In 1979, Afghanistan has world headlines, it seemed to sum up the cold war. This war was the equivalent to the American War in Vietnam, the Soviets fought against the Mujahdeen who had declared "Jihad" or Holy War against the intruders, the Soviets.

From the point of view of West Berlin, Korea, Cuba and Hungary, showed the way communism wanted to continue and Afghanistan confirmed this. The leader of Afghanistan tried to get rid of Muslim tradition in his country. He wanted Afghanistan to be like other western countries. The majority of his country, who had the tradition of being Muslin, fought against him in a civil war.

At this point the Soviets sent in Paratroopers to attack Afghanistan. Thousands of Muslims had been arrested or fled to the mountains to escape Amin, the leader of Afghanistan's police. Amin also had a communist government, who hated religion; this was another reason for the peoples discontent.

Thousand of Muslims joined the Mujahdeen - a group of guerillas on a mission for Allah. They wanted to overthrow Amin's government. The Mujahdeen declared Jihad - a holy war against Amin. They also fought against the Russains who were there to maintain Amin's government. The Soviets claimed they had been invited by Amin's government, and were there to support the government but the Mujahdeen were just terrorists.

In 1979, Amin was shot by Soviets and was replaced with Babrak Kamal, his position as head of the Afghanistan government depended entirely on the fact that he needed the support of the Soviet military. Many Afghans deserted, he needed 85,000 Soviet soldiers to keep him in power. The Mujahdeen were powerful, they had old rifles but new the weather conditions and knew their way around the mountains.

The Soviets used Napalm, poison gas and helicopter gun ships. The Mujahdeen had the same problem as the Americans in Vietnam. In 1982 the Mujahdeen controlled 75% of Afghanistan despite the fact they were fighting the second largest world power. Young Soviet soldiers were no match for religious fanatics.

The Soviets had a reputation of having a great army, this showed the world that their army wasn't that strong out of military displays. Their equipment was no match for the harsh environment they were in. Soviet tanks didn't help in the terrain and many soldiers fled and joined the Mujahdeen.

The U.N. condemned the Soviets for their action but the Soviets vetoed it. America boycotted Soviet grain, ended SALT (peace talks), and boycotted the Olympics to be held in Moscow in 1980. Other than that America did nothing because they found out about all new military technology used in Afghanistan and Russia had got themselves in their own Vietnam.

America indirectly gave surface to air missiles to the Mujahdeen. Gorbachev took the Soviets out of Afghanistan because he realized how expensive it was and that they would never win. In the 1980's the Mujahdeen set strict Moslem law on the country.

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