Avoiding Armageddon 3

Avoiding Armageddon 3

Pakistan and Saudi Arab were the first ally against Soviet invasion in Afghanistan 

As the Soviets invaded Afghanistan , Zia dispatched Gen Akhter to Riyadh with an urgent message for the king .

Zia wanted Saudis assistance to strengthen the mujahedin , the anti communist rebels in Afghanistan

Author

Bruce Riedel

In 1979 Marxist officers in the Afghan army overthrew the neutralist Afghan government of President Daoud and began to import communist ideology and polices into the country . Large parts of the rural countryside rose in rebellion . Many of the rebels had long had contacts with Pakistan religious parties , especially the Jamaat e Islami and with the ISI. Zia openly favored the rebels and Gen Akhter’s ISI began arming and helping them . The Afghan communist government first appealed the Moscow for arms and advisers and then for Russian troops . Initially , Moscow was reluctant to get into what appeared to be a growing civil war and a possible quagmire . But as the situation deteriorated , the Soviet leadership decided that it must intervene to save a client state .

On the eve of the December 25 , 1979, the invasion began : 85,000 Soviet soldiers entered the country and the borders of the Soviet bloc advanced to Pakistan’s western frontiers . However , Moscow still showed signs of ambivalence about the project . The Soviets could have put many more troops into the fight if they chose to do so. While they had invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 with a 250,000-man army , they were fighting in Afghanistan , a much larger and more challenging country , with a smaller force .

Zia immediately turned to Saudi Arabia for help and assistance . The Saudis and Pakistanis had a long history of cooperation ; Pakistan received significant aid from Riyadh , and many Pakistani emigre workers were employed in the kingdom , including in the Saudi Army , navy and airforce. The Saudis had been worried about the deteriorated situation in Afghanistan even before the Marxist officers took over . During a visit to Riyadh the year before the coup, their intelligence chief , Prince Turki bin Faisal had warned President Daoud of the communist threat .

As the Soviets invaded Afghanistan , Zia dispatched Gen Akhter to Riyadh with an urgent message for the king . Zia wanted Saudis assistance to strengthen the mujahedin , the anti communist rebels in Afghanistan . According to Prince Turki , King Fahad agreed immediately , and the ISI and Turki’s General Intelligence Directorate ( GID ) began cooperating to aid the mujahedin . Saudi money began pouring into the ISI , and Saudi authorities and Saudi authorities also encouraged private citizens to give money to help in the war  against the Soviets and to join the jihad . In addition , the Saudi – Pakistan partnership would soon acquire

Avoiding Armageddon

The Carter and Reagan years

page 89 – 90