begin withdrawl
and no further intervention from any power.
This concluded in 1989, when the last of the Red Army left Afghanistan,
ending the Soviet-Afghan war.
But not *the* war.
The Mujahideen continued to resist Najibullah's government well past withdrawl.
For the Soviet Union, it continued to aid that government
until in 1991, the Union itself unravelled,
with fault to the prior involvement and Gorbachev's reforms.
Najibullah disbanded the government, when in 1992
the warlords of the Mujahideen had finally surrendered the capital, Kabul.
At the gates of victory, they sought to reach an agreement
of how things would move forward.
All agreed at Massoud's proposal that they rule
in an Islamic coalition government.
Except for one,
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who sought sole rule.
And so war continued for several years
between Massoud's alliance and Hekmatyar's Pakistani-backed army.
It seemed that in 1994, Massoud had bested Hekmatyar,
until a man by the name of Mohammed Mullah Omar
rallied his followers to futher the fight against Massoud.
They called themselves the Taliban.
Pakistan's favor transferred to this new group,
and in 1996, the Taliban had seized control of much of the country
and took Kabul.
Brutally executing the former president Najibullah
and declaring themselves as an Islamic emirate.
Massoud, however, ignored their taunts
and was unwavering in his resistance,
continuing to fight from the north of the country
with what few of his allies remained.
It unfortunately ended when in September 9th 2001,
Massoud was assasinated by Taliban members
who had claimed themselves to be reporters.
The alliance without the leadership of their national hero
was surely doomed.
Though as I'm sure all viewers are swift to notice merely two days later,
the terrorist [?]cell Al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center in New York.
Their leader, Osama Bin Laden, was offered shelter
in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The attacks provoked U.S. president George W. Bush
to declare a war on terror,
and demanded the Taliban surrender Bin Laden.
They refused.
The U.S. had covertly aided the Mujahideen against Soviets,
and with the Soviets gone, the Mujahideen had splintered
into many spiritual successors,
such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The irony of this was not lost on many.
That, however, did not change the fact that in 2001,
the U.S. declared war on the Taliban.
Decades of war, political instability, and virtual anarchy
are not going to be ignorable for any country.
Millions of Afghans died,
and even more millions to live as refugees,
an unfortunate burden on the countries that have held them for so long.
The routes and motives for many Islamic terrorist groups
can be traced back to the Soviet-Afghan war.
It was where their leaders met,
their men were armed, and their resolve hardened.
The fact that most people have forgotten or neglect this war
but still live so heavily under its effects, is rather disappointing.
That does not stop me from trying, though.
Nor you from further delving in on uncovering and surprising yourself
at so many hidden motives behind and repercussions from this war.
If I had a joke to finish on, that would be great.
But instead...
(Russian accent) In Soviet Ru--
As always, I'd like to thank the patrons.
And unlike always, I'd like to thank my sponsor, The Great Courses Plus,
for sponsoring the episode.
I really do encourage you to go to the description
and click the link, for if no other reason than I get pa--
sorry, I mean, helps the channel out.
Personal mentions to David Kendle, Thrace Vega, Zedphyr, Steve Graham,
Grandpa Hexxe, and of course, Anal_Scrubs.
And for you, well
you get nothing.
Your freeloading views are so much filth to me. (spits)
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