Russians+in+Afghanistan

=Jason Kleban and Nichole Cooper=

Communism in Afghanistan
Russia and Afghanistan had a treaty signed in 1978 that allowed Afghanistan to request Soviet troops in order to provide security and fight the mujahideen, the rebels. These rebels were fighting against the Afghan government because it was becoming more and more communist.

Communism rose in Afghanistan in the form of Maoism. The first openly Maoist politcal group was the Progressive Youth Organization (PYO) the was formed in 1965. PYO was an underground organization and their political magazine that spoke of their ideas and preached their philosophies, Sholaye Jawid. After only eleven issues, the government siezed control of the magazine and banned its publication.

The Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power in a coup, they targeted the Maoists and had all members either killed or arrested. The Maoist group broke up and formed many small regimes in order to fight the PDPA and resist Soviet invasion. However, the Maoist soon became disorganized and many people turned to the Islamic revolutionary ideas presented by the PDPA.

In the late 1980's, a new group emerged, the Revolutionary Communist Cell of Afghanistan (RCCA). And in 1991 proclaimed themselves the Communist Party of Afghanistan. This group rallied the remaining Maoist groups into the one party, in order to resist invasion by the United States and its allies.



Why Russia was in Afghanistan
During the Cold War, Russia was falling behind with communist nations. America was forming alliances with Middle Eastern powers, such as Iran and Turkey, both of which are very close to the border of the USSR. Russia had allies of it's own, but one more never hurt.

Because of the shoddy support for the Afghani government, Russia marched in and took over the capital of Kabul with little to no resistance. The Afghan government had actually believed that the USSR was intending to help them put down rebellions, but the USSR plans. After they marched into Kabul, Soviet troops occupied all public offices, media buildings and government offices. President of Afghanistan, Hafizullah Amin was killed and it was announced on Radio Kabul that Afghanistan had been liberated.

With the Soviet occupation on Afghanistan, the threat of communism spreading in the Middle East increased. This was a call for the United States to step in by funding a certain rebellion group, the Taliban.

Why the US wanted to keep Russia out and who they sided with
The US were attempting to cause a disturbance in various Afghan areas to interrupt the Communist regime and bring the country under US sphere of influence. This included the assistance and cooperation of local leaders and warlords to form mercenary rebel groups, who would wage war against the Russian government, to institute a new regime under American control.

Although the Russian's were not completely certain of how these attacks were funded, the United States also supported Afghanistan by providing money to refugee camps and boycotted the Olympics, which were to be held in Russia that year. By 1991-1992, the US and the USSR finally reached an agreement that neither would continue to supply aid to any faction in Afghanistan. However, the numerous military factions previously funded and armed by the US have been vying for supremacy. One of the groups funded by the C.I.A were the Taliban, who later became our biggest threat.