How did the CIA play a role in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan?

After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, a number of rebel groups, including one faction known as the mujahideen, rose up to oppose the invasion militarily. They mostly engaged in what can best be described as guerrilla or partisan warfare, and suffered heavy losses due to Soviet technological superiority. The United States wished to hinder Soviet progress, to make Afghanistan as terrible a quagmire as Vietnam had been for the American military. The...

After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, a number of rebel groups, including one faction known as the mujahideen, rose up to oppose the invasion militarily. They mostly engaged in what can best be described as guerrilla or partisan warfare, and suffered heavy losses due to Soviet technological superiority. The United States wished to hinder Soviet progress, to make Afghanistan as terrible a quagmire as Vietnam had been for the American military. The CIA was tasked with this responsibility, and they supplied funding and weapons to the Afghani fighters, using the Pakistani military and intelligence agency to funnel the aid in such a way as to obscure direct intervention. Many other nations, including Iran and China, supplied aid, but US surface-to-air missiles were especially important in countering Soviet air superiority. In short, the CIA was responsible for funding and to some extent orchestrating what has become known as a "proxy war," where the United States contested Soviet foreign policy without doing so directly.