By Maham Zahra Malik
Afghanistan, our northwestern neighbor, is referred as ‘the Graveyard of Empires’. This is so because it has always remained as a center of attention for the invaders because of its resources. From the Persians, Alexander the Great to USSR and US all came to Afghanistan but could not become the permanent rulers of the region as Afghans eventually drove them out of their homeland. The USSR invasion of Afghanistan (1979) and US invasion of Afghanistan (2001) are the two major foreign invasions on the soil of Afghanistan, but both are quite different from one another in their cause, motives, context, international support, execution and outcomes. Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 when People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, a communist party that came to power after a coup (Saur Revolution) asked for their help and support because they were facing internal resistance, this is what is reported by the capitalists or elites that even shape the history but this was not the case.
The Saur revolution took place on 27th April 1978 under the prominent leadership of Hafizullah Amin and Nur Muhammad Tarakai against the brutal and oppressive capitalist system by bringing a popular revolution and overthrowing the government of Muhammad Daud Khan which is mostly wrongly interpreted as a coup d’état. The fact is hidden that the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan on December 29, 1979, 18 months after the Saur revolution. This revolution changed the minds of people and brought the policies totally in the favor of grassroots people or proletariats. The main aim of this revolution was to eliminate feudal and pre-feudal relations from the socio-economic structure of the country. All the debts and usury that was being paid by poor ones to the elites for generations were abolished. The concept of gender equality was introduced, with the laws against child marriage, force marriages and taboos of remarriage of widows. Along with it, fine arts like music, painting, literature, architecture and calligraphy were promoted. This revolution became a threat for the rest of the world and it was also against the political interest of Soviet Union so to curb their power Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and conspiringly murdered the two leaders.
Finally the war began. This act was considered illegitimate and a source of USSR’s expansionist movement and condemned internationally. Only the Soviet allies somewhat supported it but the rest of the world criticized it. During the Soviet Invasion the entire world stood by Afghanistan even America provided weapons and trained the various Mujahidin groups with the help of Pakistan which eventually emerged as the uncontrollable ‘Taliban’.
As the Soviets left Afghanistan, former Mujahidin allies turned against each other, plunging Afghanistan into a brutal civil war. On the other hand US invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack at World Trade Center by Al-Qaeda.
At that time the Afghanistan was governed by Taliban and America demanded Taliban to handover Osama bin Laden and dismantle Al-Qaeda, which they refused, as a result, US and its allies launched or imposed ‘War on Terror’ on Afghanistan. America got the support internationally with NATO and UN supporting its cause. UN did not explicitly authorize US for the invasion but provided legal and moral justifications under International Law particularly UNSC Resolution 1368 and UNSC Resolution1373.The US removed the Taliban from power and a transitional government formed with Hamid Karzai as an interim president. The invasion of America was basically referred as War on Terror whereas USSR invasion was considered a cold war proxy.
Ahmed Rashid, in his book “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia” (2000), provides deep insights into both conflicts. He writes: The Soviet invasion was ideologically driven aimed at preserving a communist ally and increasing its influence. The American intervention was security-driven, a response to a direct terrorist attack. Yet both failed to understand Afghan society deeply and faced long, costly wars with unintended consequences.” The USSR invasion led to a prolonged Guerilla war and then finally withdrawal of USSR in 1989 after the Geneva Accord in April 1988, leading to internal chaos and the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan and then the disintegration of Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. Whereas the America withdrew Afghanistan in 2021 after a 20 years’ war and power again came into the hands of the Taliban.
The Taliban further worsened the condition with exploiting people in the name of religion taking their independence and autonomy, specifically women, as they were no more allowed to walk the streets without a man by their side and deprived of their rights of education and career pursuing.US and USSR invasion share one thing in common i.e. leaving Afghanis empty handed with just demolished walls, rubble of buildings and broken remnants. As Khaled Hosseini in his novel ‘The Kite Runner’ shows through Amir’s words, “The Afghanistan of my childhood is long gone.” The most heart-wrenching thing is that the situation is the same in fact it is getting more tragic and painful. But one day these stormy shadows of tyranny and barbarism shall disperse, and the dark clouds will clear. In the Saur Revolution, we find a hope that one day people with stand up for their rights and take their country from all these imperialists and extremists and revive the true lovely, and lively Afghanistan where there was happiness and prosperity.
The author’s area of interest is Defense and Diplomatic Studies and can be reached at malikmahamzahra@gmail.com.
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