Afghan mujahideen

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The Afghan mujahideen or mujahidin were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Afghanistan government and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War. The term mujahid (from Arabic مجاهد [muˈdʒaːhid]) is used in a religious context by Muslims to refer to those engaged in a struggle of any nature for the sake of Islam, commonly referred to as jihad (جهاد [dʒiˈhaːd]). The Afghan mujahideen consisted of numerous groups that differed from each other across ethnic and ideological lines, but were united by their anti-communist and Islamist goals. The coalition of anti-Soviet Muslim militias was also known as the "Afghan resistance", and the Western press widely referred to the Afghan guerrillas as "freedom fighters", or "Mountain Men". The militants of the Afghan mujahideen were recruited and organized immediately after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, initially from the regular Afghan population and defectors from the Afghan military...

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