how much did operation cyclone cost

by Miss Iva Gleason PhD Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

The assistance was done covertly under the codename of Operation Cyclone. It was estimated that between 1980 and 1987, the United States spent US$15–30 million to as high as US$600 million a year on the operation.

What happened to Operation Cyclone?

Feb 29, 2020 · The US alone has directly spent around $700 billion on its war in Afghanistan. One may also ask, who was involved in Operation Cyclone? The book centers around CIA operative Rick Fontain and 'Operation Cyclone' a early 80's CIA operation to …

How much does it cost to build a cyclone?

Aug 30, 2021 · Operation Cyclone is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being "the most expensive [known] covert action" and is believed to have cost the CIA $2 billion between 1979 and 1989. But this is still one of the lower estimates.

How much did the CH-148 Cyclone cost?

These launchers, which cost only a few thousand dollars, were able to take down multi-million dollar Soviet helicopters with devastating effect. Not only was this a tactical win on the battlefield, it was immensely expensive for the Soviets to maintain. Operation Cyclone lasted for a solid decade from December of 1979 to February of 1989.

How much will it take to help Burma’s Cyclone victims?

Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken. Funding began with $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987. Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah’s PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).

Who funded the mujahideen?

In total, the combined U.S., Saudi, and Chinese aid to the mujahideen is valued at between $6–12 billion. The mujahideen benefited from expanded foreign military support from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United Kingdom and other Muslim nations.

Did the US fund Osama bin Laden?

During the anti-Soviet war Bin Laden and his fighters received American and Saudi funding. Some analysts believe Bin Laden himself had security training from the CIA.

Who ordered Operation Cyclone?

Between 1979 and 1989, the CIA channelled more than $2 billion in weapons, logistical support and training to the mujahideen. Operation Cyclone was the brainchild of President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski.

How was Operation Cyclone successful?

The U.S.-built Stinger antiaircraft missile, supplied to the mujahideen in very large numbers beginning in 1986, struck a decisive blow to the Soviet war effort as it allowed the lightly armed Afghans to effectively defend against Soviet helicopter landings in strategic areas.

Who funded Taliban?

For the past 20 years, the U.S. government and other countries have financed the vast majority of the Afghan government's non-military budget – and every cent of the fighting force that melted to the Taliban so quickly in August 2021.Sep 9, 2021

Did Osama bin Laden speak English?

behaviour, personal charm and ... bravery in battle" have been described as "legendary." According to Michael Scheuer, bin Laden claims to speak only Arabic. In a 1998 interview, he had the English questions translated into Arabic. But others, such as Rhimaulah Yusufzai and Peter Bergen, believe he understood English.

Was Osama bin Laden part of the mujahideen?

He was born in Saudi Arabia and studied at university in the country until 1979, when he joined Mujahideen forces in Pakistan fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Why did Russia invade Afghanistan?

Afghanistan Had Long Held Strategic Importance Fearful that Tsarist Russia's expansion into Central Asia would bring it perilously close to the border of India, their imperial jewel, Britain fought three wars in Afghanistan to maintain a buffer against Russian encroachment.Mar 4, 2022

Who invented Afghanistan?

Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (c. 1723–1773), the founder of the Durrani Empire and regarded as the founder of present-day Afghanistan. The Pashtun Rulers: In 1504 the region fell under a new empire, the Mughals of northern India, who for the next two centuries contested Afghan territory with the Iranian Safavi Dynasty.

Why did US support Afghanistan?

NATO Allies went into Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, to ensure that the country would not again become a safe haven for international terrorists to attack NATO member countries. Over the last two decades, there have been no terrorist attacks on Allied soil from Afghanistan.Apr 8, 2022

Who started glasnost?

In the mid-1980s, it was popularised by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased government transparency in the Soviet Union.

Why did the US help Afghanistan in the 1980s?

In the recent past, during the 1980s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played a significant role in inserting U.S. influence in Afghanistan by funding military operations designed to frustrate the Soviet invasion of that country.

Who were the mujahideen?

The mujahideen were members of guerrilla groups that were rebelling against the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan's (PDPA) rule in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) and later the Soviet army in the late 1970s.

What was the goal of Operation Cyclone?

Although the main goal of Operation Cyclone was to fund the mujahideen against the Soviet-backed DRA, it was also intended to destabilize the influence of the Soviet Union in Central Asia.

Who was involved in Operation Cyclone?

Operation was mainly composed of a three-way alliance between the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. According to Democracy Now!, the United States provided money as well as technological and logistical support.

How much did Operation Cyclone cost?

Operation Cyclone is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being "the most expensive [known] covert action" and is believed to have cost the CIA $2 billion between 1979 and 1989. But this is still one of the lower estimates. In " US-Pakistan Relationship ," A.Z.

Money, money, money

As one of the other main points of the Washington-Riyadh-Islamabad triangle, Saudi Arabia supported the mujahideen with funding and coordination with the ISI.

Pakistan's role

The tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan started with the Durand Line, which the British established in 1893, dividing Pashtun people between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Recruiting foreign volunteers across the Islamic world

The training camps were used to train thousands of men who came from various countries to join the Afghan mujahideen. In " Bin Laden ," Yossef Bodansky writes between 16,000 and 20,000 people came from up to 20 countries to be trained in Pakistan in the late 1980s alone.

How long did Operation Cyclone last?

Operation Cyclone lasted for a solid decade from December of 1979 to February of 1989. The plan was to support the Afghan resistance and Mujahedeen as long as the Soviets intended to remain in the conflict. In order to complete such a rigorous task, the United States employed the help of the Pakistan government.

What was the purpose of the U.S. destroying the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan?

In destroying the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, the U.S. essentially laid the ground work and infrastructure for their new enemies. In removing the Soviets and Communist puppet in power in Afghanistan, a power vacuum was created.

What intelligence did the US use to help Pakistan?

Now at the disposal of the CIA was Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence – (ISI) and their infrastructure they had developed.

What did the CIA provide to the Soviets?

The CIA supplied them with non-lethal aid like communications equipment and humanitarian aid. However, when the Soviets demonstrated how serious and stubborn they were in terms of how much they wanted to invest in Afghanistan, the U.S. ramped up their level of support.

How much did the CIA spend on Operation Cyclone?

Funding began with $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987. Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah’s PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).

What was the CIA's covert program to arm and finance the Jihadi warriors?

Operation Cyclone. Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) covert program to arm and finance the Jihadi warriors, mujahideen, in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of its client, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

What was the name of the CIA program that was used to provide weapons to the Mujahideen?

After the Soviet invasion in December 1979, which was a surprise to Carter, the CIA expanded the program, code-named Operation Cyclone, and began providing weapons along with money to the mujahideen through the Pakistani intelligence services. Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken.

What was the CIA program that was used to arm the Jihadi warriors?

Operation Cyclone. The code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Jihadi warriors, mujahideen, in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of its client, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. mujahideen.

What was the Stinger missile used for?

What was the Reagan Administration's strategy to defeat the Soviet Union?

A strategy orchestrated and implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to overwhelm the global influence of the Soviet Union in an attempt to end the Cold War. Under this doctrine, the United States provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements to “roll back” Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

How did Reagan's program help Afghanistan?

Reagan’s program assisted in ending the Soviet’s occupation in Afghanistan. The United States offered two packages of economic assistance and military sales to support Pakistan’s role in the war against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The first six-year assistance package (1981–87) amounted to $3.2 billion, equally divided between economic ...

How much did the Guerrillas spend in 1985?

The budget for the covert operation more than doubled, to $280 million in the fiscal year 1985 from $122 million in 1984, members of Congress said. In 1985, the guerrillas got their first effective surface-to-surface weapons, 107-millimeter multiple rocket launchers made in China. They have a range of about five miles, ...

How many Soviet aircraft did the guerrillas shoot down?

Since then, according to American officials, the guerrillas have shot down at least 270 Soviet aircraft. In 1986, the insurgents got two other types of portable antiaircraft missiles, the British-made Blowpipe and the American-made Redeye. But neither was as effective as the Stinger.

How many Soviet troops were in Afghanistan in 1979?

What follows is a history of that operation, as described by people who supervised it or followed it closely. More than 30,000 Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan, with planes and tanks, in the last week of December 1979. On Jan. 1, 1980, the Soviet Government newspaper Izvestia charged that the C.I.A.

When did Reagan take office?

When Mr. Reagan took office in January 1981, his appointees were told that support for the Afghan guerrillas was the most significant covert operation being conducted by the C.I.A. In the fall of 1982, the President decided to increase the quality and quantity of arms supplied to the insurgents.

Why were Afghans reluctant to support the Afghans?

But many officials were initially reluctant to provide vigorous support for the Afghans, fearing that it might unrealistically raise their hopes for a military victory or provoke Soviet reprisals against Pakistan, the main conduit for aid to the guerrillas.

Who was the Defense Minister of Egypt in 1980?

In mid-February of 1980, Egypt's Defense Minister, Lieut. Gen. Kamal Hassan Ali , said his country was training Afghans in guerrilla warfare and would send them back to fight against the Soviet-backed Government.

What was the purpose of the Task Force on Afghanistan?

In January 1985, Congress formed the Task Force on Afghanistan to investigate guerrilla needs and to put pressure on the Administration . A turning point came in April 1985, when Mr. Reagan signed a classified order clarifying the goals of the covert operation.

When was the CH-148 helicopter unveiled?

The new CH-148 Cyclone helicopter sits on display as part of the unveiling ceremony at 12 Wing Shearwater, Nova Scotia on June 19, 2015.

What is the CH-148 helicopter?

Canada’s new CH-148 is a maritime helicopter that conducts anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, search and rescue, and utility missions. The CH-148 Cyclone will provide tactical transport for national and international security efforts.

Overview

Background

Under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki communists seized power in Afghanistan on 27 April 1978. The newly-formed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA)—which was divided between Taraki's extremist Khalq faction and the more moderate Parcham—signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in December of that year. Taraki's efforts to improve secular education and redistribute land were accompanied by mass executions (including many conserv…

Program

Key proponents of the initial program were Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson; Michael G. Vickers, a young CIA paramilitary officer; and Gust Avrakotos, the CIA's regional head, who developed a close relationship with Wilson. Their strategy was to provide a broad mix of weapons, tactics, and logistics, along with training programs, to enhance the rebels' ability to fight a guerilla war agai…

Aftermath

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the U.S. shifted its interest from Afghanistan. American funding of Hekmatyar and his Hezb-i-Islami party was cut off immediately.
In October 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush refused to certify that Pakistan did not possess a nuclear explosive device, triggering the imposition of sanctions against Pakistan under the Pressler Amendment (1985) to the Foreign Assistance Act(1961). This disrupted the second assi…

Criticism

The U.S. government has been criticized for allowing Pakistan to channel a disproportionate amount of its funding to the controversial Hekmatyar, whom Pakistani officials believed was "their man". Hekmatyar has been criticized for killing other mujahideen and attacking civilian populations, including shelling Kabul with American-supplied weapons, causing 2,000 casualties. Hekmatyar …

Allegations of CIA assistance to bin Laden

Some have alleged that bin Laden and al Qaeda were beneficiaries of CIA assistance. This is challenged by experts such as Coll—who notes that declassified CIA records and interviews with CIA officers do not support such claims —and Peter Bergen, who argues: "It's worth mentioning here that there is simply no evidence for the common myth that bin Laden and his Afghan Arabs were supported by the CIA financially. Nor is there any evidence that CIA officials at any level me…