Operation Cyclone
Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm the Afgahn mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989. The Program relied heavily on using the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as an intermediary for funds distribution. Along with funding from similar programs from Britain's MI6 and SAS, Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China, the ISI armed and trained over 100,000 insurgents between 1978 and 1992. Somewhere between $3–$20 billion in US funds were funneled into the country to train and equip troops with weapons, including Stinger man-portable air-defense systems.
On July 3, 1979, U.S. President Carter signed a presidential finding authorizing funding for anticommunist guerrillas in Afghanistan.[1] Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and installation of a more pro-Soviet president, Hafizullah Amin, Carter announced "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War".[2] American funding started with 20-30 million dollars per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million a year in 1987.[3]
The US government has been criticized for allowing Pakistan to channel a disproportionate amount of its funding to controversial Afghan resistance leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,[4] who Pakistani officials believed was "their man".[5] Hekmatyar has been criticized for killing other mujahideen and attacking civilian populations, including shelling Kabul with American-supplied weapons, causing 2,000 casualties. Hekmatyar was said to be friendly with Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, who was running an operation for assisting "Afghan Arab" volunteers fighting in Afghanistan, called Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK). Alarmed by his behavior Pakistan leader General Zia warned Hekmatyar that "It was Pakistan that made him an Afghan leader and it is Pakistan who can equally destroy him if he continues to misbehave".[6] According to a Newsweek article, in the late 1980s, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, concerned of the growing strength of the Islamist movement, told President George H. W. Bush, "You are creating a Frankenstein". Author Gilles Kepel reports that American funding of Hekmatyar and his Hezbi Islami party was cut off immediately following the withdrawal of the Soviets.[7]
The U.S. says all of its funds went to native Afghan rebels and denies that any of its funds were used to supply Osama bin Laden or foreign Arab mujahideen. It is estimated that 35,000 foreign Muslims from 43 Islamic countries participated in the war.[8][9][10][11]
Sale of non-US arms to Pakistan for destination to Afghanistan was facilitated by Israel.[12][13]
See also
- Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953–2001)
- Al-Qaeda: Origins in Maktab al-Khadamat
- Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden
- Afghan Civil War
- CIA activity in Afghanistan under William J. Casey 1981-1987
- CIA Activities by Region: Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia (see: Afghanistan 1978)
- Charles Wilson (Texas politician) (b.1933)
- Charlie Wilson's War
- Gust Avrakotos (1938–2005)
- Joanne Herring (b.1929)
- Michael G. Vickers (b.1953)
- Milton Bearden
- Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989)
References
- ^ Bergen, Peter, Holy War Inc., Free Press, (2001), p.68
- ^ Mark Urban, War in Afghanistan, Macmillan, 1988, p.56
- ^ Bergen, Peter, Holy War Inc., Free Press, (2001), p.68
- ^ Bergen, Peter, Holy War Inc., Free Press, (2001), p.67
- ^ Graham Fuller in interview with Peter Bergen, Bergen, Peter, Holy War Inc., Free Press, (2001), p.68
- ^ Henry S. Bradsher, Afghan Communism and Soviet Interventions, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.185
- ^ Kepel, Jihad, (2002)
- ^ "1986-1992: CIA and British Recruit and Train Militants Worldwide to Help Fight Afghan War". Cooperative Research History Commons. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
- ^ "CIA worked with Pak to create Taliban". India Abroad News Service. 2001-03-06. Retrieved 2007-01-11.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "CIA bin Laden". October 2001. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Did the U.S. "Create" Osama bin Laden?". US Department of State. 2005-01-14. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Pakistan Got Israeli Weapons During Afghan War", Daily Times Monitor - Pakistan, 23 July 2003
- ^ Profile: Charlie Wilson