Araweelo News Network.
Young men like Omar (later to be known as Mullah Omar) also participated in the Jihad against the Russians, during a battle – one of his eyes had been shot out, but that did not lower his morale in the least.
These young men were from religious families who were taught that it is necessary to fight an invading enemy, even if he takes a hand span of Muslim land.
These men were warriors by blood, chivalrous, brave, never submitting to any ideology after accepting Islam from over 1000years ago, a characteristic they shared with their Arab brothers. Afghanistan was known as the ‘Graveyard of Empires.’ The next 30 years of continuous war against world superpowers would put this title to the test.
Russia is defeated:
Russians had a lot of air firepower which devastated the Afghans, entire towns would be destroyed by violent bombardment. The Russians wanted to overpower the resistance of the Afghans so their Communism could dominate through Central Asia (Arabic: Khurasan) and expand for world domination, a race they wew having with the Americans.
The Afghans were able to seek protection in the mountaineous terrain of the Hindu
Kush (a natural protection against air bombardment). But they were still unable to
counter the air attacks of the Russians. America provided the Afghans with Stinger missiles, advanced surface to air weaponry which could shoot down aircraft. This would be the pivotal weapon to defeat the Russians main source of air strength.
Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden continued to provide services to the Arab and
Afghan fighters, they themselves participated in many battles. The Afghans felt
honoured that the Arab ‘sons of the Sahaaba’ (helpers of Prophet Muhammad) were
aiding them in this struggle against a world superpower.
Many miracles happened during these battles, with birds hovering over missiles to inform the Muslim fighters of the missiles direction, other times tanks ran over men and bullets were shot at them, yet they survived without injury. Their killed smelled of perfume out of this world (which the Arab and Afghans said was a smell from Paradise where their souls now resided), while the killed of the communists smelled rotten and was often abandoned, their corpses eaten by dogs. (More miracles can be read in Abdullah Azzam’s book: Signs of al-Rahmaan [the Most Merciful (God)] in the Jihad ofAfghan.)
Block the Supply Routes Strategy:
The Arab-Afghan Islamic resistance against the Russian’s learnt a new technique to
defeat the superpower. They knew the communists within Afghanistan depended upon the supply line of weapons and fuel which entered into Afghanistan from neighboring countries from Central Asia (now under USSR control), they would target this supply line continuously so that the communist forces within Afghanistan would run out of supplies, which would be the cause of their defeat. They did exactly this, in addition to many Afghans turning against their communist commanders and shooting them in their backs.
Now with the destruction of Russia’s air power through Stinger missiles, the ambushing of Communist supply lines, and the murder of Communist commanders within Afghanistan – the Russian superpower lost its power, morale and financial capability, being drained of a billion + dollars through the hands of the poorest people in the world. This would soon be the end of the Russian Communist movement (known as the USSR) and the Red army. The USSR never fully recovered after this war, millions of Afghan warriors and innocents had been killed, and Afghanistan had after 10 years of violence been freed from external domination. It would be this same strategy which would defeat occupying Western forces in Afghanistan, 20 years later.
By, Ambassador Drew Faarah ibrahim
- an international expert of geo-plotics , History & Diplomacy
