Afghan conflict
Near-continuous armed conflict in Afghanistan since the 1970s.
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On 27 April 1978, the PDPA and military units loyal to it revolted and killed Khan in the Saur Revolution.[1] Amin has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Afghan civilians at Pul-e-Charkhi and other national prisons.[2] The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on 24 December 1979, deposing Amin and replacing him with Babrak Karmal.[3] The Soviet government realized that a military solution would require far more troops and discussed troop withdrawals as early as 1980.[4]
What the cited sources add
Human Rights Watch documents that tens of thousands of civilians were killed and injured amidst the fighting during that period.[5] The BBC notes that the Saur revolution of 20 years ago is perhaps the single event that most upset the political framework in Afghanistan.[6] The BBC also reports that about a million Afghans were killed during the Soviet occupation.[6] Svetlana Savranskaya's account states that the Soviet decision makers did not anticipate the influential role of Islam in Afghan society.[7]
Savranskaya's account also notes that the Soviet Army quickly realized the inadequacy of its preparation and planning for the mission in Afghanistan.[7] Human Rights Watch describes the Taliban as a movement of religious students from Pashtun areas who emerged in 1994.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Afghan conflict" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Neamatollah Nojumi, "The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region", 2002 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Afghan conflict" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Robert D. Kaplan. Vintage, 2001. p.115; "The Intervention in Afghanistan and the Fall of Detente, A Chronology", National Security Archive; "Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / Country Studies / Area Handbook Series / Afghanistan", country-data.com; "The Intervention in Afghanistan and the Fall of Detente, A Chronology", National Security Archive (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Afghan conflict" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Soviet Union invades Afghanistan", History, 24 November 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Afghan conflict" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Svetlana Savranskaya, "Volume II: Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War", The National Security Archive (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Blood-Stained Hands, Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity", Human Rights Watch, 6 July 2005. facts only, no text reused. hrw.org
- "World: Analysis Afghanistan: 20 years of bloodshed", BBC News, 26 April 1998. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
- Svetlana Savranskaya, "Volume II: Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War", The National Security Archive. facts only, no text reused. gwu.edu
- "II. BACKGROUND", Human Rights Watch. facts only, no text reused. hrw.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Afghan conflict (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Modern Conflicts
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Afghan conflict (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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