Mujahideen

Lore & Background

The term mujahideen, the plural of mujahid, broadly describes individuals engaged in jihad, an act spiritually akin to promoting Islam in its early centuries, which could include charitable giving. Historically, the word was applied to Muslim fighters resisting British colonial rule in India, where they recruited deserting soldiers and eventually controlled areas in Afghanistan. The first recorded English use for insurgent Islamic extremism dates to the late 19th century. In Central Asia from 1916 to the 1930s, Islamic guerrillas opposing Tsarist and Bolshevik rule called themselves mojahed, though Soviets labeled them basmachi. The most widely known mujahideen were the decentralized Afghan guerrilla coalitions that fought the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and invading Soviet forces during the 1979–1989 war. These groups, organized around regional warlords and Pashtun tribal structures, operated in isolated mountainous areas. Seven main Sunni factions eventually formed the Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen, though ideological differences prevented unified command. Foreign volunteers, notably Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, coordinated support through Maktab al-Khadamat, with funding primarily from private donors and religious charities, not states. After the Soviet withdrawal, the mujahideen overthrew the DRA in 1992 but failed to establish a stable government, leading to internecine conflict and the eventual rise of the Taliban.

Reader's Guide

The mujahideen, an Arabic plural for those engaged in jihad, first entered widespread English usage in reference to the guerrilla groups that fought the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and later Soviet forces during the Afghan War from 1979 to 1989. These Afghan mujahideen were a coalition of highly decentralized, regionally based factions, often reflecting the local tribal and Pashtun structures of Afghan society. Their basic units operated locally under competing warlords, though seven main Sunni parties eventually formed a political bloc called the Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen, despite lacking unified command and holding ideological differences. Foreign Muslim volunteers, notably Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, organized an all-Arab group of fighters known as "Afghan Arabs," funneled through the Maktab al-Khadamat with support from Saudi and Pakistani governments. While the mujahideen received aid from the United States, Britain, China, and others, the majority of their funding came from private donors and religious charities across the Muslim world, particularly the Persian Gulf. After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, the mujahideen formed an interim government in exile in Pakistan, but internal divisions, the exclusion of Shia factions and supporters of the former king, and a failed military offensive at Jalalabad in 1989 prevented a united front. By 1992, the communist government fell, but the mujahideen could not establish a functional government and instead fought each other for control of Kabul. This infighting, along with the rise of a new armed movement called the Taliban—composed of students from refugee camps and Saudi-backed madrassas—led to the Taliban’s eventual takeover. The term mujahideen also historically applies to earlier Islamic guerrillas in Central Asia from 1916 to the 1930s, who opposed Tsarist and Bolshevik rule and were called basmachi by Soviets, as well as to groups in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, where holy warriors recruited deserting sepoys and controlled areas of Afghanistan.

Did You Know?

• Osama bin Laden was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers in Afghanistan.