Rare color photos from the 1980s bring the the U.S.S.R.'s "hidden war" to light.
'Jihad By Camera': How U.S.-Trained Afghans Photographed The Soviet Invasion
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A fighter watches a Soviet bombardment hammer an Afghan valley. A bloody communist coup in Afghanistan in 1978 was followed a year later by a full-scale invasion by the U.S.S.R.
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A militant in training scrabbles through an obstacle course. The 1979 Soviet invasion was widely condemned at the United Nations and helped fuel one of the most expensive CIA operations in history.
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Members of the anti-Soviet "mujahedin," as the jihadist fighters opposing the Soviets became known, with stacks of weaponry. Reportedly beginning in 1979, the CIA began secretly funding the Muslim militant groups that would spend the next decade fighting against the Soviets.
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U.S. President Ronald Reagan meeting with Afghan mujahedin leaders in 1983. Soon the United States, together with Saudi Arabia, was funneling hundreds of millions of dollars each year to anti-Soviet militants in Afghanistan in an effort to "bleed" the Soviet Union. (U.S. Government photo)