Operation Cyclone Essay

Theoretically, it holds that the United States (US) invaded Afghanistan as a self-defense strategy following the 9/11 attacks. Practically, however, as US foreign policy is about conquest, self-protection and resource-extraction, it seeks strategic dominance of geographical space to sustain its global relevance. The rationality of the US suggests the need to continuously accumulate capital, resources and military proficiency to ensure autonomy. Therefore, a pragmatic reading into the motivation behind the invasion of Afghanistan negates the self-defense theory. Rather, the shifting coordinates of power within central and southern Asia crafted the perfect criteria for US intervention. This work explores the motivations and systemic cover-ups designed by the Bush administration in ordering military troops into Afghanistan in 2001. It will hold that this invasion was not just a War on Terror, but rather a tactic to ensure US prevalence within the region, and henceforth, the rest of the world. Thus, why did the US invade Afghanistan?

The Mujahideen would prove to be too powerful of a foe for the Afghan army to control so the Soviets took charge. More than 100,000 Soviet troops would control major cities and towns, making the Mujahideen move to the Afghanistan mountains and countryside. Most of the battles would occur in the mountains with the Soviet army with helicopter support trying to lure the Mujahideen out of the mountains. The mountains and countryside would provide the Mujahideen with the ultimate hiding spots and able to use guerilla tactics. The Soviets would bomb civilian locations near the mountains and countryside to cutoff support to the Mujahedeen but this failed with civilians fleeing from Afghanistan to nearby countries like Pakistan and Iran. The Soviet army was no match for the climate in Afghanistan and the religious determination of the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen was able to gain the upperhand when shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles were supplied to them by United States through Pakistan and other equipment by Muslim supporting groups. The Mujahideen was not organized into one big fighting force but comprised of different sects fighting to dispel Soviet forces. With now acquiring weapons from outside sources and being joined by Muslim volunteers from all over the world, the Mujahideen were able to defeat the mighty Soviet Union.

The United States’ War on Terror following the attacks on 9/11 began with the invasion of Afghanistan and an attempt to to overthrow the Taliban government for harboring Osama bin Laden, the one responsible for the devastating attacks, led to devastating casualties of American and Taliban soldiers, as well as countless civilians. The United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7, 2001 and began a ground and air attack in Afghanistan. In the first year of the war, it is reported that between 1537 to 2490 civilians were killed in the air assault led by U.S. forces (Guilliard 66). The U.S. swiftly defeated the Taliban but failed to capture Bin Laden before he escaped to Pakistan. It is reported that roughly 13,000 Talibani soldiers were killed in the first year of the war Guilliard 74). This led to very poor relations with Afghan “rebels” in which there were many sporadic battles with that led to Afghanistan becoming a

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 February 2002, Special Forces intelligence agents along with Advanced Force Operations (AFO), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), were starting to make a connection between an increase presence of high-value targets (HVT), the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda fighters in an area called Shahi-Kot Valley (Neville, 2005). Shahi-Kot is located in Afghanistan, just southeast of a town called Zormat. A plan was devised to eliminate the enemy threat in that area. Major Franklin L. Hagenbeck was to command the mission called Operation Anaconda. This operation was the first large-scale battle in the United States War in Afghanistan since the Battle of Tora Bora (Call, 2007, p. 57-86). Operation Anaconda was also unique in the fact that it would involve a great number of Afghan militia, U.S. and coalition Special Operations, and conventional forces (U.S. Army, n.d.),

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the eventual civil war both effected America in many ways. After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, they learned that their troops “were of little use in a place like Afghanistan” (Paul) because of the harsh terrain and environment. Using airstrikes, the Soviets began to decimate many of the villages within Afghanistan. It was because of this act of aggression that America started arming the resistance fighters with anti-aircraft missiles. With the assistance of the United States, the Soviets retreated from Afghanistan, which led to internal fighting within the tribes for power.

2001-Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan are targeted by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and the CIA’s

The rise of Al Qaeda is an instrumental starting point in providing context to this discussion as the group was held responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Al Qaeda’s upcoming was accelerated after 10 years of conflict (from 1978 until 1989) in Afghanistan between the Soviets and Afghan insurgent groups. The Communist Government

As Russian forces pushed into Afghanistan seeking to conquer the nation, spread communism, and secure oil routes, the United States suspected Russia may be successful in its conquest. Moreover, President Carter’s administration took notice and produced presidential findings, allowing the United States to indirectly and mildly support Mujahidin rebel forces, who sought to confront the Russian forces and win back Afghanistan. President Carter utilizing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funneled small weapons and funding to associates within the Pakistan intelligence community who in turn provided the items to the rebel forces (Coll

This paper explores the battle of Qala-i-Jangi, with alternate outcomes and relevant capabilities of both sides rendering a future effect on the campaign. Taliban and foreign fighters surrendered near Kunduz and were being held as enemy combatants at Qala-i-Jangi fortress prison for interrogations by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The prisoners revolted and the ensuing fighting escalated into one of the bloodiest battles of the conflict. Northern Alliance fighters, assisted by British and American Special Forces and air support, to quelled the revolt. As a result all but 86 prisoners were killed. United States (US) suffered the first American fatality during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Among the surviving prisoners was an American citizen. The subsequent lessons learned will be employed throughout campaigns on the Global War on Terrorism, Operation Enduring Freedom. (Wikipedia, 2015)

In addition to the Enfields were the captured Soviet weapons, and not to forget the CIA's generous weapons donations. At that point in time

The Soviet invasion was futile in terms of advantages and eventually lethal. It demoralized their troops, punctured the economy and instead of ensuring stability within the Soviet sphere, it instigated their downfall. Furthermore, the role of the United States cannot be overlooked, as the central intelligence agency (CIA) funneled weapons and money to Mujahideen forces through the ISI (Pakistani intelligence) and eventually left Afghanistan to their disposal. The repercussions of such actions evolved into the terrorist attacks on September 11th and still affect American policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moscow had a very tough decision to make on whether to send troops to Afghanistan to assist Afghan soldiers; ultimately, Soviet troops were

This paper will be explaining the similarities, and differences, between the Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan. There are many topics that bring these two wars together. However, I am only going to be talking about public support, policy objectives, military strategy, weapons, fighting spirit, links to home, and death totals. These topics have a lot of information about them, but there is too much to write about every little detail, so I will cover the broad overview of them. Each paragraph will be about one of the topics. There will also be a discussion about insurgencies and counter insurgency operations. These are two big topics in Vietnam and Afghanistan since almost all of the enemy in both wars were, and are, comprised of insurgents and different types of militia groups.

During mid-1970s, the disclosure of CIA misconducts had significantly damaged the agency. Agency’s focus had mainly shifted to passive intelligence collection and analysis. Covert operations were highly criticized and many intelligence officers were terminated. By 1980, Reagan’s transitional team and many conservatives believed that the agency had failed to do its job and was clearly ineffective in dealing with the Soviet Union (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2010). In 1981, after Reagan took office, by selecting Casey as DCI, he pursued to rebuild the CIA’s capability to take political and military actions in foreign countries, particularly against the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Having the OSS experience during WWII, Casey had strong faith in the agency's purpose and the role it could play in support of the administrations’ policies. Casey reversed the CIA’s downfall by increasing the budget and the number of personnel; and sought to rebuild the agency’s morale. Under his leadership, the CIA expanded its support for several anticommunist insurgent organizations and significantly increased the number of covert operations in various developing countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, and several countries in Central America (Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2016). This increased the agency’s need for more money; therefore, Casey asked Congress to provide the agency with more funds to support the Afghan guerrilla fighters. Due to the success of Islamic revolution in Iran overthrowing one of the most important U.S. allies in the region, Tehran’s hostage crises, and the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan, Americans’ mood shifted from the post-Vietnam sentiment. Therefore, Congress tripled the amount of Casey's original fund request. By channeling massive amounts of aid to the anti-Soviet insurgents in Afghanistan, CIA started the largest covert operation

The USSR turned a country with people who hated Communism, into a Communist country. When the USSR heard people in Afghanistan were rebelling, troops were sent into Afghanistan to scare the Mujahideen (Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan). “The Soviets then attempted to eliminate the mujahideen’s civilian support by bombing and depopulating the rural areas” (Afghan War). “Their tactics sparked a massive flight from the countryside; by 1982 some 2.8 million Afghans had sought asylum in Pakistan, and another 1.5 million had fled to Iran” (Afghan War). But the mujahideen outmaneuvered the Soviets by eventually neutralizing Soviet air power through the use of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles supplied by the United States (Afghan War).