Afghan War Case Study

The competition and increasing awareness on democratic rights did force the Soviets to stand back and make some major policy changes in 1980s. The Soviet Premier of the time Gorbachev tried to set some political and social reforms in the soviet society in order to ease the pressure and help Soviets to continue to survive in the international arena. Moreover, the Soviets did not only make shifts in their internal policies but also in their foreign policy understanding as well. For instance withdrawal from Afghanistan, signing of various nuclear deterrence agreements with multi parties including the US are some of the key changes that occurred in the 1980s. However, the reforms of Gorbachev did not prevent the Soviets to stop its collapse and eventually after a series of events in 1991 the Soviet Union formally announced its dissolution[7].

The Afghanistan War was the longest war in history fought by the United States. The war took place over 13 years and 59 countries participated in the war. The US led the war in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, after the Taliban refused to give America Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda. As a result of this on the 7th October 2001 the US and the UK launched Operation Enduring Freedom. They were then joined by other forces including the Northern Alliance, which had been fighting the taliban since 1996 when they came into power. The main goal for the Afghanistan war was to destroy al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

One of Reagan’s main concerns was the Soviet Union. Reagan stated, “The march of freedom and democracy...will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history ...”12 All through his term he worked to collapse the Union, to end the Cold War, and to tear down the Berlin Wall. Margaret Thatcher commented that “Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot”.10 Reagan set up the collapse of the Soviet Union in a couple of ways. First, he put more funds into the U.S. military, forcing the Soviets to do the same.11 second, he was confident that the U.S.S.R was crumbling and failing even when those around him believed that Communism was strong. Third, he was not intimidated by the Soviets and, while he respectfully met and listened to Gorbachev, he was not wavering and was determined. Even though many factors contributed to the fall of Communism, Reagan sped the process up and the Union officially fell apart in

Upon taking office in 1980, Reagan issued a massive build up of the American military, and generally adapted a more confrontational policy towards the Soviet Union (which he referred to as an "evil Empire" in a 1983 speech) than had been adapted by his predecessors in the White House. This policy is ultimately credited with helping speed the economic collapse and opening of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, which ultimately led to the breakup of the former USSR under the first President Bush. However, Reagan's policy included provisions for providing covert support for anti-Communist resistance activities around the world, including giving weapons and arms to Mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan, some of whom led Afghan and Taliban resistance to the US invasion of Afghanistan a two decades later in the 2000s. Perhaps the biggest scandal of Reagan's presidency also resulted from this policy, as the CIA violated American law by selling guns and weapons to Iran to fund the "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua, an episode that became known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

When the soviet union invaded afghanistan the war lasted for 9 years 1979-1989. Between 1 million to 1.5 million people were killed in that war and millions of people when to a diffrent countries such as pakistan or iran as refugees. The United States supported Afghanistan by supplying arms to the Mujahadeen. Ronald Reagan sent billions of dollars to the Mujahadeen so he can help Jihad against the Soviet Union. “Reagan believed this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible. Reagan deployed CIA special activities division paramilitary officers to train, equip and lend the Mujahideen battalion against the Soviet army”. Reagan’s objective was winning the Cold War and the rollback of communism. The United States also offered financial and

In the year 1981, the American, anti-communist Ronald Reagan became president of the United States (Doc 70, pg.426). During the first term of his presidency, Reagan expressed a great sense of danger and threat that was deeply embedded in his general convictions regarding the nature of communism, particularly, in the Soviet Union (Renshon and Larson, pg.15). However, Reagan eventually began to express alternative views in his second term of presidency. He significantly altered his perception of the Soviet threat and accepted the idea of possibly working together with the Soviet Union towards achieving peace (Doc 70, pg.427). This transformation is reflected though Reagan’s initial hatred towards the USSR, to his cooperation with Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit, their great attempts to negotiate at the Reykjavik Summit and finally their signing of the INF treaty. Ronald Reagan transformed from an essentialist who viewed the Soviet Union as “evil” and ruled by an ideology seeking world communism and absolute power, to an interactionist who viewed the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of mutual misinterpretation (Renshon and Larson, pg. 20). This change ultimately caused Soviet-American relations to significantly strengthen throughout the 1980’s as U.S President Reagan cooperatively worked together with USSR General Gorbachev, a leader who shared in the same goal of achieving a peaceful, non-nuclear world.

While on the other hand, The soviets experienced the downfall of their economy as Gorbachev was an elected leader, becoming the last leader to the soviet union which drastically cause the end. As many historians will say that it was the actions and ideologies that Gorbachev decide to expose that led to the end, taking the viewpoint that ended the Cold war. Although the debate will still continue on emphasizing if Reagan actually won the cold war will stay in doubt. As it will remain of both Reagan or Gorbachev policies that ended the Cold war, the economy being the major conflict that in both perspectives it may not be

. President Reagan had an agenda regarding the USSR and the Cold War; he developed a strategy that the Soviet Union could not keep up with. (Shultz, 2104). He used the media to spread his view of the Soviet Union; furthermore, he reinstated the production of the military’s arsenals and expanded missile productions. Financially, the Soviet Union did not the resources to keep pace with America’s developing defense. In conclusion, the Cold War ended with rather high costs for all parties involved. America’s economic struggles continued, the Soviet Union pulling out of Afghanistan allowed the immergence of the Taliban, and the discovery of American weapons being sold to our enemy became the main

Similar to other countries President Reagan was helping fight the Soviets by providing the guerrillas with an extensive amount of military assistance in their fight against the invading Soviets. In part due to the financial, weapons and military training support from America the Afghan rebels were able to eventually defeat the Soviet Union’s military. Some critics are criticizing President Reagans doctrine and claim that in no way did it help the situation in Afghanistan, many of them claim that it was an epic failure. Others believe the doctrine was instrumental in helping bring an end to communism. One specific advantage that has been credited to the doctrine was “the lack of direct involvement of American troops, which allowed the United States to confront Soviet allies without sustaining casualties” (Reagan Doctrine, 2014). In addition it has been argued that it was President Reagan’s pursuit of the Strategic Defense Initiative that bankrupted the Kremlin leadership, prompting a liberalization of the Soviet political economy that brought down the entire

President Reagan and the White house began a military buildup that stimulated a new arms race. Subsequently, the Reagan administration adopted the Strategic Defense Initiative to build up a space shield for security and drove the Soviet Union into an arms race. As a result of the competition created by the Cold War between the two superpowers, the USSR challenged by the US, heavy industrialization was introduced to accommodate defensive expenditures and as a result a strain was imposed on the Soviet budget. Economically under pressure with the combination of Mikhail Gobrachev’s radical policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (free market economy) the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and gave rise to 15 different nations.

The shift away from the period of Détente is can be associated with the changing of leadership and policies of the Soviet Union beginning around the time of Khrushchev’s removal from power. With the change of leadership and governmental structure, the Soviet Union took a renewed hardline approach to populous dissent, and sought to reestablish and solidify Soviet control over its domestic territory and satellite governments. The new hardline government of the Soviet Union matched with the neo-conservative government of the United States under Ronald Reagan saw a return to earlier Cold War hostilities.

The worst case scenario for the United States in the late 70s and early 80s was the threat of the Soviet invasion of Iran and subsequent control of the Saudi Oil fields. The best that could be done to counter a possible Soviet invasion would have been the deployment of parts of the 82nd Airborne Division to the Zagros Mountains of Iran, which would take at least a week with reinforcements arriving much later. This was not acceptable to the Carter Administration, which decided on another course of action - to actively support the anti-Soviet Mujahideen “freedom - fighters” in Afghanistan and help protect the Middle Eastern oil fields. This American involvement in the Soviet Afghan war has

Due to fear of civil war, the PDPA leader, Mohammed Daoud, resorted on having relations with the West that led to his execution by the Khalqis. Noor Taraki, the Khalqis leader, assumed Daoud’s position and realigned PDPA back to Communism. This has led to insurgency in Afghanistan and brought forth the Mujahedeen who are anti-Communists (Richards, 2015). During this time, the Soviet Union had the capacity to challenge the market and military capability of U.S. which threatened their security. A security dilemma between the U.S. and Soviet Union aroused. The then U.S. President Ronald Reagan strengthened the battle against Communism during his term. His foreign policy known as the “Reagan Doctrine” aims to deplete Soviet influence by supporting the anti-Communists insurgents, its allies, and the third world countries that were against the Soviet’s ideology (U.S. Department of State, Archive, 2001). Pres. Reagan had the thought that the U.S. ballistic missiles are becoming vulnerable from foe’s attack and being left behind in terms of nuclear weapons, the arms race between the two great powers continued. There was an increased for the budget for defense, and the Systematic Defense Initiative

Some Background to the Afghanistan War is that during 1970’s Afghanistan became pro-soviet and a communist nation. However the fundamentalist Islamic group known as the Mujaheddin strongly opposed the government. The Soviets wanted to help their ally resist this threat but did not particularly want to send soldiers. However in 1979 when Hafizullah Amin came to power in Afghanistan he started to look towards the West, in particular America to help deal with this threat.

Bombs have been part of parvana's whole life.This connects to the thesis because war in Afghanistan has affected societies,family and individuals.Through displacement incred child labor and decreased womens rights.