The name was most closely associated with the mujahideen in
Afghanistan, Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied as the political bloc called
Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen. The parties were not under a single command and had ideological differences. Many Muslims from other countries assisted the various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan. Some groups of these veterans became significant players in later conflicts in and around the Muslim world.
Osama bin Laden, originally from a wealthy family in
Saudi Arabia, was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers; his
Maktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments. These foreign fighters became known as "
Afghan Arabs" and their efforts were coordinated by
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. Although the mujahideen were aided by the
Pakistani,
American,
British,
Chinese and
Saudi governments, the mujahideen's primary source of funding was private donors and religious charities throughout the Muslim world—particularly in the Persian Gulf.
Jason Burke recounts that "as little as 25% of the money for the Afghan jihad was actually supplied directly by states." Mujahideen forces caused serious casualties to the Soviet forces, and made the war very costly for the Soviet Union. In 1989 the Soviet Union
withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. In February 1989 the seven Sunni mujahideen factions formed an Afghan Interim Government (AIG) in
Peshawar, The Interim Government had been in exile in
Pakistan since 1988, led by
Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, as an attempt for a united front against the DRA. The AIG became a failure, partly because it could not solve the differences between the factions; partly because of limited public support as it excluded the Iran-backed Shia mujahideen factions, and the exclusion of supporters of ex-King
Mohammed Zahir Shah; and the mujahideen's failure in the
Battle of Jalalabad in March 1989. In 1992 the DRA's last president,
Mohammad Najibullah, was overthrown and most mujahideen factions signed the
Peshawar Accords. The mujahideen could not establish a functional united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups
began to fight each other over power in
Kabul. After several years of devastating fighting, in a small
Pashtun village, a
mullah named
Mohammed Omar organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the
Taliban ("students" in
Pashto), referring to how most Taliban had grown up in refugee camps in Pakistan during the 1980s and were taught in the Saudi-backed
Wahhabi madrassas, religious schools known for teaching a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
Cyprus Even before independence, the
Turkish Cypriot community maintained its own paramilitary force (the
Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı, or TMT), trained and equipped by the
Turkish Army. In 1967, this force was renamed the
Mücahit ("Mujahideen"), and in 1975 the Mücahit was renamed the
Turkish Cypriot Security Force. In 1974, Turkey led a land invasion of
Northern Cyprus with the aim of protecting the Turkish minority population after a Greek-inspired coup brought a threat of union of the island with Greece. Since then there has been no major fighting on Cyprus and the nation continues to be an independent country, though strongly linked with Turkey militarily and politically.
Iran and Iraq While more than one group in Iran has called itself mujahideen, the most famous is the
People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI;
Persian: Mojāhedin-e Khalq), an Iranian organization that advocates for the overthrow of the
Islamic Republic of Iran. It formed part of the
Iranian National Front during the time of
Mohammed Mosaddeq's
oil nationalization, but broke away from Mosaddeq over his allegedly un-Islamic policies.
Myanmar (Burma) From 1947 to 1961, local mujahideen (Furikka) fought against Burmese government soldiers in an attempt to have the
Mayu peninsula in northern Arakan, Burma (present-day
Rakhine State,
Myanmar) secede from the country, so it could be annexed by
East Pakistan (present-day
Bangladesh). During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the mujahideen lost most of their momentum and support, resulting in most of them surrendering to government forces. In the 1990s, the well-armed
Rohingya Solidarity Organisation was the main perpetrator of attacks on Burmese authorities positioned on the
Bangladesh–Myanmar border.
Philippines In 1969, political tensions and open hostilities developed between the
Government of the Philippines and
jihadist rebel groups. The
Moro National Liberation Front (
MNLF) was established by
University of the Philippines professor Nur Misuari to condemn the
killings of more than 60 Filipino Muslims and later became an aggressor against the government while the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (
MILF), a splinter group from the MNLF, was established to seek an Islamic state within the Philippines and is more radical and more aggressive. The conflict is ongoing; casualty statistics vary for the conflict, with conservative estimates of the
Uppsala Conflict Data Program indicating at least 6,015 people were killed in armed conflict between the Government of Philippines and
ASG, BIFM,
MILF, and
MNLF factions between 1989 and 2012.
Abu Sayyaf is an Islamic separatist group in the southern
Philippines, formed in 1991. The group is known for its
kidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos, for which it has received several large
ransom-payments. Some Abu Sayyaf members have studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed relations with the mujahideen members while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. ==1990s==