Islam as an Underestimated Challenge: NATO States and the Afghan Crisis of 1979

Abstract

Agnes Bresselau von Bressensdorf Islam as an Underestimated Challenge NATO States and the Afghan Crisis of 1979 Introduction The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 not only signified that EastWest relations were relapsing into a “Second Cold War,”1 but also helped propel Islamism as an emerging factor within international relations in the immediate “history of the present.”2 At this point, the heyday of détente between East and West, which had been initiated in the 1960s and reached its culmination in the signing of the Helsinki Accords, had come to an end. In its place, the arms race not only dominated international political debates, but also policy discussions between the NATO allies.3 As early as 1977, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt drew public attention to Soviet armament with nuclear SS-20 missiles in a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, provoking concerns within the alliance that the strategic balance of power might be shifting in favor of Moscow. A second controversy among the NATO partners over the production and deployment of the so-called neutron bomb followed on its heels, ending in a fiasco that deeply damaged German-American relations.4 Then, on December 12, 1979, NATO’s adoption of the Dual Track Decision in which the Western allies threate1 On the notion of the “Second Cold War,” see Gottfried Niedhart, Der Ost-West-Konflikt. Konfrontation im Kalten Krieg und Stufen der Eskalation, in: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 50 (2010), pp. 557–94, here p. 588; Philipp Gassert/Tim Geiger/Hermann Wentker (eds.), Zweiter Kalter Krieg und Friedensbewegung. Der NATO-Doppelbeschluss in deutsch-deutscher und internationaler Perspektive, Munich 2011. 2 On the notion of the “prehistory of the present,” see Anselm Doering-Manteuffel/Lutz Raphael , Nach dem Boom. Neue Einsichten und Erklärungsversuche, in: Anselm Doering-Manteuffel/ Lutz Raphael/Thomas Schlemmer (eds.), Vorgeschichte der Gegenwart. Dimensionen des Strukturbruchs nach dem Boom, Göttingen 2016, pp. 9–34. 3 On the crisis of détente, see Leopoldo Nuti (ed.), The Crisis of Détente in Europe. From Helsinki to Gorbachev, 1975–1985, Abingdon/New York 2009; Poul Villaume/Odd Arne Westad (eds.), Perforating the Iron Curtain. European Détente, Transatlantic Relations, and the Cold War 1965– 1985, Copenhagen 2010; Melvyn P. Leffler/Odd Arne Westad (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vol. 3: Endings, 1975–1991, Cambridge et al. 2010. 4 See Klaus Wiegrefe, Das Zerwürfnis. Helmut Schmidt, Jimmy Carter und die Krise der deutschamerikanischen Beziehungen, Berlin 2005, pp. 180–206. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110522990-007 174 Agnes Bresselau von Bressensdorf ned to install medium-range nuclear missiles if no arms control agreement could be reached with the Soviet Union within the next four years sparked even more dissent. InthisalreadyheatedinternationalsituationaroundChristmas1979,thenews of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan came as a complete surprise to the German public.5 For the first time since the end of World War II, Moscow had openly intervened in a country outside the Warsaw Pact – the era of détente seemed to be over once and for all. Although the NATO partners had accomplished a major feat with the Dual Track Decision just two weeks prior, an even more intensive crisis within the alliance seemed to be looming on the horizon. How could NATO respond to this act of aggression without sacrificing the chances for an agreement with the Soviets on the control of medium-range missiles? What role was the West supposed to play in the war between the Soviet army and Afghan government troops on the one hand and armed Afghan resistance groups on the other? And, finally, which long-term objectives did the individual NATO partners pursue on their own accord in Afghanistan? Historiography and Concept In recent years, historians have taken a much closer look at what is often referred to as the Second Cold War. In particular, they have paid a great deal of attention to the aspects of this bipolar conflict reflected in the debates over arms control policy prior to the NATO Dual Track Decision in 1979. Moreover, several studies have explored the role of the peace movements and the question of whether, and to what extent, they were...