US president Jimmy Carter signed a presidential finding, authorizing covert operations to aid the mujahideen against the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Jimmy Carter

President of the United States from 1977 to 1981

James Earl Carter Jr. was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter served from 1971 to 1975 as the 76th governor of Georgia and from 1963 to 1967 in the Georgia State…

Presidential finding

In the United States, a presidential finding, more formally known as a memorandum of notification (MON), is a presidential directive required by statute to be delivered to certain Congressional committees to justify the commencement of covert operations by the Central…

Operation Cyclone

1979–1992 CIA program to fund Afghan Mujahedeen in the Soviet–Afghan War

Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of the Democratic Republic of…

Mujahideen

Arabic term for people engaged in jihad ("struggle")

Mujahideen, or Mujahidin, is the plural form of mujahid, an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in jihad, interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the community (ummah).

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

Socialist state from 1978 to 1992

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, later known as the Republic of Afghanistan, was the Afghan state between 1978 and 1992. It was bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, by Iran to the west, by the Soviet Union to the north, and by China to the northeast. Established by…