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US began to support Mujahideen
Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken; funding began with $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987. Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah’s PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan. -
Babrak Karmal installed as ruler
It was while studying at the university that Karmal was first introduced to Marxism and Communism. He was a founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, and served in the National Assembly from 1965 until 1973. On December 27, 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, overthrew and executed President Hafizullah Amin, and called Karmal to take power as President. -
Mujahideen Alliance
Operation Cyclone was the name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen prior to and during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, from 1979 to 1989. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favored by neighboring Pakistan, rather than less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention. -
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Babrak Karmal Era
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Period: to
Haji Mohammad Chamkani Era
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Period: to
Mohammad Najibullah Era
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USSR, US, and Pakistan Peace Accords
Under the Geneva Accords on 15 April 1988, the Afghanistan and Pakistan signed three instruments-on principles of mutual relations, in particular non-interference and non-intervention, on the voluntary return of Afghan refugees, and on interrelationships for the settlement, which provided for phased withdrawal of foreign soldiers to begin on 15 May. The United States and the USSR also signed a declaration on international guarantees, stating they would both refrain from any form of interference -
Afghan Civil War
The 1992 to 1996 phase of the conflict in Afghanistan began after the resignation of the communist President Mohammad Najibullah. The post-communist Islamic State of Afghanistan was established by the Peshawar Accord, a peace and power-sharing agreement under which all the Afghan parties were united in April 1992, except for the Hezb-e Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar started a bombardment campaign against the capital city Kabul which marked the beginning of this new phase in the war. -
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Burhanuddin Rabbani Era
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Taliban seize Kabul
On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul. The Taliban seized Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Islamic State government remained the internationally recognized government of Afghanistan. -
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Mohammed Omar Era
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UN air embargo on Afghanistan
The United States, backed by Russia, imposed an air embargo and financial sanctions on Afghanistan's ruling Taliban unless it surrenders Saudi militant and accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. The proposal also represents an unusual instance of close cooperation between the United States and Russia, which have clashed bitterly over U.N. policy from Iraq to Kosovo but see eye-to-eye on the Taliban. -
9/11
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States in New York City, New York, and Arlington County, Virginia, on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Four passenger airliners which all departed from the U.S. East Coast to California were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists to be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. -
U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan
The United States invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001. Its public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, and to remove the Taliban from power. U.S. President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda, bin Laden had already been wanted by the U.N. since 1999. The request was dismissed by the U.S. as a meaningless delaying tactic and it launched Operation Enduring Freedom on 7 October 2001 with the UK.
