Soviet war in Afghanistan
Algeria is traditionally a tolerant Maliki Sunni sect with also an important diverse Salafi population. Thus, Algerians are known for their Islamic faith as tolerance. However, in the 1980s, Algerian young people were sent by the Algerian government to Saudi Arabia for education in the Islamic sciences; while some youth joined the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan. The students of knowledge who were trained in Saudi Arabia strengthened the Da’wa Salafism, the tolerant Salafi inspired social movement, in Algeria. However the youth who had joined the Afghan war were influenced by hardline Qutbism. This would lead to the brutal Algerian Civil War a decade later and sought to create a Sharia-influenced state in Algeria. Both Salafis and Sufis condemned the Qutbist groups and the insurgency was crushed by the military.