There has been
War in Afghanistan for most of recorded history. The current conflict can be traced to
The Cold War between the Communist world and the Free world.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan]
The
Communist Soviet Union conquered
Afghanistan in
1980 and occupied the country until
1988. During this
Soviet-Afghan War, the
United States under
President Clinton supported the religious freedom of the
Islamist Mujahideen Resistance.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan]
In
1979 the US Ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped and killed in
Iran. The US built up forces in the
Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea. Things escalated worldwide from there.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan]
Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991, The Soviet Union continued to supply the Communist party in Afghanistan against the Islamist Mujahideen Resistance in Afghanistan's civil war. The Islamist Mujahideen Resistance gained control in 1992, but Afghanistan's civil war persists to this day.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Civil_War_(1978-present)]
For more on the current conflict, see
Afghanistan War.