The Cold War in Asia — Afghanistan
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Question
What was the Saur Revolution?
Answer
The April 1978 coup in which the communist PDPA seized power in Afghanistan, killing President Daoud and installing Nur Muhammad Taraki.
Question
Why did PDPA reforms provoke such fast, widespread resistance?
Answer
Land reform, forced literacy for girls, and attacks on tribal and religious authority struck at the core of rural Afghan life, sparking revolts within months.
Question
Why did the USSR invade Afghanistan in December 1979?
Answer
Moscow feared Hafizullah Amin's unstable, brutal rule would let the communist government collapse to Islamist rebels, so Soviet forces killed Amin and installed Babrak Karmal.
Question
Who were the Mujahideen?
Answer
Afghan resistance fighters organised by tribe and region who framed their war against PDPA and Soviet forces as jihad, a religious struggle.
Question
Name the three main foreign backers of the Mujahideen and what each gave.
Answer
USA (money and Stinger missiles via the CIA's Operation Cyclone), Pakistan (training camps and arms distribution via the ISI), Saudi Arabia (funding and volunteer fighters, including Osama bin Laden).
Question
What changed after 1986 that hurt Soviet forces badly?
Answer
US-supplied Stinger missiles let the Mujahideen shoot down Soviet helicopters and aircraft, blunting the Soviets' key air-power advantage and raising their losses.
Question
When did Soviet troops fully withdraw from Afghanistan, and under what agreement?
Answer
February 1989, following the 1988 Geneva Accords signed under Mikhail Gorbachev.
Question
How did the Afghan war contribute to the USSR's own collapse?
Answer
It drained Soviet money and morale, cost thousands of lives, and fed the climate of open criticism unleashed by Gorbachev's glasnost, though it was one factor among several (with economic stagnation and nationalist movements).
Question
What happened to the Najibullah government in April 1992?
Answer
It collapsed once Soviet aid ended after the USSR's 1991 dissolution, and Mujahideen factions took Kabul, triggering a civil war.
Question
How did the Taliban rise to power?
Answer
Amid the 1992-96 civil war between rival Mujahideen warlords, the Taliban, religious students promising to end corruption and restore order through strict Islamic law, captured Kabul in 1996.
Question
What is the direct chain of events from 9/11 to the fall of the Taliban?
Answer
Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks (2001) led the USA to demand the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden; when they refused, a US-led coalition invaded in October 2001 and toppled the Taliban regime by December 2001.
Question
Compare the Soviet-Afghan War and the US war in Vietnam.
Answer
Both saw a superpower with superior technology fail to defeat a determined, foreign-backed guerrilla movement, suffer rising costs and casualties, and eventually withdraw without achieving its goals.
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Full study notes for The Cold War in Asia — Afghanistan
Topic 12.11 hub
The Cold War in Asia (1949–2002)
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