Historical Security Council
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is currently in the grips of a horrible civil war. The Prime Minister, Hazifullah Amin, has tried to sweep aside Muslim tradition within the nation and favors a western slant to Afghanistan. This has outraged a majority of those in Afghanistan, as there is a strong tradition of Muslim belief in the country. Thousands of Muslim leaders have been arrested and many more have fled the capital and gone to the mountains to escape the federal police. Amin is also the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a communist political movement that rejects religion and has thus caused widespread discontent with his government.
Thousands of Afghanistan Muslims and foreign fighters have joined the Mujahideen, an Islamic guerilla force that claims to be on a holy mission for Allah. They want the overthrow of the Amin government and have declared a jihad (holy war) on the Afghanistan government and supporters of Amin. Prompted by these anti-communist "rebels" the Soviet Union has invaded Afghanistan, deploying 85,000 troops along with armored and air support. The Soviets claim that the Amin government has invited them in and that they are not invading the country. They claim that their task is to support a legitimate government and that the Mujahideen are no more than terrorists, not the freedom fighters they claim to be. In addition, they have accused the United States government of illegally supplying the Mujahideen.
Recently, this conflict has taken a turn for the worse. The Soviets have executed Prime Minister Amin for supposed "crimes against the nation" and have installed Babrak Kamal, a Kremlin ally, to replace him. All sides are crying foul, with the Mujahideen and western powers touting the "assassination" of Prime Minister Amin as proof of Soviet aggression, and the Soviets pointing at the violence and injustice of the Islamic fundamentalist regime the Mujahideen want to create as a justifiable reason for their occupation. This conflict has reached a violent stalemate. The Mujahideen, originally thought by the Soviets to be a small terror network, have proved to be a formidable opponent. The Soviets have resorted to using napalm, poison gas, and helicopter gun ships against a fanatical insurgency. If this conflict is to be ended, the United Nations Security Council must intervene.