Operation Cyclone

Operation Cyclone was a CIA covert program that armed and funded Afghan mujahideen resisting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.

Inter-Services Intelligence: Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, responsible for external intelligence and covert operations. It selected and supplied Afghan factions with much of the aid delivered under the program.
Soviet–Afghan War: The 1979–1989 conflict between Soviet forces and the Afghan government they supported against diverse insurgent groups. The war created the resistance Operation Cyclone was designed to sustain.
Ronald Reagan: The 40th president of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989. His administration expanded support for the Afghan resistance during the program’s largest funding years.
Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan: The departure of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, completed in February 1989. It ended the occupation that Operation Cyclone’s recipients had fought, but not Afghanistan’s civil war.
Stinger missile: A shoulder-fired, heat-seeking surface-to-air missile developed by the United States. Its provision to Afghan fighters in 1986 became the program’s most visible weapons transfer.
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan beginning in December 1979. The invasion prompted the expanded U.S. covert response.
William Casey: A lawyer and Republican official who directed the CIA from 1981 to 1987. As CIA director, he strongly backed expanding covert aid to the mujahideen.
Afghan Civil War: A series of armed conflicts among Afghan factions following the collapse of the communist government in 1992. Factional rivalries among armed groups persisted after the Soviet-backed government fell.
Mujahideen: Muslim fighters who wage jihad; the term commonly names Afghan resistance forces during the Soviet-Afghan War. They were the Afghan recipients and combatants whom the program supported.
Operation IA Feature: A CIA covert action program that provided aid to Afghan opponents of the Soviet-backed government before the 1979 invasion. It preceded Operation Cyclone and established an initial channel of U.S. support.

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