1979: The Russians Invade Afghanistan
1979 was a very important year. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel and became an American ally. Moving Egypt away from the Soviet sphere of influence was something the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat paid with his life in 1981. Sadat was murdered by the Egyptian islamists, I guess with the help of Iran, Muammar Qaddafi of Libya and Hafez al-Assad of Syria, who were Iranian allies. Iran gave the name to of the assassin to an Iranian street to honor him. Losing Egypt was a great loss for the Soviets because Egypt was, and still is, a country of great geopolitical significance.
In 1979 the Iranian Islamists overturned the pro-American Monarch of Iran with the Islamic Revolution, and Iran became an Islamic Democracy. The Americans gained Egypt but lost Iran, and with the Carter Doctrine of 1980 they declared that if the Americans interests in the Middle East were threatened the United States would use military force. That basically meant that if anyone dared to mess with Saudi Arabia he would have to go to war with the United States.
Map Middle East and North Africa
At the other side of the equation the Soviets were not happy they had lost Egypt, and they were not as sure as they used to be that they could count on Arab national socialists like Sadat. If Sadat turned to United States others could do it too.
Moreover, after the fall of Iran they have more confidence and they are more optimistic, and they decide to follow a more aggressive foreign policy.
The outcome was that the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in order to bring a communist government to power.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a great problem for the Pakistanis. The Pakistanis believed that if the Soviets were to stabilize Afghanistan the Afghan communists would soon claim the Pakistani Pashtunistan. After all the Afghans had never stopped claiming the Pakistani part of Pashtunistan. Pashtuns are the majority in Afghanistan, but they are the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan, with the Punjabis being the first ethnic group by far. The Pakistani army is made of Punjabis.
Map Pashtunistan
For the problems with Pashtunistan see “The 2 Faces of the Taliban”.
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/the-2-faces-of-the-taliban/
After the Soviets invade Afghanistan the Americans and the Saudis will start funding Islamists who will go to Pakistan in order to be trained, and then they are sent to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets.
The Chinese also sent to Pakistan Uyghurs Islmaists from their Muslim province of Xin Jiang, in order to be trained and sent to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. The Soviets already had very strong army units at the Chinese borders i.e. Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and the Chinese were not at all happy to see the Soviets coming to Afghanistan too.
Map
At the time the only reliable ally of China was Pakistan. With red you can see the Soviet allies and with green the American ones. See “China’s Isolation During the Cold War”.
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/chinas-isolation-during-the-cold-war/
The Iranian Islamists did not want to be part of the Arab-American alliance against the Soviets, but they started independently funding Shia Islamists in Afghanistan in order to fight the Soviets. From 1980 to 1988 the Iranians will go to a war with Saddam Hussein (Iraq), and the Soviets are an ally of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein invaded Iran to take the rich in oil south-western provinces of Iran. Arabs are the majority in this region of Iran.
Map Oil (black) and Natural Gas (red) of the Middle East
After the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan there was enthusiasm in the Muslim world. All good Muslims wanted to go and kill the infidels. A Jihad against the Soviets would take place, and in 1989 the Soviets would have to leave from Afghanistan. In Afghanistan the Soviets had to fight with the Americans, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Iranians and the Pakistanis. It was the Soviets against everybody.
Map The Soviet Invasion and the Jihad Against the Soviets
