Afghanistan has come from a background of turmoil. The country has been invaded many times. The Soviet Union was able to sieze control of the country, however the control was overthrown. After the Soviet Union lost power Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban. The Taliban implemented some extreme controls and denied many basic human rights.
Afghanistan is a country that has been cultivated through turmoil. In recent years they have endured the invasion of the Soviet Union, shortly followed by the reign of the Taliban.
The Soviet Union edged their way into Afghanistan before they invaded the county. There were years of set up that made it possible for the invasion. As the Soviet Union established relations and gave aid to Afghanistan they were able to have a knowledge of the workings of the country. They gained the trust of the leaders and people and were able to use this to their advantage. The invasion proved to be devastating to the country. Most Afghans were opposed to the Soviet rule and in the mid 1980s the Afghan resistant movement overthrew Soviet rule, with the aid of the US, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and others. This soured relations between the Soviet Union and many western and Middle Eastern countries. The country soon fell into anarchy, which made an easy entrance for the Taliban.
The Soviet Union had established diplomatic ties with Afghanistan in 1919 and had enjoyed extensive bilateral trade contacts since the 1930s. Soviet economic and military advisers had been a constant feature in Afghanistan since 1950. The Soviets built many of Afghanistan's roads and airfields. The Soviet General Staff was quite knowledgeable about Afghanistan's geography, economy, sociology and military forces. Yet, the Soviet force commitment, initially assessed as lasting several months, required 10 years and ever-increasing Soviet forces. It proved a bloody experience in which the Soviet Union reportedly killed 1.3 million people and forced 5.5 million Afghans--a third of the prewar population--to leave the country as refugees. Another 2 million Afghans were forced to migrate within the country. Today, the countryside is still ravaged and littered with mines. Collectively, the Soviet Union inflicted more suffering on Afghanistan than Germany inflicted on the Soviet Union during World War II.
(Grau and Yahya par 11)
This quote shows how the Soviet Union’s involvement with Afghanistan helped prepare a way for them to invade Afghanistan. The people were very unhappy with the Soviet rule, and supported the mujahidin fighters.
It was the mujahidin fighters that fought with passion to overturn the Soviet rule. They were finally able to defeat the Soviet Union, with help of other counties, because of their strong morale. This next quote describes although these men were fighters they were devoutly religous. Their religious convictions were a large reason for their passions that led to their determination in overturning the Soviet Union.
The word means Islamic fighters, or "holy warriors", as the press grandiloquently labeled them. However holy they were, they took aspects of their faith extremely seriously, praying five times a day, even during battle.
(Gall, par. 2)
The mujahidin were sometimes very young, but they had more conviction for their fighting than the Soviet soldiers did. Their passion and faith drove them to fight fiercely. They were more passionate about their fight over their own personal beliefs, than the Soviets were over their fight to spread communism. The mujahidin received aid from other countries with made their success possible.
Meanwhile, modern weapons from the United States flooded in to supply the mujahideen, enabling them to more easily shoot down Soviet helicopters and planes. (The United States and the Soviet Union were enemies at the time.) In addition, about 35,000 Muslim volunteers from other countries rushed to join the fight.
(The Soviet-Afghan War, par. 3)
This quote showed the United States assistants to the mujahedeen to defeat the Soviet Union. The United States sour relations with the Soviet Union made them automatically side with the Soviet Union's enemies.
The Mujahidin groups’ inability to build a durable and stable society after the Soviets withdrew paved the way for the Taliban to rise to power. The Taliban had backing from Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi who supported the Taliban both financially and politically.
Afghanistan’s civil war continued after a Soviet pullout in 1989 as various mujahidin factions fought to fill the power vacuum. In the past four years, a newer group called the Taliban has gained control of most of Afghanistan. The Taliban, whose name means “students,” have their roots in the Pakistan-based seminaries established for Afghan refugees during the Soviet occupation.
(“Congressional Digest” 1)
Because of the Taliban’s education in the Pakistan seminaries, they tried to impose an extreme version of Islam on the rest of the country. They denied several rights to many Afghans. Girls were not allowed to attend school and women had to be covered from head to toe when in public.
International concern mounted about the treatment of Afghan women, who were usually denied schooling, medical care, and freedom to travel except under strict conditions.
(“Congressional Digest” 1)
The female gender was not the only group to be restricted. The whole country was under very strict control. The Taliban banned many forms of communication and media so the people could be unaware of the rest of the world.
The Taliban's social doctrines were imposed Everyone was ordered to pray five times a day; attendance at Friday religious services was mandatory; music was banned from the radio; movie theaters and TV stations were shut down.
(Macleish 1)
During the reign of the Taliban, along with women, many others, were denied many human rights. The Taliban was oppressive to many groups.
Both the communists and the Taliban, polar opposites in their politics, failed in their Stalinist effort to impose a centralized order on Afghanistan.
(“Brown” 1).
Neither groups were able to achieve order and a functioning society, but since the all of the Taliban, Afghanistan has made much progress. Afghanistan held its first national democratic elections. More than eight million Afghans participated in the election and 41 percent of those participating were women.
"Afghanistan Overview." Congressional Digest 80.11 (Nov. 2001): 261. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, UT. 9 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5502764&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.
Brown, Carl. "The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region." Foreign Affairs 81.3 (May 2002): 175-175. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, UT. 2 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6490470&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.
Gall, Sandy. "When David took on Goliath." New Statesman 130.4559 (15 Oct. 2001): 26. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, UT. 8 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5371238&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.
Grau, Lester W., and Mohammand Yahya.. "The Soviet experience in Afghanistan." Military Review 75.5 (Sep. 1995): 17. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, UT. 11 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9601071686&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.
Macleish, Rod. "`Students of religion' crucify Afghanistan." Christian Science Monitor 88.237 (01 Nov. 1996): 19. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, UT. 13 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9611183632&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.
"The Soviet-Afghan War." Current Events 106.5 (06 Oct. 2006): 2-2. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, UT. 8 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=22585713&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.