Research On American Covert Action In Afghanistan (1979-1989)

During the cold war,the United States and the Soviet Union had a fierce struggle for world hegemony.Because of its special geopolitical status,Afghanistan became the object of contention between the United States and the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan on December 1979 drew wide attention from the international community,and the United States quickly responsed with open diplomacy.However,after the economic blockade against the Soviet Union and the boycott of the 1980’s Moscow Olympics failed to work,the United States decided to conduct covert action toward Afghanistan.After the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan,to safeguard the interests of the United States in the Persian gulf,President Carter has launched the Carter Doctrine including the use of military force and formulated the covert action toward Afghanistan,which offered military and economic support to Afghan Musjahidin,and carried out the propaganda war and psychological warfare to tarnish the image of the Soviet Union.Reagan inherited and deepened Carter’s covert action strategy after he succeeded Carter as President of the United States.He carried out a full range of activities dominated by paramilitary operation and propaganda operation,and coordinated by political war and economic war,which restricted the Soviet Union’s expansion in Afghanistan in the form of “low-intensity warfare”.United States and its allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt,provided advanced weapons and equipments like stinger missiles,communication equipments,and logistical materials to Afghanistan Musjahidin through Pakistan.Meanwhile the CIA and the ISI cooperated to offer training venues and military intelligence which seriously hampered the Soviet offensive,extended the battle front,and forced the Soviet Union finally decide to withdraw from Afghanistan.The covert actions had a profound impact on Afghanistan,the Soviet Union,U.S.—Afghan relations and the regional order.First of all,the Afghan Musjahidin continued the civil war and advaced drug economy,which led to the instability of the Afghan society and difficult reconstruction.U.S.-sponsored Islamic Fundamentalism has led to the spread of extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan,posing a threat to security both home and abroad.Besides,the covert actions of the United States dragged the Soviet Union into the decade-long war by using the indirect means of assisting Afghan rebel groups,which dragged down the Soviet economy and was an important factor in the withdrawal from Afghanistan,as well as an incentive for the disintegration of the Soviet Union.In addition,the covert actions of the United States also played an important role in the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet union,which weakened the influence of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan,contained the expansion of the Soviet Union in the Middle East,and forced the Soviet Union to carry out strategic contraction.The cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union ended with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the upheaval in eastern Europe,thus changing the pattern of the confrontation between the two countries.Finally,America’s covert actions in Afghanistan had signaifcant influence on regional order and world peace.The CIA’s Drug-Breeding-War policy have made Afghanistan the world’s largest drug production base and exporter.The Islamist forces fostered by the CIA have led to rampant terrorism and extremism,posing a challenge and threat to the security and stability of the Middle East and the world at large.The covert actions in Afghanistan was one of the largest secrert operations implemented by United States during the cold war,characterized by little investment,small cost and significant effect.It played an important role in America’s grand strategy and was a trigger of the collapse of the Soviet Union.The analysis of this typical case can broaden the research scope of the cold war history and better understand the influence of American cold war mentality and global strategy on the Middle East and the world pattern.