Russians+in+Afghanistan

Russians in Afghanistan **(4) **


 * During the Cold War, the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan **

**-Afghanistan's descent into conflict and instability in recent times began with the overthrow of the king in 1973. (8)**
 * -Cold War began 1945 **
 * -Many factors contributed to tension in Afghanistan which began around 1955 (5, p. 92) **
 * -Christmas 1979, Russian paratroopers landed in Kabul, Afghanistan **
 * - Already in civil war **
 * -Prime Minister Hazifullah Amin wanted country to adopt western practices **
 * -angered many traditional Muslims **
 * -joined Mujahideen against Amin's gov't. **
 * - Mujahideen declared a jihad- a holy war- on Amin & his Russian supporters **
 * -Russians claimed that they had been invited in by the Amin government and that they were not invading the country. They claimed that their task was to support a legitimate government and that the Mujahideen were no more than terrorists. (2) **
 * "Then there was political unrest, calls for help, and the dispatch of larger army units to “restore order.” Order was not restored, so the generals (though not all of them) reasonably asked for more troops. And so it went until the Soviets conquered Afghanistan but did not hold it; ruled it but did not govern it; won every battle in it but lost the war against it." (3) **


 * [[image:http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/1222-russia-afghanistan-30years/7144674-1-eng-US/1222-russia-afghanistan-30years_full_600.jpg]](6) **


 * -assistance for economic development projects: funding and constructing **
 * -major road network **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-tunnel through Hindu Kush Mts. for year-round trade and transportation **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-river port **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-railroad bridge across Amu Darya **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-airfields for air forces **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-"Aimed at moving Afghanistan permanently into the Russian sphere of influence" **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-"The king and his advisers..." assumed "the Pushtun leaders who had controlled the country since 1747 would continue their rule." ( 5, p.94) **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">-“Baba told me stories of his travels to India and Russia, the people he had met” (7, p.85). **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;"> -In 1981, Amir and Baba encountered Russian soldiers on their way to Peshawar: "a grinning Russian, face like a bulldog's, cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth.... Said the soldier wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck....'It's his price for letting us pass,” Karim said” (7, p.114,115). **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;"> -“The second Russian officer,” apologized: “‘Russia sends them here to fight,’ he said. ‘But they are just boys, and when they come here, they find the pleasure of drug’” (7, p.117). **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">Discussion Questions **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">1. During the Russian invasion, certain people decided to stay in Afghanistan while others decided to leave. Why do you think these people chose what they did? **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">2. On page 115, Baba asks the first Russian officer where his shame is. The reply is, "He says this is war. There is no shame in war." Do you think that in times of war, almost all codes of kindness, chivalry, and compassion in a society are destroyed? **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">3. Baba is a well-traveled character. He used to visit Russia before the 1980's. Do you believe that the people of Afghanistan could travel to Russia during this time of conflict? **

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 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">References **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(1) Shaban, S. (2006) Afghanistan and the War on Terror. The Online NewsHour. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 200%;">Retrieved from: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(2) (2004). Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Guide to Russia. Retrieved from: [] **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(3) Poe, M. (2011). Afghantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan. New Books in **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">History. Retrieved from: [] __ - braithwaite-afgantsy-the-russians-in-afghanistan-1979-89-oxford-up-2011/ __ **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(4) (2009). Russians Left Afghanistan. English Russia. Retrieved from: **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 200%;">[] **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(5) Clifford, M.L. (1989). //The Land and People of Afghanistan.// New York, N.Y.: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(6) (2007). Chitral, Pakistan: Shangri-La or Lair?. Suburban Emergency Management Project, Inc. Retrieved from: @http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=669 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(7) Hosseini, K. (2003). //The Kite Runner//. New York, N.Y.: The Berkley Publishing Group. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">(8) (2012). Afghanistan's Turbulent History. BBC News. Retrieved from: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 200%;">[] **