Consequences of the Soviet War in Afghanistan

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Consequences of The Soviet War in Afghanistan

The Soviet War in Afghanistan led to the rise of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Islam under threat

After the end of the Cold War, there were many in Afghanistan, especially among the Mujahidin, who believed Islam was under threat from the West and other more moderate Islamic states.
The movement to protect Islam was known as Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda

Osama Bin Laden was the most significant leader of Al-Qaeda.
Bin Laden was from Saudi Arabia but turned against the USA when his country took the Americans’ support over his after the Kuwait invasion.
The Taliban was a similar group, supported by Al-Qaeda, which was operating in Afghanistan.
It ruled Afghanistan when the US invaded in the 2000s.

Al-Qaeda's Attacks

During the 1990s, Al-Qaeda launched a series of increasingly sophisticated attacks on Western targets.

1998

Truck bombing outside the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killed 213 and injured 4,600.

2000

The US ship USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers, with 17 crew killed.

2001

When two planes struck the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center on 9/11 (11th September), 2,606 were killed.
A further 125 people died when a third plane hit the Pentagon (the US military headquarters in Washington, D.C.).
A fourth plane, headed for the White House, crashed into woodland in Pennsylvania.

1Key Topics

1.1Conflict & Cooperation 1918-1939

1.1.1The Treaty of Versailles

1.1.2The Terms of Versailles 1

1.1.3The Terms of Versailles 2

1.1.4Versailles & the League of Nations

1.1.5LoN Successes & Failures

1.1.6LoN Failure - Upper Silesia

1.1.7LoN Failure - Corfu & Washington

1.1.8End of Topic Test - Treaties and Agreements

1.1.9The Great Depression

1.1.10Tension in Europe in the 1930s

1.1.11WWII & Failure of the League of Nations

1.1.12End of Topic Test - Tension in the 1930s

1.1.13Grade 9 - Conflict & Cooperation

1.2The Cold War 1945-c.1989

1.2.1Emerging US-Soviet Rivalry

1.2.2Communism in the 20th Century

1.2.3The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan

1.2.4East-West Alliances

1.2.5Berlin Crises

1.2.6The End of the Berlin Wall

1.2.7End of Topic Test - East & West

1.2.8Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis

1.2.9The Cuban Missile Crisis

1.2.10Cold War Conflict - Vietnam

1.2.11Cold War Conflict - Afghanistan

1.2.12End of Topic Test - The Cold War 1945-1989

1.2.13Grade 9 - The Cold War

1.3From the End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.1Reagan & Gorbachev

1.3.2Consequences of the Soviet War in Afghanistan

1.3.3End of Topic Test - End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.4Grade 9 - The End of the Cold War

2Changing Interpretations

2.1Changing Interpretations

2.1.1Appeasement

2.1.2The Responsibility for Cold War Tensions

2.1.3End of Topic Test - Appeasement

2.1.4Grade 9 - Changing Interpretations

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