Generals Of The Civil War

Afghanistan The Great Game - A Personal View by Rory Stewart Part-2 This episode Stewart tells the story of Soviet and United States involvement in Afghanistan. From 1928 until 1978 there had been relative peace and in the 1960s and '70s was on the hippie trail but the cold war was at its height with Afghanistan surrounded by American allies Iran and Pakistan. In northern Afghanistan soviet aid was provided and in southern Afghanistan American aid. In Kabul Islamists and communists vied for supremecy and when the communists took control in 1978 they asked the Soviet Union for military assistance. Reluctantly they agreed after the Afghan president went to Moscow in 1979. 80,000 troops entered Afghanistan and the United States saw a chance for revenge against the Soviets who aided the communists in Vietnam. The CIA covertly through General Zia, President of Pakistan, provided modern weaponry. Charlie Wilson and socialite Joanne Herring were prominent in the raising of 9 billion dollars covertly passed to Afghanistan. In 1988 the Soviets pulled out and the country descended into a vicious five-year civil war that the Taliban emerged victorious imposing strict Islamic law. Afghanistan became a safe haven for many terrorist groups and when the twin towers were attacked in New York the United States and its coalition allies entered Afghanistan in large numbers and as Rory Stewart points to the history of Afghanistan, it is an easy country to enter but a difficult one to leave - Z. Yachtchenko & Belaya Gvardia Generals Of The Civil War