and betsy, long gone. after 16 days and 3,000 miles, bristling out through the woods of northern louisiana, arkansas, tennessee, to die next day in a simple whirl of dust. the danger over at last. till the next one comes along. american history tv on c-span3 features the civil war

every saturday at 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern. we've covered the war extensively these past five years as many state and national historic sites and local civil war groups hosted events to mark the war's 150th anniversary. to watch any of these past programs or find upcoming schedule information, visit our website. cspan.org/history. this is american history tv. all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3 and in primetime on weeknights when congress is in recess. >> join american history tv on saturday, november 7th, for tours and live interviews from the national world war ii museum in new orleans. we'll explore the "uss tang" submarine experience, the road to berlin, the african-american story. and we'll take your questions for historians join us from new orleans throughout the day. world war ii 70 years later. live from the national world war ii museum saturday, november

7th, beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on american history tv on c-span3. he said from the beginning, you know, i look in the mirror and i don't see a president. our response to that was, quit looking in the mirror. from the very beginning he just said, this is nothing i've ever thought about. >> this sunday night on "q&a," former public relations executive don cogman on his book "run, mitch, run." about his long-time friend, former indiana governor, mitch daniels and his decision not to run for president in 2012. >> i became convinced as we came towards the end of the process that he's very competitive. and i think if he'd had made a decision to do it that he would have had his heart and soul into it. but from the very beginning it's not something that he ever really thirsted after. >> sunday night at 8:00 even and pacific on c-span's "q&a."

each week, american history tv's "reel america" brings you archival films that help provide context to today's public affairs issues. afghanistan 1982. the struggle for freedom continues. a u.s. information agency report on the december 1979 soviet invasion of afghanistan. the 50-minute film depicts afghan armed resistance to the occupation, united nations votes protesting the soviet action, and documents many alleged war crimes. interviews with former afghan officials, resistance fighters, journalists, scholars, doctors, and human rights workers tell the story of the first three years of the war. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> since 1979, the soviet union, in violation of every convention protecting the rights of a sovereign nation, has tried to impose its will on the people of afghanistan. despite the death and destruction brought by the soviets, the afghans' struggle for freedom continues. ♪ ♪

>> afghanistan is an ancient country. a rich mosaic of ethnic traditions whose identity is shaped by islam. ♪ geography has placed it at a crossroads of trade and throughout the 19th century it was the object of imperialist rivalries. since modern times, afghanistan has outlined a careful policy of nonalignment and has maintained peaceful relations with its neighbor to the north. for years, afghanistan accepted development aid from the soviet union to upgrade its agrarian economy. a a network of modern roads was

built to link its major cities to the soviet border. this aid, however, was not without its consequences. only years later did this become obvious. a former official in the afghan government who, like others in this report, cannot be identified in order to protect their family and friends, recalls the early days of soviet aid to his country. >> initially, people found some advantages in these assistance programs. some areas were developed. roads were made and some factories were constructed. but after almost two or three decades, we found out the russians had bad intentions right from the very beginning. apparently it was aid and assistance, but in reality it was a program of exploitation. they exploited the country economically. and we found their ill intention

when the military coup of 1978 took place. this was the time that we found they wanted to change the country to a communist country. to a country which apparently would be a free country, but in reality it would be one of their satellites, a country which would literally follow their instructions and their behavior. the oppression of this regime and the way they were killing the people, the way they were imprisoning the people, persecuting the people, and torturing the people, all showed that all these things were planned. as a result, people could not tolerate this and resistance started in different parts. resistance was local and initially it was wiped out quickly by the government forces. but people did not give up. and they continued to resist. these resistance pockets grew and finally they found it was too difficult for the government to cope with this. >> recently, radio free kabul has started broadcasting and

provides once-isolated resistance bands with news about the struggle against the soviet invaders. one of the founders of this clandestine radio service is vladamir bukovsky, soviet emigre and essayist who has followed closely developments in his country and afghanistan. >> what actually happened with afghanistan and the soviet involvement there is very typical of a soviet pattern of international relations. no matter how friendly the neighboring country, they still work internally subverting it, placing more support at one part of political spectrum to the disadvantage of another spectrum. they can't help it. the usual way. they're committing to support so-called progressive forces. the forces of liberation. then the next thing happens. it appears this particular

political group is not popular in their own country. and the only way to keep it in power is by very strong support, supply of the external forces from soviet union. >> when it looked as though the communist government of president amin might prove unreliable or be deposed, the soviets moved. in late december 1979, in their greatest show of force since the soviet invasion of czechoslovakia, they airlifted thousands of soldiers into the kabul area and moved tens of thousands more overland across the border into northern afghanistan. >> one of the important points of that, why the country would leave alone this country at the particular moment, is they

cannot tolerate the collapse of so-called friendly government on their own borders. because then it may be a very dangerous precedent. it may set up, it may treg trigger off a chain reaction inside of the soviet union, which as you know consists of 130 different nationalities, most of them occupied at one or another point of our history by the soviet union, as actually afghanistan was occupied. >> four days after the soviet invasion began, a radio message, supposedly from radio kabul but actually from radio tashkent in the soviet union, announced amin had been sentenced to death and karmal, then actually in the soviet union, had been unanimously elected as the new president.

>> what proof existed that the soviets came on the invitation of president karmal, there is none, for the simple reason that karmal was not in kabul in afghanistan, when the soviets invade on december 27. they brought him with themselves to kabul. he was brought the very next day after amin's assassination. right after that and within the next hour, practically, the link between the soviet union and afghanistan start to intensify. so there is no evidence that he called for help. since he was brought, i repeat, brought by the soviets themselves. >> the russian invasion of afghanistan had big impact on the attitude of the developing

countries and third world against russia. and for years they were preaching that they were supporting developing countries, supporting them to maintain their freedom and they just want to help them. but when they invaded afghanistan, people found that russia is not a reliable friend. it is difficult to rely on russians. the same way they invaded afghanistan, they could invade their country also. . the world simply could not stand by and permit the soviet union to commit this act of aggression with impunity. 50 nations petitioned the united nations to condemn the ussr and to demand the immediate withdrawal of all soviet troops from afghanistan. >> translator: actually, the soviet invasion does not represent anything but imperialist invasion. aiming to consolidate communist

rule against the will of the peaceful afghan people. >> no words which i can say today can fully convey the deep sense of disappointment and disillusion which the government and people of nigeria felt when heard the news of soviet armed intervention in afghanistan, a third world developing nonaligned country which posed no immediate threat to the peace and security of the soviet union. >> translator: the countries of the third world and the developing nations have believed, perhaps optimistically, that the time had passed when the major powers would send their soldiers and tanks into small countries and that war-like aggression had

been ruled out as legitimate conduct in international life. but they were mistaken. >> most third world nations stated unequestion of val opposition to soviet aggression in afghanistan. the final vote on the resolution calling for soviet troop withdrawal was an overwhelming 104 in favor and 18 against. again, at meetings of the 42-nation islamic conference, strong condemnation of the soviet union was virtually unanimous. and called for the complete withdrawal of soviet troops. again in november 1981, the nonaligned nations sponsored a resolution in the united nations general assembly calling upon the soviet union to stop its aggression against the people of afghanistan. the foreign minister of malaysia stated that what was happening in afghanistan was a cause for concern to us all.

>> particularly the small developing nations who are anxious to free ourselves from external power domination and influence and hard-won independence on the basis of the policy of none alignment. the fact that the soviet union was not mentioned by name in the communique of nonaligned movement relating to the situation in afghanistan could not hide our deep disappointment and indignation at action of a super power that often claims itself to be a supporter of the third world and the nonaliant movement. >> once again, the vote calling for the withdrawal of the soviet forces from afghanistan was overwhelming. this time, 116 in favor and 23 against.

>> the reaction of the third world was rather strong, unexpectedly strong. more than anybody could expect. probably for the first time in -- since '50s, the majority of countries in united nations condemned soviet aggression. >> independent filmmaker and former british army officer nick downey has been a close observer of soviet military aggression in afghanistan. >> in the first year after the invasion, so that was during 1980, the psychological shock to the guerillas of this sudden influx of russian troops did seem to set them back. they almost seemed to be stunned by it. the russians did, with the afghan army, take back fairly large areas which they lost in the previous 18 months' fighting before the russian invasion. and then the russians, from what i can gather, having re-established the bases in the countryside, withdrew to the main towns, to the main garrisons, and left the afghan

army to hold the areas they'd retaken. and in this last year, 1981, the guerillas in many cases retook the land which they'd lost the year before. and so now the situation is very much the same as it was in 1979 before the russian invasion. in some ways from the government point of view it's much worse. >> michael berry, a representative of the international federation for human rights, a paris-based lawyers organization, has spent almost ten years in afghanistan. >> apparently the soviets had felt that simply bringing in their tanks in the country would be enough to terrorize the population into submission. seeing this was not the case they launched a total war

attack. there was a wave of helicopter fire, parachute troops were landed on the houses, parachute troops went into the houses and simply shot everybody in them. forcing the population either to run away or die on the spot. >> ""christian science monitor"" correspondent edward garde has made several trips inside afghanistan and has written extensively about the refugee camps. >> i visited numerous camps along the pakistan/afghan border. there are now an estimated 2.5 million refugees, legal refugees, inside pakistan and they're still coming over. the guerillas leave their families in pakistan and then groups go back inside maybe to

fight three, four, five, ten weeks, whatever it be. also to collect supplies. but i think also they are justified in bringing their families because there's been a lot bombing going on in villages. and in some parts they just cannot survive the farms have been destroyed, their food storages has been destroyed. i think this is one tactic of the soviets to destroy food, to try and burn the crops just before harvest time. and of course what are these people going to live on? they have to leave the country. and i think this, of course, serves the purposes of the soviet union to try to remove people from certain areas. so as to reduce the resistance or the ability of the locals to support the resistance. >> elsewhere the soviets are seeding the country with minds which not only hurt children, especially, who have trouble identifying these objects which blend very well with the

terrain, but also these mines are destroying the flocks, goats, sheep, cattle, are walking in these mines and blowing up on them. so through a combination of starvation tactics, bombing, wholesale attacks of village, they will keep pressure on a particular village so hot that they will force the population to flee. >> recognized authority and author on resistance movements around the world, professor girard chaliard. >> the main tactic is to of course remain in the cities, to hold them tightly, to create law

and order, especially in kabul and also to control communications. they do that with tanks. if they are attacked they send immediately their helicopters and their losses are moderate. on the other hand, they really not control -- are not controlling the country. it's a big country. populated by at least 15 million people. they are around 90,000 soviet troops, which is not enough to control a country of 50 million people which is big like france. and i think their choice is politically at this stage and militarily to keep a low profile, to make hit and run big operations wherever the majority are too strong, for instance in provinces like kunar in the valley of poncher not far from kabul or in the city of kandahar.

>> apart from paramilitary operations there is absolutely no attempt to use that phrase when to hatch the mines which is an essential part of any political campaign. they are just sitting there. and it is -- or it looks like a holding operation. as if the order had come from moscow, this war is to be fought as cheaply as possible. >> well, the soviets are using a hot and cold strategy which consists of hitting one populated valley very hard and destroying the population, forcing it to flee or killing it, actually, in order to convince other populations and other valleys that resistance is absolutely hopeless. and because the soviets so far have not been able to convince the population of the hopelessness of any resistance they have been forced to rely increasingly on such terror

tactics. >> an entire country has risen. almost as a man against the inva invader. that is almost unique in a guerrilla situation. normally it's a tiny percentage of the population that is doing the fighting supported by a comparative minority amongst the civil population. whereas in afghanistan you have 17 to 20 million, whatever the population is, no one quite knows, 17 to 20 million people has risen as one group. the fact that near not organized is what holds them back. were they organized, were they disciplined or trained, no power on earth could hold them down. >> in the valley of pancher there is some organization going on. there are small units better organized, more efficient as far as insurgency is concerned,

better disciplined. something that is not that easy with afghans who are traditional warriors. this is changing. >> a leader of one of the six major groups based in peb war who helms has seen action in the field and who understands the need for better organization and cooperation among the various groups is eunice callis. >> translator: i don't think that the unification of the afghan feactions is impossible. we are fighting the same enemy. all the muslims are fighting the russians. unity sought by all the groups and, in fact, we are fighting the same enemy. young majority from different parties are fighting in different parts of the country and all the moderates are with us. nobody is waiting for the other ones to be the first to fight. all the muslims everywhere are

fighting against their enemy and their enemies won and that will be a mistake, to say one is fighting and the other is not. ♪ >> to most afghans, to be a communist is to be against islam. soviet aggression in afghanistan is viewed as a communist effort to eliminate those who are believers. what is obvious to any oiber is that an afghan's faith is intricately bound up in his identity. independent filmmaker christian was impressed by the role of islam in the afghan troug r struggle for freedom. >> translator: we have often

heard about their religious fancyism. in fact, their faith is necessary, i believe it is an indispensable drive to resistance but there isn't just this fuel for their resistance. they are also fighting for the respect of their particular lifestyle. so they struggle for their religion is also nationalist struggle. >> translator: for a long time we did not understand that the russians had invaded our country. they wanted to make us communist. thank god we are muslims. we are following got's path. we do not want communist in afghanistan. we want true islamic republic in afghanistan. >> well, the role of islam, first of all, is identity. you are a muslim just like you are an afghan. i would make a parallel easy to understand for westerners. it's a bit like the role of catholic church in poland. you're a polish, you're a poll,

being a catholic and a pole means your not russian orthodox or propertestant and german. it's the same thing with the afghans. i mean, religion is part of their identity, it's part of their way of living, it's part of themselves. >> translator: when we ask the man in charge of the military in the valley how by what miracle is 5,000 men with only 500 weapons could manage to hold and check the army which is supposed to be the most powerful in the world, the red army, the first answer he gave us was the believers, that denied a holy war and if they die they inherit the garden of good. and islamic answer one must remember, but the second part of his answer was that nature of the countryside was responsible. it is a fact that a large part of afghanistan consist of mountains and that by definition the mountains are very difficult

to occupy. >> tins is over yet invasion many of europe's television correspondents have made several trips to afghanistan to document the struggle for freedom. italian television. >> translator: and what struck me very much during my first trip was a i above all the extreme poverty of means. on one hand they had great determination and on the other hand there is extreme poverty of means. they were all equipped with all infield guns of the 19th century.

and they were really very few machine guns, maybe one gun for every 50 guerrillas. two years later, after six trips, i found in the afghans the same determination that i had found during my first encounter. but there was also a greater sense of responsibility, a greater sense of political responsibility. >> translator: of course the situation has been improving during the last two years. the freedom fighters are very equipped, but the fight is still uneven. and one of their major difficulties is indeed to be able to defend themselves

against the attack of these gunships. the russian attack helicopters, which are armored, equipped with very sophisticated equipment and electronic devices to locate men as well as bombing and laser-guided weapons. >> behind helicopter attack gunship provides the soviets with an awesome weapon against them. sweeping across the countryside at speeds of up to 300 kilometers an hour its arm whatments, 128 57-millimeter rockets rain death and destruction from the skies. another television correspondent who has filmed several military operations in this war is french television's jean betalino. >> translator: the weapons used by the afghans do not come from

the states nor from china, for the most part. most of the weapons held by them, that is to say the afghan freedom fighters, are weapons which were garnered in the course of operations. first of all, there are reason incredible number of desertions in the afghan army. don't forget that since the soef yet invasion a great many afghan army units along the weapons and equipment have defected to join the resistance. so it is mostly these weapons which the afghans are using. >> but there are a lot of afghan desert deserters. this comes by the fact that this is not a popular war at all. most people in the afghan army have families who are against the regime. there is no motivation to fight. the mujahideen are all over the country. they are numerous. they have the backing of the population and it's not really motivating for an army to be

fighting against its own people. i think that's the main reason of those desertions. >> reporter: mujahideen tactics have improved to the point where even the cities are not longer totally secure for soviet troops. kandahar, a major afghan city, has changed hands several times. >> translator: the afghan garn ters are now able to infiltrate the camps in the city. they are capable of launching attacks on the soviets and then fleeing. the technique of hit and run. however, attacking the soviet camps is somewhat like stabbing a dragon's tail. a deluge of metal and fire burrs up around you. >> translator: but now you find small well-armed commando units

which have gotten used to soviet method os of warfare and now how to counter them. let me give you an example. last year when helicopters were flying overhead the afghans were paralyzed with fear. they were afraid of these helicopters against which were unequipped to fight. to they they know exactly how to gauge a threat of a helicopter, they know how to evaluate the potential danger according to distance and altitude. they know at a certain altitude it's not dangerous but at a lower altitude it becomes dangerous. therefore they know exactly how to position themselves. >> one of the young mujahideen who has experienced urban guerrilla warfare firsthand is conamed suleman.

>> translator: all the organizations which are fighting for the freedom law of afghanistan have resistance activities within kabul. the objective of all these activitiy ies is to assassinatee russian officers and members of the communist party of afghanistan. that is to say members of the factions and to eliminate all those who work against their people of afghanistan. our number of people who work for the government to earn a living for themselves and for their families, they also have the mujahideen during the daytime. at night, most of the same peopling or guerrilla activities. their activities are well organized.

within the military uniyuunits officers and servicemen are faithful to their country and their people. they help the mujahideen by sending them secret information. for example, when the government deploys a unit somewhere, the officers who are loyal to the mujahideen pass over whatever information they can such as the number of persons in the unit, the course, and place. that's so the mujahideen can get an advanced knowledge of what to expect and thereby prepare themselves either to defend or attack accordingly. >> for the soviet troops explanations of their mission in

afghanistan are minimal and often confusing to the young recruits. >> you understand that one of the important points of the soviet invasion, invasion of soviet troops anywhere, is the propaganda, their propaganda. right now as we know from the prisoners of war in afghanistan and from other sources, all the soldiers were sent to afghanistan. in fact, don't know why they send over there. >> few soviet soldiers are taken prisoner by the mujahideen. these two were captured by the hezbi islamy. a analyst was captured a month after he arrived in afghanistan. recently a freelance journalist was able to interview ura and his countrymen mohamed coolly, a soviet turkeman from a collective farm in the village

of bashir. >> translator: soviet soldiers think they are liberating afghanistan from possible chinese invaders. we came to afghanistan, the officers told us that we were sent by the soviet government to afghanistan to protect it from chinese and american soldiers. as much as i have been around afghanistan, as long as i have been here i haven't met a single chinese or american soldier. the main thing is that this war is senseless. they should withdraw the army from afghanistan. >> what do soviet soldiers here in afghanistan think of this war? >> well, each thinks differently. one thinks that this is a senseless war. another supports it. but in reality it is a senseless war. a russian soldier has become a barbarian here. he becomes more and more brutal. >> translator: some soldier, especially those rob home, kill

women, children, and rape them. >> translator: yes, there was a case when soldiers went into a man, killed the old mother, and raped the 13-year-old girl and then killed her so that she wouldn't tell anyone. >> translator: you are aware that the government kabul is first a popuplant toy of the unit. whatever they do, such as destroying, burning, killing, looting of the houses and villagers of the countryside, they put the blame on the mujahideen. in kabul, the afghan secret service and security police usually keep 15 or 20 afghans and a very inhumane conditions

in small rooms and torture them by electric shocks, beatings, et cetera. it is difficult for me to describe all of what they do and it would be hard for others to listen to such acts of savagetry. for example, i no we know an of can copatriot who worked very hard for freedom of h his country. he was caught by the afghan soviet officers and they gave him so many electric shocks that half of his body was paralyzed. >> ordinary people are very much strong support of this war, much more than i expect, for example. and now i can understand why. i can assess why, because the majority of people realize there is no whatsoever national interest in afghanistan for us.

there are no interest. more over, the war is total waste. it costs us dearly. most in terms of resources and in terms of human lives. and there is no sense in this world whatsoever that absolutely general feeling in the country. there are several examples of -- of open political out burst of feelings in central asian, kazakhstan last year and some other areas against this war. moreover, one of the very illustrative examples or indicators of this feeling is that since the last year the soviets stopped practice of sending the dead bullies and coffins back to their homeland because every time such coffin arrived to their native village or town it's sparked up immediately the sort of demonstration of the population

against this war. and because of that, the practice was stopped and the corpses are buried now in afghanistan. >> since the soviet inface the few afghan doctors serving the rural population have fled. health care services for those who have stayed behind is maintained by volunteer medical teams, mostly french, such as pierre and med international. in the two years since these medical teams have been serving in afghanistan, they have observed the evolution of soviet tactics against the civilian population. dr. claude spoke of what -- >> translator: and now we are witnessing a phase in the world crimes and shot during the last few weeks. here you can see the hospital

with its buildings before the soviet helicopters arrived. the bombings lasted a few minutes and at the end of those few minutes here is what's left of the hospital. this photograph also explains something else. this hospital is located away from the neighboring village and as you can see, there are fields and trees around the hospital. the hospital was destroyed on purpose and the trees were not even touched. the helicopters only went after the hospital. the same thing happened in the valley where the international medical aid is working. >> one of the doctors with international medical aid spoke of her experiences inside afghanistan. >> translator: we witnessed a second boat which was quite awful. it happened in the beginning of it. the obamaing was specifically aimed at the hospital on the day we planned to leave.

we heard the helicopters make over the hospital. so everybody rushed towards us, didn't have enough time to get there. the helicopters were back over us very quickly. we heard the sound of bombs, only a few dozen meters away. at that moment we were -- the bombs were exploding close by. by the end of the day, we left our hiding places where we had been for hours. the hospital was completely destroyed, the walls torn down, and nothing left inside. >> translator: so first the bombings and i know it's been talked about a lot, and certainly certain, the antipersonal mine which are dispersed around the country and which are very sophisticated. when they are spread over fields they are green.

they are gray when they are dropped among the rocks and difficult to spot. these mines are not meant to kill. in this kind of war a dead person doesn't cost very much. one can leave them, on the other hand, injured person can no longer fight the war because he has a hand or foot blown off and he has to be looked after, he has to be taken back, me he has to get medical treatment and that's more trouble. for the kind of wound we have to treat is even worse. when the soviet launch an attack they leave boot by tracked items in the villages, fountain pen, toys and usually it's children who get hurt. the adults are distrustful now so it's the children that get hurt. one was monstrous. after the soviets retreated about a year ago hey had booby trapped bodies of dead people left in the field and when their relatives went to were rhythm the bodies exploded. we saw this only once, wbut we did see it.

>> the medical teams endure the same harsh living conditions as the mujahideen. as they climbed through steep mountain gorges seeded with antipersonal mines. in such environment the doctors must respond the best they can to whatever emergency. >> translator: we had been walking since 5:00 in the morning and were about to stop for a break when suddenly we heard an explosion. we all ran and hid behind the rocks thinking it was a helicopter raid. and then there was just silence. we finally came out from behind the rocks to see what happened. there we saw mujahideen crawling toward us on all fours. his foot had been blown off. we later learned from the leader of the caravan that the russians had previously dropped antipersonal mines by parachute.

well, we cut off his foot right there. if we had not amputated gangrene would have spread and would have certainly meant death for him. so we cut off his foot there. it was certainly very painful for him but he never moaned. it was a very moving experience for all of us. >> resistance to the soviet invasion has marshalled the energies of a whole population. it is this powerful collective will which has galvanized a people into taking on the mighty soviet army, despite terrifying odds. and those who have witnessed this struggle are marked forever by what they have seen. >> translator: as far as i could ascertain the afghans are definitely con vivinced that as long as there is just one russian invader on the afghan soil and as long as there's just one free afghan there will be no

peace in afghanistan. the price we have to pay for the freedom of one's land is to fight and die on the field. >> translator: it is clear to everybody all over the world that the afghan people like others love their people. they live free and they die free. until now they have preserved the freedom of afghanistan with the price of their own blood just as their fathers did and their sons will do. and i'm sure that the afghan people will regain their freedom and will be a free nation once again. >> translator: it is an afghan tradition to fight against any kind of invaders. right now they are the soviets. the reaction against them shows that the soviets are not bringing them progress. the soviet argument is, we are coming to free these people from them but what does this mean? can one come the free a people with sophisticated combat helicopters, with tanks, with

cannons? by bombing villages, killing children, killing old people, killing the innocent? i mean, what kind of liberation are the soviet bringing to afghanistan? >> translator: well, the russians invade afghanistan, i believe it affects all of us now and in the future. we cannot close our eyes to a people who are losing their own country. it is so unfair. i feel personally concerned about afghanistan now that i have lived a there and i think that we all share a certain responsibility when we come back from there, particularly since these people count on us enormously and especially because they feel so isolated. i believe we should feel responsible for them. ♪ >> the trauma of this war has left its mark on the children who have suffered most. the drawings of a 13-year-old afghan refugee reflect her own

emotional experiences. ♪ from 1979 until the war's end in february 1989 its estimated that nearly 1 million afghan civilians died while several million refugees fled the country. many to neighboring pakistan. according to the national security archive the u.s. congress provided nearly $3 billion in covert money and arms to the afghan mujahideen