Afghan Arabs

The term Afghan Arabs (or Arab Afghans) refers to Muslims who volunteered to aid the Afghan jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989. These volunteers became active in national and regional conflicts upon their return from Afghanistan. Some of these international volunteers functioned as commanders of guerrilla training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the 1990s, giving safe haven to revolutionary Muslims seeking skills in terrorism and warfare. Some participated in insurgencies and civil wars around the world, including Algeria, Egypt, Kashmir, Tajikistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya. The most famous Afghan Arab was Osama bin Laden, the founder of the al Qaeda terrorist network.

In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in an effort to maintain that nation's beleaguered Communist regime, which was facing an insurgency from multiple Islamist factions. The Afghan insurgents, or mujahideen, called on Pakistan and other governments around the world to help them with military, financial, and humanitarian assistance. Muslim antipathy toward the atheistic ideology of communism and images of suffering Afghanis along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border inspired several thousand Arabs and other Muslims to volunteer as aid and humanitarian workers. Some went a step farther by volunteering to join mujahideen factions in rolling [Page 11]back the Soviet invasion through combat. In the context of the Cold War, the United States and Muslim governments allied with the United States, such as Pakistan, did not hesitate to give material support to the mujahideen and the foreign Muslim volunteers.

U.S. Army General David H. Petraeus, center, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, meets with Afghans in the Bala Murghab valley of western Afghanistan on August 2, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Bradley Lail/Released)

The Afghan Arabs were inspired and organized by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, one of the fund-raisers and recruiters for the Afghan jihad and the founder of the Services Bureau that hosted Arab volunteers in Peshawar, Pakistan. The Afghan Arabs were a tiny contingent in the anti-Soviet struggle. Estimates of foreign Muslim volunteers vary, but it is likely that no more than 3,000 to 4,000 came at any one time. Most of the volunteers served in Peshawar and other Pakistani cities bordering on Afghanistan. They were humanitarian aid workers, cooks, drivers, doctors, accountants, teachers, engineers, and religious preachers. They built camps, mosques, and makeshift hospitals and schools; they dug and treated water wells; and they attended to the sick and wounded. However, some came with jihad in mind.

The motivations of the volunteers can be divided into five general categories: religious fulfillment, employment opportunities, safe havens, military training, and adventure. Afghan Arabs were mainly men in their twenties recruited from the Persian Gulf and North Africa. Volunteers from the Gulf included guest workers who came from impoverished countries such as Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. By and large they were seeking jobs and salaries with Gulf-based nongovernmental organizations in Pakistan, not martyrdom in Afghanistan.

The influence of the Afghan Arabs on the rise of global jihadism is significant. The crucible of Afghanistan provided this emergent vanguard with training, socialization, and networking opportunities that they could not dream of in their authoritarian countries. Away from their home governments and free to propagate their radical views, Afghan Arabs developed a culture of jihad and martyrdom, as well as a template for mobilizing Muslims in defense of Islamic causes. Their experiences and skills became manifest in several insurgencies and civil wars during the 1990s, and, tragically, in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

...