War in Afghanistan - - the History behind the U.S. War in Afghanistan

1980s: Osama bin Laden Recruits Arabs for Jihad in Afghanistan

Osama bin Laden

Wikipedia

The idea that the 9/11 attacks have their roots in the Soviet-Afghan war comes from bin Laden's role in it. During much of the war he, and Ayman Al Zawahiri, the Egyptian head of Islamic Jihad, an Egyptian group, lived in neighboring Pakistan. There, they cultivated Arab recruits to fight with the Afghan mujahideen. This, loosely, was the beginning of the network of roving jihadists that would become Al Qaeda later.

It was also in this period that bin Laden's ideology, goals and the role of jihad within them developed.

See also:

• Osama bin Laden's Jihad

• War on Terror Begins in Afghanistan
• 1979: Soviet Forces Enter Afghanistan
• 1979-1989: Afghan Mujahideen Battle the Soviets
• 1980s: Osama bin Laden Recruits Arabs for Jihad in Afghanistan
• 1996: Taliban Take Over Kabul, and End Mujahideen Rule
• 2001: U.S. Airstrikes Topple Taliban Government, But Not Taliban Insurgency