In 38 years, Afghanistan has gone from being the downfall of the Soviet Union to the longest war in US history. In that time, the people have endured a brutal civil war, the rise of the Taliban, and a US-led invasion that continues to this day. This is an explainer on how the nation that helped end the Cold War is still mired in conflict nearly four decades later.

Sources used for this video:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saur_Revolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CSPbzitPL8

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/analysis/83854.stm

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12024253

The resistance
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/failings-of-inclusivity-the-herat-uprising-of-march-1979/

http://www.unm.edu/~ybosin/documents/afg_rev.pdf

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/remembering-afghanistan-herat-uprising-201421294828377438.html

Communist abuses
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/afghanistan-five-thousand-martyrs-201310311404693426.html

Najibullah Ahmadzai
https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands/past-atrocities-kabul-and-afghanistans-legacy-impunity
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/najib-who-or-a-faux-pas-transition-press-release/
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/2012618134838393817.html

Warlord abuses
http://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-report-atrocities-war-accountability/24656163.html
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/21/afghanistan-war-crimes-suspect-comes-home
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opensocietyfoundations.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fajpreport_20050718.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/06/world/up-to-2000-killed-in-kabul-last-month-red-cross-says.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/key-afghans-tied-to-mass-killings-in-90s-civil-war.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=asia
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/key-afghans-tied-to-mass-killings-in-90s-civil-war.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=asia

Arming the Mujahideen
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,450997-92,00.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/reagan-freedom-fighters-taliban-foreign-policy-2013-2

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