Important People

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was president of Pakistan from 1978 to 1988. He was the person responsible for coordinating the Mujahideen forces against the Soviets. Like America, he aided the Mujahideen, and unlike America, he donated military forces to them.

Jimmy Carter was president of the United States when the Soviet forces went into Afghanistan. To combat the Soviets, he started the Carter Doctrine which said that the U.S. would use military forces to protect its national interests in the Persian Gulf. He also signed the funding authorization fro anti-communist guerrillas.

After Ronald Reagan became president, he expanded on Carter's ideology for fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan by starting the Reagan Doctrine. The doctrine expanded the aid given to the mujahideen and other anti-Soviet forces overseas. Reagan's Doctrine now acts as a focal point of the U.S. foreign policy.