AFGHANISTAN’S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT AGAINST THE SOVIET INVASION, 1979-89

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor; Department Of History, University of Tehran

Abstract

In the late 1970s, the Soviets could not save their Afghani dependents in power even by providing them huge military and financial aids. As a result, they decided to occupy Afghanistan. Having support from Islamic world and international society, Afghan resistance forces fought against the Soviets to defend their country’s independence and integrity. After a decade of struggle and jihad, they were successful to force the Soviet army leave Afghanistan. Previous research on this subject has emphasized the role of the United States and Afghan Arabs and undermined the role played by the Afghan resistance. This paper intends to study the political and military aspects of the movement. The paper concludes that the Afghan resistance has had a leading role in forcing the Soviets out of the country, and that other factors have had only subsidiary roles.

Keywords