War against Afghan Mujahideen guerrilla movement and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers. The mujahideen received unofficial military and/or financial support from a variety of countries including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Indonesia and China. The Afghan government, with the Soviet Union as its ally, received different aid from the government of India under Indira Gandhi.

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was formed after the Saur Revolution on April 27, 1978. The government was one with a pro-poor, pro-farmer and socialistic agenda. It had close relations with the Soviet Union.
On December 5, 1978, a friendship treaty was signed with the Soviet
Union and the United States. On July 3, 1979, United States President Jimmy Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.[21] The aim of the U.S. was to drag the Soviet Union into the "Afghan trap" as U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski termed it.[