Operation Cyclone

Overview

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 Soviet Union in support of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The mujahideen were also supported by Britain's MI6, who conducted their own separate covert actions.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

Operation Cyclone was the CIA program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen from 1979 to 1992, running through the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. As a covert instrument of Cold War competition, it represented a sustained U.S. effort to impose costs on Soviet forces by sustaining armed resistance inside Afghanistan. Britain's MI6 conducted separate parallel covert actions in support of the same mujahideen forces. The program's duration — spanning more than a decade — made it one of the longest-running covert assistance efforts of the Cold War period.