to air missile. meanwhile in moscow, the soviet union had a new leader, mikhail gorbachev prepared to embark on a programme of reforms he hoped would revitalise the soviet union. one of his main aims was to get soviet troops out of afghanistan. gorbachev first replaced karmal with a new leader, mohammad najibullah, the hated former head of the secret police. he also agreed to peace talks. the united nations peace talks in geneva began in 1986, aiming to end the war. americans wanted mujahideen involvement. the soviets insisted the communist afghan government remain. the soviets insisted on supporting the afghan communists, which was then president najibullah, and they said they would continue supporting with food and weapons. so the americans had
in the cold war that a regular armed force, tanks, jet fighters, was crossing into another country and occupying it. now, if they had their own jet fighters, at the air force base in bagram and herat, they could have control of the persian gulf and the world s oil supply. afghanistan s soviet installed leader, babrak karmal, continued the previous policies. mass education and more freedom for women remained a priority. many saw it as a positive.
massoud and hekmatyar now fought for control in the streets of kabul. hekmatyar s men were forced out of the city and took up positions in the hills, and started shelling the capital. burhanuddin rabbani was the leader in waiting of the new islamic government.
support from pakistan, saudi arabia, all the gulf states, and arabs were extremely ruthless, brutal fighters and gave them a whole new dimension, new tactics a new, you know, kind of weaponry and retrained them. by the time they reached kabul, the leadership of the taliban is saying, we will seize power, we will rule this country. their first act as victors was the torture and execution of former communist leader najibullah and his brother, whose bodies were hanged from a lamppost. within 2a hours, the taliban imposed a strict interpretation of islamic law. they banned all women from work, which led to the health service and schools almost completely closing down. they enforced a strict dress code, with head to toe cover for women,
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, invasion of Afghanistan in late December 1979 by troops from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War (1978–92) and remained in Afghanistan until mid-February 1989. In April 1978 Afghanistan’s centrist government, headed by Pres. Mohammad Daud Khan, was overthrown by left-wing military officers led by Nur Mohammad Taraki. Power was thereafter shared by two Marxist-Leninist political groups, the People’s (Khalq) Party and the Banner (Parcham) Party which had earlier emerged from a single organization, the People’s Democratic Party of