How did the Cold War effect Afghanistan

The Cold War had a profound effect on Afghanistan due to the strategic interests of the United States and the Soviet Union in the region. The conflict in Afghanistan, which became one of the most visible events of the Cold War, began in 1978 with the Saur Revolution, where the pro-Soviet People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power. This led to a series of reforms that were resisted by many in the conservative, predominantly Muslim country. Resistance quickly turned into uprising and insurgency against the PDPA government.

In 1979, fearing the collapse of the PDPA regime and the spread of Islamic insurgency that could threaten its own southern borders, the Soviet Union intervened militarily, sending in thousands of troops and taking control of major cities, including the capital, Kabul.

The Soviet intervention did not go unchallenged. The United States, along with other Western and regional countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, began supporting the Afghan mujahideen, a diverse group of guerrilla fighters resisting the Soviet occupation. This covert support included the provision of weapons, training, and financial aid, in an attempt by the US to counter Soviet influence as part of the Cold War competition.

The Afghan War quickly turned into a proxy conflict between the US and the Soviet Union, with the mujahideen using American-supplied weapons and support to fight the Soviet forces. This decade-long war resulted in significant casualties, widespread destruction in Afghanistan, and eventually contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, Afghanistan plunged into civil war as various mujahideen factions fought for control. The vacuum left by the departing Soviet forces and the subsequent internal strife led to the rise of the Taliban, an extremist group that would take control of most of the country by the mid-1990s.