Soviet Afghanistan War Essay

The United States’ strategy and involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War contributed greatly to the rise of Islamic extremism and terrorism. Events like the Soviet-Afghan War inspired deep Muslim identity and a desire to fight back against invading superpowers, such as the Soviet Union. Funded by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other countries, militant groups like the Mujahideen became powerful forces in countries with weak political systems like Afghanistan and its neighboring countries. After the Soviet Union collapsed, there was little structure in these former Soviet states and war-torn countries, leaving an immense power vacuum. Islamic extremism quickly replaced the Soviet government and the region was thrown further into chaos. With …show more content…
Among the most prominent of the wartime philosophies was that of salafi jihadism, a hybridization of radical Islamic ideology and fundamental Islam that warranted terrorism and violence to advance political agendas. The aggressive nature of this new political approach to Islam spread quickly among the widespread members of the Mujahideen, a natural progression from the Islamic resistance to the Soviets. These Afghan Arabs, after being exposed to these potent ideas, returned back to their home countries, particularly across the Middle East and North Africa, and began to act upon their ideology. After the Soviet-Afghan War, the virtual disappearance of any semblance of structured power in Afghanistan left the decentralized jihadi militants in control. In Afghanistan, post-war schools began teaching a new type of Islam, infused with elements of jihad and Islamic fundamentalism, in which thousands of students, funded by American aid, learned to embrace a more radical form of Islam. These students grew into this new ideology and soon formed the core of the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement within Afghanistan that embraces jihad and other extreme tenets of Islamic