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==Aftermath==
==Aftermath==
The last Soviet troops left in February 1989, but Soviet military aid continued until the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union in 1991. The Najibullah regime lasted another three years, until a military offensive by the mujahideen captured Kabul with little fighting in April 1992. In the end, Afghanistan contributed significantly, perhaps decisively, to the collective loss of confidence that brought the Soviet Union to self-destruction. The lost war discredited the Soviet army, which had been the single most important institution holding the union together, eroded the legitimacy of the Soviet system in the eyes of non-Russian nationalities, and accelerated glasnost.<ref> Rafael Reuveny and Aseem Prakash, "The Afghanistan War and the Breakdown of the Soviet Union." ''Review of International Studies'' 1999 25(4): 693-708. Issn: 0260-2105 Fulltext: [[Cambridge UP]] </ref>
The last Soviet troops left in February 1989, but Soviet military aid continued until the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union in 1991. The Najibullah regime lasted another three years, until a military offensive by the mujahideen captured Kabul with little fighting in April 1992. In the end, Afghanistan contributed significantly, perhaps decisively, to the collective loss of confidence that brought the Soviet Union to self-destruction. The lost war discredited the Soviet army, which had been the single most important institution holding the union together, eroded the legitimacy of the Soviet system in the eyes of non-Russian nationalities, and accelerated glasnost.<ref> Rafael Reuveny and Aseem Prakash, "The Afghanistan War and the Breakdown of the Soviet Union." ''Review of International Studies'' 1999 25(4): 693-708. Issn: 0260-2105 Fulltext: [[Cambridge UP]] </ref>
Critics of U.S. foreign policy consider Operation Cyclone to be substantially responsible for setting in motion the events that led to the [[terrorist]] attacks of 11 September 2001 commonly known as the term [[Blowback (intelligence)|blowback]].<ref name=DID-THE-US-CREATE-OSAMA-BIN-LADEN>{{cite web|title=Did the U.S. "Create" Osama bin Laden?|date=14 January 2005|publisher=[[US Department of State]]|url=http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/24-318760.html|accessdate=2007-01-09}}</ref> However, scholars such as [[Jason Burke]], [[Steve Coll]], [[Peter Bergen]], [[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]], and [[Vasily Mitrokhin]] have argued that [[Osama Bin Laden]] was "outside of CIA eyesight" and that there is "no support" in any "reliable source" for "the claim that the CIA funded bin Laden or any of the other Arab volunteers who came to support the mujahideen."<ref>See Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda (Penguin, 2003), p59; Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden (Penguin, 2004), p87; Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know (Free Press, 2006), pp60-1; Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB and the World (Penguin, 2006), p579n48.</ref>
After 1989 the United States provided relief and economic aid aid but stayed neutral in the ongoing tribal conflicts. After 1990 a new organization arose, the [[Taliban]], a militantly anti-modern group that was strongly opposed to the mujahideen, and both anti-American and anti-Soviet. Primarily a youth group, the Taliban never received any aide from the US.<ref>US State Department, "Did the U.S. 'Create' Osama bin Laden? Allegations that the U.S. provided funding for bin Laden proved inaccurate," (2005) [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/24-318760.html online] notes the US did not recruit any Arabs like Osama bin Laden. </ref> The Taliban militia took control of the Kabul in 1996, and installed a very harsh Islamist regime. Later it invited in [[Osama bin Laden]] and his Al Qaeda group, which established its base in Afghanistan.
After 1989 the United States provided relief and economic aid aid but stayed neutral in the ongoing tribal conflicts. After 1990 a new organization arose, the [[Taliban]], a militantly anti-modern group that was strongly opposed to the mujahideen, and both anti-American and anti-Soviet. Primarily a youth group, the Taliban never received any aide from the US.<ref>US State Department, "Did the U.S. 'Create' Osama bin Laden? Allegations that the U.S. provided funding for bin Laden proved inaccurate," (2005) [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/24-318760.html online] notes the US did not recruit any Arabs like Osama bin Laden. </ref> The Taliban militia took control of the Kabul in 1996, and installed a very harsh Islamist regime. Later it invited in [[Osama bin Laden]] and his Al Qaeda group, which established its base in Afghanistan.