Suchergebnisse

The author examines the process of Soviet military involvement in the events that took place in Afghanistan from the viewpoint of the United States. This topic is poorly studied, and the author makes an attempt to fill this gap. The main goal of the paper is to consider the process of increasing involvement of the USSR in the interior Afghan affairs from the U.S. position and to trace how this position changed during 1979. Methods and materials: The author mainly relies on the document 'The secret correspondence of the foreign policy agencies of the United States on Afghanistan' and also draws documents from the U.S. Congress and a monthly bulletin from the U.S. State Department. Analysis. The special attention is paid to the period from the beginning of the spring of 1979 to the end of 1979, since it was during this period of time that the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan continued to grow. Results: The author concludes that throughout 1979 and earlier, the U.S. closely followed the events in Afghanistan and Soviet actions there. However, the U.S. position on possible Soviet military involvement was expectant, and the USSR was not given strong protests, which could promote the Soviet decision on military intervention in the civil war in Afghanistan.

This article presents the analysis of the US involvement in the process of providing indirect military and other kinds of support to the Afghan mujahedeens. The author also presents a brief overview of the main methods and means of US military aid to the Afghan rebels in the 1980s, as well as a detailed consideration of the process of providing such assistance. The author identifies three stages in the process of interaction between the US administration and the US intelligence agencies, on the one hand, and the Afghan insurgency, on the other hand: the first stage (1978-1979) refers to introduction of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, where the US assistance to Afghan rebels was extremely cautious and measured; the second stage (1980) is marked by a considerable build-up of military assistance to Mujahedeens, but the United States sought to conceal their participation in this process; and during the third stage (since the election of Ronald Reagan up to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan), the assistance to Mujahedeens increased in several times, and the US stopped hiding this fact. The author briefly discusses the role and place of such countries slong with the US as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and so on in the structure of rendering support to the Afghan Mujahideens. The author also studies the US role in Afghanistan's transformation into a "nest" for cultivating Islamic extremists.

Introduction. In this article, the author examines the position of the countries of the Middle East region in the late 1970s with regard to the armed conflict in Afghanistan. The emphasis is on the period on the eve of the entry of the Soviet troops to Afghanistan – from the April Revolution of 1978 until December 1979. The author's focus is on two states: Pakistan directly bordering on Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia, which is a major geopolitical actor in the region. Methods and materials. The author relies on documentary sources such as "Department of state bulletin", documents of secret correspondence of the U.S. foreign policy agencies, documents of the U.S. National Security Archive, and special volumes on Afghanistan and the Middle East in "Foreign Relations of the United States. Diplomatic Papers, 1977–1980". Thanks to these sources, it is possible to prove that the involvement of the states of the region in the Afghan armed conflict and its internationalization began even before the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. Analysis. First, an overview of the objectives pursued by these states in Afghanistan and in the internal Afghan armed conflict is given. Following this, the author consistently reveals the position of these states in relation to the April Revolution of 1978, the ever-increasing Soviet involvement in the Afghan events (1978–1979) and the civil war that started against the Kabul government. Results. In conclusion the article reveals the role of these states in the process of internationalization of the Afghan armed conflict, which, according to the author, began before the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.

Introduction. One of the features of the Cold War was the movement of the rivalry of the superpowers into local armed conflicts and civil wars that took place on the territory of other states, mainly the Third World. The article examines the process of the involvement of the Soviet Union in the second half of the 1970s in the civil wars in Angola and Afghanistan. The policy of the USSR in armed conflicts outside the zone of its military-political influence has often been the subject of scientific research, but it has rarely been subjected to comparative analysis, and the authors make such an attempt, which is the novelty of the study. Methods and materials. The main method of the study is the method of comparative analysis (the actions of the USSR in 1975–1979 during the conflict in Angola and Soviet actions in the same period in Afghanistan are compared); the authors rely on documents, memoirs, and previous scientific works. Analysis. The first part of the article examines the process of the USSR's involvement in the civil war in Angola, which began there soon after gaining independence, from the diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of Angola to the dispatch of Soviet military specialists. The second part of the article is devoted to the development of events in Afghanistan after the April 1978 revolution and Soviet involvement in them. Results. The authors conclude that the line adopted by the Soviet Union in relation to the military confrontation in Angola (financial, military, and other assistance, the dispatch of weapons, and military specialists) was ultimately more successful than the line implemented in relation to the civil war in Afghanistan in the form of direct military intervention by the Soviet army and its participation in the conflict outside the country. Authors contribution. T.V. Rabush described and analyzed the development of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Angola and with Afghanistan. R.A. Solovyev examined the military aspects of Soviet-Angolan and Soviet-Afghan cooperation (supply of weapons, sending military advisers, etc.). The research concept, conclusions, and literary editing of the text were carried out jointly.