Editing Soviet–Afghan War (section)

=== Casualties and destruction in Afghanistan ===
{{main article|Genocide of Afghans during the Soviet-Afghan War}}
[[File:Працівники МКЧХ допомагають дітям, що постраждали через мінну небезпеку в Афганістані.jpg|thumb|left|250px|upright|A member of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] helping a wounded Afghan child walk in 1986]]The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans,<ref>{{Cite book |last=James Joes |first=Anthony |title=Victorious Insurgencies: Four Rebellions that Shaped Our World |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8131-2614-2 |pages=211 |chapter=4: Afghanistan: End of the Red Empire |quote=}}</ref> Civilian death and destruction from the war was massive and detrimental. Estimates of Afghan civilian deaths vary from 562,000<ref name="562k" /> to 2,000,000.{{sfn|Klass|2018|p=129}}{{sfn|Goodson|2011|p=5}} 

[[File:Russische Schmetterlingsmine PFM-1.jpg|thumb|A [[PFM-1 mine]], often mistaken for a toy by children. The mine's shape was dictated by aerodynamics.<ref>{{cite book|title=Landmines: Legacy of Conflict: A Manual for Development Workers|last=McGrath|first=Rae|year=1998|publisher=Diane Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-7881-3280-3|pages=39–40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=369Xfpy7Sa0C&pg=PA40}}</ref>]]

The [[Geneva Accords (1988)|Geneva Accords of 1988]], which ultimately led to the withdrawal of the Soviet forces in early 1989, left the Afghan government in ruins. The accords had failed to address adequately the issue of the post-occupation period and the future governance of Afghanistan. The assumption among most Western diplomats was that the Soviet-backed government in Kabul would soon collapse; however, this was not to happen for another three years. During this time the Interim Islamic Government of Afghanistan (IIGA) was established in exile. The exclusion of key groups such as refugees and [[Shia]]s, combined with major disagreements between the different Mujahideen factions, meant that the IIGA never succeeded in acting as a functional government.<ref>Barakat, S. (2004). ''Reconstructing War-Torn Societies: Afghanistan''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (p. 5)</ref>

Before the war, Afghanistan was already one of the world's poorest countries. The prolonged conflict left Afghanistan ranked 170 out of 174 in the UNDP's ''Human Development Index'', making Afghanistan one of the least developed countries in the world.<ref>Barakat, S. (2004). ''Reconstructing War-Torn Societies: Afghanistan''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (p. 7)</ref>

[[File:AfghanGuerillainUS1986e.JPEG|thumb|Afghan guerrillas that were chosen to receive medical treatment in the United States, [[Norton Air Force Base]], California, 1986]]

Once the Soviets withdrew, US interest in Afghanistan slowly decreased over the following four years, much of it administered through the DoD Office of Humanitarian Assistance, under the then Director of HA, George M. Dykes III. With the first years of the Clinton Administration in Washington, DC, all aid ceased. The US decided not to help with reconstruction of the country, instead handing the interests of the country over to US allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Pakistan quickly took advantage of this opportunity and forged relations with [[warlord]]s and later the [[Taliban]], to secure trade interests and routes. The ten years following the war saw much ecological and agrarian destruction—from wiping out the country's trees through logging practices, which has destroyed all but 2% of forest cover country-wide, to substantial uprooting of wild [[pistachio]] trees for the exportation of their roots for therapeutic uses, to [[opium]] agriculture.<ref>{{cite web|last=Panetta |first=L. |year=2007 |title=Collateral damage and the uncertainty of Afghanistan... |url=http://www.opticalrealities.org/Afghanistan02/CollateralDamage.html |location=San Francisco |work=opticalrealities.org |access-date=17 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922015906/http://www.opticalrealities.org/Afghanistan02/CollateralDamage.html |archive-date=22 September 2009 }}</ref>

Captain Tarlan Eyvazov, a soldier in the Soviet forces during the war, stated that the Afghan children's future is destined for war. Eyvazov said, "Children born in Afghanistan at the start of the war... have been brought up in war conditions, this is their way of life." Eyvazov's theory was later strengthened when the Taliban movement developed and formed from orphans or refugee children who were forced by the Soviets to flee their homes and relocate their lives in Pakistan. The swift rise to power, from the young Taliban in 1996, was the result of the disorder and civil war that had warlords running wild because of the complete breakdown of law and order in Afghanistan after the departure of the Soviets.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kirby|first= A. |year=2003|title= War has ruined Afghan environment|access-date=27 November 2007|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2704989.stm|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="Bhutta-2002">{{cite journal |pmc=1122273|year=2002|last1=Bhutta|first1=Z. A.|title=Children of war: The real casualties of the Afghan conflict|journal=BMJ: British Medical Journal|volume=324|issue=7333|pages=349–352|pmid=11834566|doi=10.1136/bmj.324.7333.349}}</ref>

The ''CIA World Fact Book'' reported that as of 2004, Afghanistan still owed $8 billion in bilateral debt, mostly to Russia,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/|title=USSR aid to Afghanistan worth $8 billion|publisher=CIA|access-date=15 February 2012}}</ref> however, in 2007 Russia agreed to cancel most of the debt.<ref>[https://archive.today/20080311054211/http://www.rusembcanada.mid.ru/pr2007/037.html Russia Cancels Afghanistan's Debt] Press-Release 08.08.07 – wayback.archive.org</ref>