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COLD WAR: SOLDIERS OF GOD, 1975-1988 {PT. 20 OF 24} (TV)

Summary

Part twenty of twenty-four in this documentary series examining the events of the Cold War, from 1917 to the early 1990s. This series consists of interviews and archival footage, accompanied by historical narration by Kenneth Branagh. This episode chronicles the Soviet- and American-fueled civil war in Afghanistan, from 1975 to 1988. Afghanistan interested both the U.S. and the Soviet Union because of its proximity to the Persian Gulf, Iran, and the Soviet border; when a coup brought Communist leader Nur Mohammad Taraki to power in 1978, the Soviet Union sent Communist advisors to aid the new government. The changes made by Taraki met with mixed responses; Minister of Education Abdul Rashid Jalili gives a favorable review of the land reforms and educational programs instituted, while Mullah Sahar Gul explains that the reforms contradicted Islamic law and Afghan cultural traditions. A resistance to the new regime formed, refugees fled to escape the unrest, and support for a Jihad grew in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran. U.S. National-Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski recalls his concern that Soviet control might spread to Iran and the Persian Gulf, particularly given Iran's recent destabilization due to a coup against the Shah. Vasily Safronchuk of the Soviet Foreign Ministry states that Taraki pressed the Soviet Union for military aid as Mujahedin rebels gained strength, and for political advice concerning Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin's harsh execution of Communist reforms. Taraki's plots to undermine Amin backfired, however, and another coup installed Amin as the new leader. General Valentin Varennikov of the Afghan-Soviet forces explains that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and removed Amin when he began involving the U.S. in the conflict; and General Vladimir Kruichkov, deputy head of the KGB, echoes the concern for a destabilized, Western influenced region near the Soviet border. By the end of 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan and killed Amin, provoking an immediate response from President Jimmy Carter and the United Nations. When President Ronald Reagan came to the White House, the U.S. began secretly to supply military aid to the Mujahedin. Charles Dunbar of the U.S. State Department remarks on American cooperation with Pakistan in support of Afghan Islamic fundamentalists. Next, a discussion of the Afghan civil war includes the following: Soviet journalist Artyom Borovik recalls the Soviet troops' difficulties in fighting guerilla soldiers in a mountain terrain; Frank Anderson of the C.I.A. speaks about the relationship between the U.S. government and the Mujahedin; Mujahedin leader Ahmed Shah Massoud describes the influence the Pakistani government wielded over the rebel army; and Afghan villagers Bibi Sardara, Mohamad Hanif, Maj Noon, and Gulab Shah give first-hand accounts of the horrors of the war. Athough the U.N .sought a diplomatic solution to the war, Charles Cogan of the C.I.A. insists that, in spite of Leonid Brezhnev's death in 1982, the Soviet Union was not ready to withdraw from Afghanistan. Next, several Soviet soldiers give accounts of the war, expressing disillusionment with what they had been told was a war against America; and bereaved mother Sofia Zhuravleva explains that Soviet citizens and military recruits were not informed that the military was fighting in AfghanistanÕs civil war. In explaining why the Soviet Union was loath to abandon the Afghan war, Anatoly Cherniayev, aide to Mikhail Gorbachev, compares Soviet involvment in Afghanistan to the American engagement in Vietnam. U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger also comments on the Soviet need to resolve the Afghan conflict, and he gives his opinions of Gorbachev's political aims. The program closes with a discussion of the air war, which brought the U.S. openly into Afghanistan, and of the ineffective 1988 Geneva Peace Agreement. Karen Brutents of the Communist Party International Department concludes that the Afghan people were victims in a conflict between two superpowers. Commercials deleted.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, 1999.

This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.

Details

  • NETWORK: CNN
  • DATE: March 7, 1999 8:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:46:45
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:58762
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Afghanistan - History - Soviet occupation, 1979-1989; Cold War; Communism - 1987; U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; U S S R - Foreign relations - Afghanistan; Vietnam War; She Made It Collection (Pat Mitchell)
  • SERIES RUN: CNN - TV series, 1998-1999
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Pat Mitchell … Executive Producer, For Turner Original Productions
  • Jeremy Isaacs … Executive Producer, For Turner Original Productions
  • Vivian Schiller … Senior Producer, For Turner Original Productions
  • Michael Thomas … Production Manager, For Turner Original Productions
  • Martin Smith … Series Producer
  • Ken Kirby … Producer
  • Isobel Hinshelwood … Series Associate Producer
  • Alison McAllan … Series Associate Producer
  • Jonathan Steele … Writer
  • Ted Turner … Series Concept by
  • Alexander Dunlop … Editor
  • Robin Barnwell … Research
  • Svetlana Palmer … Research
  • Steve Bergson … Film Research
  • Carl Davis … Music by
  • Kenneth Branagh … Narrator
  • Hafizullah Amin
  • Frank Anderson
  • Artyom Borovik
  • Leonid Brezhnev
  • Karen Brutents
  • Zbigniew Brzezinski
  • Jimmy Carter
  • Anatoly Cherniayev
  • Charles Cogan
  • Charles Dunbar
  • Mikhail Gorbachev
  • Sahar Gul
  • Mohamad Hanif
  • Abdul Rashid Jalili
  • Vladimir Kruichkov
  • Ahmed Shah Massoud
  • Maj Noon
  • Ronald Reagan
  • Vasily Safronchuk
  • Bibi Sardara
  • Gulab Shah
  • Nur Mohammad Taraki
  • Valentin Varennikov
  • Caspar Weinberger
  • Sofia Zhuravleva