The Afghan Civil War between the communist party rule and the fundamentalist Islamist rebellion occurred in the 1970s. In 1973 the communist party called the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrew King Zahir. King Zahir, the last Shah of Afghanistan, was then replaced with Mohammad Daoud. After the coup, the Saur Revolution took place and a number of assassinations between rivaling factions for power had occurred. The region was very unstable due to the shifting power and frequent changes in leadership, which left it vulnerable to the PDPA (Maley 58).
The Muslims and the communist party have fundamental ideological differences. The Muslim belief structure does not align well with the 'godless' communist belief structure and rule (Halliday and Tanin 1361). The Afghan people have a rich history of customs and traditions that are dictated by the Islamic faith. Women have a second-class status within the Islamic society, however the communist rule subverted this custom along with other systems in society.
In 1978 Nur Muhammed Taraki enacted radical change to the education and judicial systems (Halliday and Tanin 1377). The PDPA even enacted land reform. These changes were contrary to Islam, and in fact were radically communistic. Under his government women were forced to take literacy classes, even in tribal communities in Afghanistan. While such an action itself would not be cause for alarm within the western value system, the traditional Muslim community was alienated by such policies. Because of this, the Muslim community was forced to rebel against the communists through the Mujahedeen. Eventually Hafizullah Amin assassinated Taraki and replaced him.
The Soviet Union was involved in a civil war in the Middle East because the Cold War created a need for security (Halliday and Tanin 1357). As Afghanistan became increasingly unstable and their reach extended further throughout the region, the Soviet ...