History + Osama

In 1978, Afghanistan was a republic and was obtaining funds from the US and the Soviet Union. This in turn created a proxy Cold War within Afghanistan. The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, or PDPA, was created on communist ideals. In the same year the PDPA seized power and the government became extremely unstable. (slide)(slide) In order to increase stability in the Communist Afghan Government, the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979. This rippled causing opposing parties to morph into groups known as mujahedeen. These groups were often lead by tribal or religious leaders. According to Alexander Their, a legal advisor to the Afghan Constitutional and Judicial Reform Commission, during the time of Soviet occupation, the US was funding and arming the Mujahedeen fundamentalists, in order to protect against the spread of communism. This indirect fight by the US and Soviet Occupation went on for 9 years until 1988 when the Geneva Accords were signed. (slide) The treaty claimed that the Soviet Union would withdraw from Afghanistan if the US stopped their aid to the Mujahedeen. However, before leaving, the Soviet Union supported a coup to put (slide) Mohammad Najibullah, head of the Soviet aligned Afghani Secret Police, into power in Afghanistan. Najibullah ruled for four years; however upon the collapse of the Soviet Union Najoibullah lost his support and was quickly ousted in April of 1992. (slide) This in turn created a fight between the various mujahedeen groups over governmental power. This fighting between six ethnically divided mujahedeen forces continued for the next two years. In 1994 the Pakistani government decided it needed a safe trade route to Kabul. (slide) Therefore factions within the Pakistani government created and funded the Taliban. When first created the Taliban was comprised of mainly Pashtuns and there were thousands of willing recruits. Recruiting was easy because the army was seen as a uniting force for the country and a chance for peace. As the Taliban went through the country it gained admiration and respect from the Afghan people because it was creating law and order as well as opening trade routes, which improved the economy. In the end the Taliban had control of 90% of the country. However, as the Taliban gained strength, Afghanistan’s reputation as a place to learn jihad replicated the increase. The idea of Jihad is what Osama Bin Laden dedicated his life to and funded since the early 1980’s.

Born in Saudi Arabia, Osama Bin Ladin found safe haven as a part of the anti-soviet Mujahedeen. In 1991, Najibullah kicked him out because of his jihadist views. Bin Laden took refuge in Sudan and continued to fund Jihad training. But in 1996 Sudan decided to exile Osama due to his ideals, at which point he returned to Afghanistan and came under the protection of the Taliban. A mutual relationship was created between the Taliban and Bin Laden. The Taliban would give Bin Laden a safe haven to train his own troops and promote jihad thinking; in return Bin Laden would give much needed funded to the Taliban.

The global community needs to reach out to the younger generation in Afghanistan. Violence breeds Violence. This is important because as children see tanks driving, a sense fear and violence is created in their mind. There need to be new opportunities so children can follow a path of education as opposed to the path of violence. The educational sector of the Afghan government needs to have an increase in funding, and the art of teaching in this country needs to be revolutionized. According to Dr. Antonio Giustozzi, who holds a position in the Crisis States Research Center, only 1/3 of the political members of the Afghan government have an undergraduate degree. With more educational opportunities for children, the probability of following the path of violence decreases dramatically. This occurs because with an education the economic opportunities increase. Jobs become easier to obtain and having employees with an education becomes an asset to any business in Afghanistan. Through education Afghanistan has the ability to increase its economy exponentially and economic opportunity will increase for future generations. This process has begun through Non-Governmental Organizations, or NGO’s, as well as international organization, but there needs to be more focus on the educational sector. This department needs to receive more money in order to help build more schools as well as create a stronger ciriculum. With an education, more people are working, which creates a larger economy, which then creates more jobs, causing a self sustaining cycle of job creation; moreover, with more people working less people are choosing the path of violence.