External Actors in the Afghan Problem
continues..

Russia provided military assistance to the Afghan Northern Alliance, who eventually proved a major force in the efforts to overthrow the Taleban regime following US intervention in 2001. When the Taleban lost power, Russia initially backed former President Rabbani, who had lost most of his influence. However, Hamid Karzai had moved to strengthen his ties with Russia, visiting President Putin twice in March 2002.

President Putin pledged support across a wide range of areas including the military, business, landmine clearance, rebuilding and the exploration of oil and gas reserves. Pledges of defence assistance by Russia to Afghanistan’s new government continue unabated. Ties between America and Russia are likely to improve with Obama becoming the US President.

Russia in July, 2009 agreed to allow the US military to fly troops and weapons across its territory into Afghanistan, allowing it to avoid using supply routes through Pakistan that are attacked by militants.

The United States of America in Afghanistan

The superpower rivalry during the Cold War was marked by a tendency where if one superpower intervened in a Third World internal conflict, the other felt the temptation, pressure or tendency to do likewise in support of the opposite side. Hence, it was only natural that the US got involved in the Afghan crisis in a big way after the Soviet intervention of 1979. President Carter had signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of pro-Soviet regime in Kabul in July 1979, about five months before the Soviet army entered Afghanistan.

His national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote to him the same day that this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention. When Soviets finally entered Afghanistan in December 1979, Brzezinski wrote to Carter that “we now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.” The CIA largely undertook large-scale supply of arms and ammunition to Afghan resistance groups during the 1980s and this was not so covert an operation. After the Soviet withdrawal, CIA let ISI deal with the disarray
of Afghanistan.

To be continued.....