International Criminal Justice Between Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and America

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. The result would be a war that the Soviet Union wishes it never got involved in and likened to their “Vietnam War”, meaning winning a number of battles but not the war like what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam. The background of the war, outcome of the war, and impact on the United States are key to understanding the Soviet-Afghan War.

After World War 2, everyone was happy, unfortunately this happiness didn’t last long. The Soviet Union and United States had many differences. One of those many being, the Soviets believing in Communism and the United States believing in Capitalism. This little disagreement sparked one of the deadliest wars in U.S. history. The U.S. put the Soviets under a policy known as containment. This meant the Soviets were going to be watched and kept under control. This was to insure Communism wouldn’t spread fast or anywhere else. The strongest example of containment is the Cuban missile crisis, while North Korea vs. South Korea is the weakest example.

Just as civil conflict led to international conflict, international conflict lead to additional threats from other countries. Although GB only became involved with Afghanistan to prevent Russia from invading, within two centuries their involvement became futile. In 1979, Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Even after a long period of independence in Afghanistan, Afghan troops were unable to defeat the Soviets. The war was brutal, and lasted for an entire decade. Afghanistan remained a weak state from the Soviet-Afghan war, which made them susceptible to intervention from the U.S in 2001. Both events, the Soviet invasion and the arrival of American troops, can be traced back to the border. The border led to complex issues which occurred in quick succession, therefore Afghanistan and Pakistan had to pay attention to the issues that were right in front of them, because they were so apparent and pressing. However, as Af and Pak were distracted, more powerful countries like America and Russia were able to invade. It was an awareness of surrounding political climates that kept Russia and GB out of Afghanistan during the first Anglo-Afghan war, but with their own borders and issues to worry about Af and Pak paid no attention to other

The Cold War, which started sometime in the 1940’s, was a large quarrel between the United States and the Soviet Union. This dispute involved a lot of propaganda and threats of nuclear warfare. Despite all of the trouble though, after over forty years of fighting, the two leaders of these countries (Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev) would finally work out a solution. However, although they did reach an agreement, there were many differences between these two men.

In April 1978 Afghanistan’s centrist government, led by President Muhammad Daud Khan, was overthrown by Soviet left-wing military officers, led by a man named Nur Muhammad Taraki. The Soviet Union was in support of the communists in Afghanistan and against the anti communist, “Muslim guerrillas”. The Soviet Union wanted to replace Afghanistan’s existing government to spread communism. The war ended up straining the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union nearly to the breaking point. The United States was not in favor of the Soviet Union trying to invade Afghanistan. This ineffective war lasted eight years, cost many lives and a lot of money, and was often compared to the Vietnam War. The Muslim rebels eventually succeeded

Outside influence has always be an issue for Afghanistan as demonstrated by the numerous military campaigns that surround its history most notably by Alexander the Great, British, Soviet Russians, and today by Western powers. During 1880-1901 Abdur Rahman Khan came into power. It was at this time Abdur Rahman expressed that the British were “really anxious to see Afghanistan a strong independent Government-a true ally and barrier, “ whereas the Russians wished “to see Afghanistan divided into pieces and very weak, if not entirely cleared out of the way to India.” (Ewans, pg 99). Although considered a strong ruler who re-established the Afghan Government his power came from the reliability of the British for his protection throughout his reign.

On December, 24th 1979 Soviets invaded Afghanistan, starting a nationwide rebellion by Islamic fighters and extremist, the fierce gorilla style fighting aided to the overall withdrawal of soviet force a decade after the initial attack on the country (Witte, Griff). Within a few years of the country relieving it’s self of Soviet rule the country focused their anger on themselves, starting a mass Civil War. In the mid-1990s, the Taliban began defeating local warlords and received support from Pakistan, by 1995, the Taliban is looked at as the government of Afghanistan (PBS.com). This would start phase one for The United States, the United States refusing that the Taliban held rule in Afghanistan as well as wanting to topple the Taliban. The two bomb bombings on American embassies in Africa led to the cruise missile attacks against Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan later on that year. On September 9, 2001, two men associated with the killing of the Northern Alliance leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who looked toward the United States for bigger financial backing, with his murder the coordinated attacks on September 11, 2001 where in motion (Witte,

Afghanistan’s government is in a state of chaos and it is America’s fault. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, America quickly reacted and fought the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden; taking then out of power. The problem with that, is the Taliban were the ones keeping Afghanistan stable. America has tried to stabilize the Afghan government but has failed due to: the constant violence and acts of terrorism, the many ethnic groups and their conflicts, and the rough, mountainous geography of the country.

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan began on Christmas Eve 1979, dramatically intensified the cold war and, in the early 1980s, became a symbol of international tension.1 The Soviet Afghan war was contributing factor to collapse of the Soviet Union and Soviet Communist Party (CPSU). The war that followed destroyed many Afghan provinces, and 50,000 Soviet and over 1.2 million Afghan Casualties .2 The turmoil can be trace back to Afghan Communist party or the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). The PDPA came to power after staging a coup against the Muhammad Daoud government in April 1973. It started from the Kabul International Airport to the capital of Kabul, were revolutionary forces stormed the presidential palace within twenty

As his rule continued, the Soviet Union grew worried that they were losing their influence in Afghanistan. The Soviets began to suspect that Amin had reached out for help and support from the United States and that Amin had blatantly shamed the Soviet leadership. Moreover, the military conflicts within Afghanistan were increasingly growing out of control, creating additional concern among Soviet leaders about their influence in the region. The conscripted army in Afghanistan steadily was growing weaker—growing so unstable that it was beginning to lose control to Islamist groups opposing the central government. The Soviet government had already tried to take measures in the past to control this increasingly

On the eve of Christmas in 1979, everybody must have been expecting something special at their home, particularly in western hemisphere. But, there was shocking surprise from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to the world. Eleven inches of black boots of the Soviet Union’s paratroops touched on the Afghan soil where civil war was on the verge. No one from the world leaders assumed that the USSR would invade Afghanistan due to its strategic insignificance. At world view, “the invasion was a watershed event, delegitimizing Soviet policy, and communism more generally, in the eyes of world public opinion. The voice outrage of western countries at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was seriously reproached by the UN which condemned the Soviet Union’s monstrous action.

In 1978 the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a poor, agrarian and socialist government. With close ties to the Soviet Union the Afghan government became a concern to the United States by summer 1979 due to issues of instability and the loss of key U.S. allies in the region. Under President Jimmy Carter the United States

This rivalry created a precarious situation for the world, and “From the end of World War II until the fall of communism in the late 1980s, the Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated international relations” (Thompson 38). The people of the United States supported the Cold War, but were also heightened to the fact that the conflict meant increased military tension between the two countries. In addition to the Cold War conflict with just the Soviet Union, all communist countries became part of the United States’ campaign of domination. Eventually, Cuba took a front seat in this conflict.

To have a balanced argument, it must be examined the influence that the Soviet Union had in this period. It can best be described in two parts – firstly the solidification of the communist states in Eastern Europe for example Czechoslovakia. In 1948, Josef Stalin approved a plan by the Czechoslovakian communists to seize power in the only democratic state left in Eastern Europe . This was shown as making a point that the Eastern European states will remain communist and he would make sure that they did. An example from the 1950’s is the October 1956 Revolution against communism in Hungary. Russian tanks had stormed into Budapest and with the support of the AVN (Soviet backed Hungarian Secret Police) brought Communism back into Hungary . To make a comparison, Stalin and the Soviet Union had in essence, a policy of expansion – to spread communism throughout the world. The USA on the other hand, wanted to try to contain

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had dire effects on the international relations between Russia and the majority of western countries as well as relations between developing countries in both the Middle East and Africa. More importantly, the developing world suffered an extraordinary change in opinion with regards to partnership with communist Russia. The focus of this analysis will be the change in perspective that the developing world experienced during and after the invasion of Afghanistan. First a summary of events leading up to December 1979, the month of the initial invasion of Afghanistan, will be provided. Second, an investigation of the actual invasion and occupation period will demonstrate the reaction of the international community and the effects on both Afghanistan and Russia. Ultimately, the events leading up to the invasion and the invasion itself depict a critical change in opinion by the developing world.