The Soviet-Afghan war.

On Dec. 26, 1979, as many Americans were still recovering from their Christmas dinners, battle tanks from the Soviet Union rumbled across the Soviet-Afghan border. The pro-communist Afghan government had invited the Soviets in to help defeat anticommunist Islamic rebels known as mujahideen, or "holy warriors." The large Soviet army expected that its advanced tanks, jet fighters, and armored helicopters would achieve a quick victory over the poorly armed mujahideen.

That didn't happen. The Soviets' modern weapons were not enough to wipe out an enemy that would attack and then melt back into the landscape. As the war dragged on, the Soviets were able to control Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. But the mujahideen controlled much of the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, modern weapons from the United States flooded in to supply the mujahideen, enabling them to more easily shoot down Soviet helicopters and planes. (The United States and the Soviet Union were enemies at the time.) In addition, about 35,000 Muslim volunteers from other countries rushed to join the fight. Because many of them came from Arab countries, they were called "Afghan Arabs." One was a young fighter from Saudi Arabia named Osama bin Laden (left).

In 1986, bin Laden set up training camps in Afghanistan for Arab fighters. Two years later, he founded AI 0aeda, Arabic for "the base." Bin Laden used Al Qaeda to aid Afghan Arabs and to track their activity.

By 1989, about 50,000 Soviet troops had been killed or wounded, and the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan. The pro-Soviet government held on for a short while but then collapsed. The mujahideen took control of the country.

After the war, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. In 1990, he was horrified when the United States sent troops to Saudi Arabia to help drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. To him, the Americans were unholy invaders in Muslims' holiest land. Bin Laden recruited thousands of men to fight the American "attack" on Islam. It was in Afghanistan that he planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Words in the News

Below are some key words used in this issue of Current Events.

Though its proper name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, this communist country was widely referred to as the Soviet Union and existed from 1922 until its disbanding in 1991. The country, which was the world's largest, broke off into 15 independent states. From the end of World War II until the time of its demise, the Soviet Union was involved in the Cold War, which pegged Communist nations against non-Communist nations in a nonviolent conflict.