On July 17, 1973, Sardar Muhammad Dawood, the former prime minister, abolished monarchy and announced Afghanistan as a republic for the first time. This was the first time that the country shifted from monarchy to a republic and it was something very new for the Afghans.
It was a radical change for Afghans to know that they do not have a king anymore. Before people were able to adjust to and understand this new regime, on April 27, 1978, the PDPA (People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan) overthrew the government of Dawood by killing him and his whole family. This ushered in the first communist regime in Afghanistan.
The new communist regime was now telling the Afghans that the best political and economical system is communism and the ordinary people of the country were each being taught Marxism philosophy. The communist regime tried to secularize the country and formed a government that was based on communist principles.
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The invasion lasted roughly nine years. In 1989, the Soviet army withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving the communist regime in Kabul to now fight with the Mujahedeen by themselves and without the support of the Soviets. The communist regime in Kabul was overwhelmed in their fight against the Mujahedeen, which was supported by neighboring countries and billions of dollars from US.
Three years after the Soviet exodus from Afghanistan in 1992, the communist regime of Afghanistan collapsed and the Mujahedeen took over power in Kabul. Mujahedeen labeled their success as the Islamic revolution of Afghanistan. The Islamic revolution in Afghanistan brought a new ideology and new government. They established an Islamic government, while attempted to wipe out secular and Marxist influence from the country. After about two decades of being taught and trained in communist ideology under the communist regime, ordinary people now had to learn a new political ideology and system - political Islam.
Taliban
It wasn't too long before factions within the Mujahedeen began fighting with one another for power for a couple of years. Because of disagreements within the Mujahedeen, Afghanistan went to civil war. During these four years of war, Afghanistan suffered severe damages and causalities.
These wars lasted until the invasion of Kabul by the Taliban in 1996. The Taliban had extremist understandings of Islamic government. They saw their success as a reformation of the Islamic revolution, which they believed was being led in the wrong direction by the Mujahedeen.
After the incident of 9/11 in 2001, the United States accused Osama Bin Laden as the source and mastermind of the attack. The United States asked the Taliban to submit Bin Laden to them, but the Taliban refused to comply with their request. Afghanistan was promptly invaded by the United States by the end of 2001.
It's been thirteen years since the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States. The United States has been supporting the effort to bring a democratic government and regime to Afghanistan. This is yet another shift of political ideology and new wave of ideas as the common people of Afghanistan are hearing about democratic ideals and principles.
These quick political and ideological changes in the last four decades have triggered an ideological crisis in Afghanistan. As a result, the people have lost trust in any political system. Unfortunately, all of these ideologies have been imported from outside Afghanistan and imposed upon the people as the best way of government. With all the positive improvements that have taken place in the last decade, the crisis remains. There is no peace, security, or stability. The future of Afghanistan remains in doubt.
Twenty-five years ago, the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan while Afghanistan was facing big risk and threat from Mujahedeen. Now today, the United States is also withdrawing, once again leaving Afghanistan in a familiar situation of great risk with no assurances of stability or peace.
It is worth exploring both the similarities and differences in the respective invasions of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union and the United States as well as in their respective exoduses from Afghanistan.
Similarities and Differences
Both the Soviet Union and the United States came to Afghanistan to support a certain type of regime and fight a certain enemy. The Soviet army came to this country to support the communist regime in their fight against the Muslim militia (Mujahedeen) that was fighting against the Afghan communist government.
The United States military has been in Afghanistan to support the young democratic government against the Muslim militia (Taliban and Al-Qaida).
Mujahedeen have been radical Muslim fighters from around the world, including Osama Bin Laden, who had gathered to fight for the liberation of Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion and to restore the Islamic regime. Mujahedeen was formed of fifteen different groups. Seven of them were the Sunni groups, which were supported by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States of America and some other gulf countries, with just the support of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia reaching to about $40 billion. (www.thenation.com)
The remaining eight Mujahedeen were the Shia groups, supported by Iran. The Taliban and Al-Qaida have the same goals as Mujahedeen had. They call it a war to liberate Afghanistan from U.S. invasion and restore Islamic government, a form of which will be based on their particular interpretation of Islamic government.
Both the Soviet Union and United States have fought almost the same amount of years in Afghanistan. Both countries experienced some similar political and economical changes within their own countries. In the last years of the war in Afghanistan, the Soviet regime faced great public pressure from their people to stop the war.
Recently, the United States government has experienced similar pressure from their people. The Soviet Union, at the time of their war, was going through economic crisis and decline. The United States is now facing a similar economic situation given the last few years.
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of Soviet Union, aiming to bring reforms and changes to the country. Barack Obama has attempted to lead reform and change policy in ways that convey similarities between the two leaders in how they have affected foreign policy towards Afghanistan.
In the final years of the communist regime in Afghanistan, Dr Najibullah the former Communist President of Afghanistan from 1987-1992, made the reconciliation project to bring peace between the government of Afghanistan and the Mujahedeen. This project could not succeed as the Mujahedeen would never accept his invitation for reconciliation. They demanded that he leave the country and leave the government to them. In recent years, President Karzai has started the peace project to bring reconciliation between the Taliban and the current Afghanistan government under the organization o f Afghan High Peace Council. To date, the results have not been much better than they were under Dr. Najibullah.
Withdrawal
Another similarity between the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and Soviet Union is how the current situation of Afghanistan is very similar to the time when Soviet soldiers were planning to withdraw. However, there are some key differences in these two invasions and exoduses.
The Soviet army invaded the country without the approval of UN Security Council, while the U.S and NATO came with the approval of the UN Security Council. The Soviet army did not have much support from the Afghanistan people for their agenda. However, NATO and the U.S military have the support of the people of Afghanistan to stay in this country. At the end of the year 2013, over 2500 elders and tribal leaders from around Afghanistan gathered and talked about the U.S and Afghanistan security deal and it was approved by a majority vote. This is a significant indicator of support and widespread desire among the Afghans for U.S. soldiers to remain in Afghanistan.
The two invasions and eventual withdrawals took place amidst very different circumstances in global politics. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan while the world was at the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. The cold war made the tensions worse and became one of the main factors that affected their war in Afghanistan. There is no denial of current tensions in the global landscape. The tension between Iran and the U.S is one of the issues making the U.S. war in Afghanistan more complex. But despite its impact, it is not comparable with the dynamics and tensions at the height of the Cold War.
Ideological
Of course, the other biggest differences are the ideological differences. During the Cold War, while Soviet soldiers were in Afghanistan supporting a communist regime, the United States was supporting Islamic militant groups, with which they did not have much in common with respect to democratic system and government. Currently, the United State is supporting democracy in Afghanistan.
During the communist era of Afghanistan, each president was assigned by the Communist Party. There was no democratic process for electing the President. In the last thirteen years of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, apart from the first time that Karzai was assigned as president by United States, he was re-elected by a popular, democratic vote.
Even though democracy in Afghanistan has not been very successful, it at least has provided a starting point to become more democratic in the future.
When the Soviet Union was leaving Afghanistan, they left a very well trained and strong local army behind them. The Afghanistan army, with the support and training of Russia, had grown into a strong army in the region. Right now, while American soldiers are planning to leave the country, the Afghanistan army is one of the weakest armies in the region in terms of training, military facilities and arms.
A significant difference between the exoduses of Soviet and U.S soldiers is that the Soviet Union left Afghanistan without making any official agreement or promise of support. The United States is leaving Afghanistan, but they are trying to leave a certain number of soldiers in Afghanistan after 2014. Both countries are planning to sign the bilateral security agreement, which would agree to have a certain number of American soldiers remain in Afghanistan after 2014.
So far President Karzai has chosen not to sign this agreement, leaving Afghans with the big question in their mind, "What will happen after 2014?"
By looking at the past four decades of history in Afghanistan and analysing the current situation, the future remains uncertain and anything is possible given the remaining instability. There is no assurance of Afghanistan not falling into the hands of the Taliban and Al-Qaida, becoming a stronghold of terrorism and Al-Qaida. There is the possibility of this country going back to civil war. If Afghanistan returns to the hands of the Taliban or becomes embroiled in civil war again, Afghanistan's development will be set back twenty years, while history repeats itself.
If the crisis in Afghanistan does not improve, but degenerates even further, it will be a great failure of the international community that has invested in the security and progress of Afghanistan.
Mumin Faizy is a young Christian from the Middle East (Islamic world) and his interest research areas are philosophy and religious studies.
Mumin Faizy's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/mumin-faizy.html