Conor
O’Brien

Operation Cyclone 1980

A project based around the CIA covert operation involved in the Soviet Afghan war during the 1980s. The operation was part of a larger effort by the USA to stop the spread of communism in the region. US evolvement in the conflict changed the course of history and saw the US arming and training local Afghanistan Mujahedeen fighters with advanced weapon technology to fight against the Soviets. Operation Cyclone was fraught with corruption and mismanagement and created much destabilisation in the region and effects that can be still seen today. Many of the Mujahedeen fighters would later go on after the war with the Soviets to spit and form many rebel and terrorist organisations which would later rage war against the US and become to be known as the war on terror.