trump Endorses Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
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Did he mention anything about Operation Cyclone?
"Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the mujahideen, in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of its client, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favored by the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in neighboring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention.[1] Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken;[2] funding began with just over $500,000 in 1979, was increased dramatically to $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987.[1][3][4][5] Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah's PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).[6]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone
"Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the mujahideen, in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of its client, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favored by the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in neighboring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention.[1] Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken;[2] funding began with just over $500,000 in 1979, was increased dramatically to $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987.[1][3][4][5] Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah's PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).[6]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone
Airstrip One
Completely Effed
Well, it did help to substantially weaken the USSR.
Excerpt:
Trump claimed the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to fight terrorists, which is not true. The president also said the Soviet Union went "bankrupt" because of its decade-long involvement in the Afghan War, which is also inaccurate.
"Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan," Trump said.
"The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there," the president added. "The problem is it was a tough fight. And literally they went bankrupt. They went into being called Russia again as opposed to the Soviet Union. A lot of these places you're reading about now are no longer part of Russia because of Afghanistan."
It's not clear whom or what Trump was referencing when he claimed the Soviets invaded Afghanistan because of "terrorists." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.
The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up a communist government that gained power via a coup the year before. The pro-Soviet Afghan government did not enjoy popular support among the overwhelmingly Muslim population.
Over the course of the latter half of the 20th century the US dedicated much of its energy to thwarting the Soviet Union and the spread of communism across the globe, including in Afghanistan. The CIA actively aided Afghan rebels who fought against the Soviets.
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Trump during Wednesday's Cabinet meeting made no reference to the US government's efforts to undermine the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
The Soviets ultimately withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 after nearly 10 years of occupation and hard fighting. Nearly 15,000 Soviet troops had been killed by the time of the withdrawal. A civil war raged on in the years that followed, which saw the communist government overthrown in 1992. The Taliban, which was originally formed in the early 1990s by a group of Islamic militants who fought against the Soviets, took over Afghanistan in 1996.
The Soviet Union collapsed on December 25, 1991, and historians and foreign policy scholars have since been engaged in an ongoing debate about why this occurred. There is truth to the notion that the Afghan War contributed to the demise of the Soviets, but it's hyperbolic to point to the conflict as the primary catalyst for their downfall. There were myriad political, social, and economic factors that led the Soviet Union to fall in the early 1990s.
Leon Aron, the director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute, in an op-ed for Foreign Policy wrote that the cost of the Afghan war for the Soviets was "hardly crushing."
"Of course, Afghanistan increasingly looked like a long war, but for a five-million-strong Soviet military force the losses there were negligible," Aron said. "Indeed, though the enormous financial burden of maintaining an empire was to become a major issue ... the cost of the Afghan war itself was hardly crushing: Estimated at $4 billion to $5 billion in 1985, it was an insignificant portion of the Soviet GDP."
Trump's comments on Wednesday came amid criticism over his foreign policy and in the wake of the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Leon Aron, the director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute, in an op-ed for Foreign Policy wrote that the cost of the Afghan war for the Soviets was "hardly crushing."
"Of course, Afghanistan increasingly looked like a long war, but for a five-million-strong Soviet military force the losses there were negligible," Aron said. "Indeed, though the enormous financial burden of maintaining an empire was to become a major issue ... the cost of the Afghan war itself was hardly crushing: Estimated at $4 billion to $5 billion in 1985, it was an insignificant portion of the Soviet GDP."
Trump's comments on Wednesday came amid criticism over his foreign policy and in the wake of the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Trump demonstrating yet again that he's an ignoramus.
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Darth Omar
Russian asset
No way we should let Russia take Afghanistan.
This means war.
This means war.
Trump is like a lot of Americans.. poorly educated, incurious and stubborn. If he's challenged with fact, he doubles down on lies.
This headline blew my mind:
Backing Trump on Syria, America's so-called 'progressives are enabling genocide ...
21 hours ago · Opinion Backing Trump on Syria, America's So-called 'Progressives' Are Enabling a Kurdish Genocide . By applauding Trump gifting northern Syria to a theocratic, tyrannical Erdogan, fatuous self-styled 'anti-imperialists' are complicit in the torture, abductions, killings and ethnic cleansing of Kurds that will follow
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east...-progressives-are-enabling-genocide-1.6805120
Getin the ring
Verified User
Trump's point is that staying in Afghanistan open ended is a waste of resource if the Afghanistan Government can not hold off a decimated Taliban force.
We did what we went there to do, time to come home.
And by the way isn't that what liberals are always crying we should do anyway? Until it's Trumps idea
Liberals stand for nothing today, and this is just another example
We did what we went there to do, time to come home.
And by the way isn't that what liberals are always crying we should do anyway? Until it's Trumps idea
Liberals stand for nothing today, and this is just another example
If that is what he was saying, he should have shit up and let you say it for him, cuz he said something very different.
it's their sphere.
the regional players will solve Afpak -it's the graveyard of the empires for the USA to try to nationbuild
Yep.. Foreign news outlets are stunned by his incoherent rants. He's getting worse.
Backing Trump on Syria, America's so-called 'progressives are enabling genocide ...
21 hours ago · Opinion Backing Trump on Syria, America's So-called 'Progressives' Are Enabling a Kurdish Genocide . By applauding Trump gifting northern Syria to a theocratic, tyrannical Erdogan, fatuous self-styled 'anti-imperialists' are complicit in the torture, abductions, killings and ethnic cleansing of Kurds that will follow
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east...-progressives-are-enabling-genocide-1.6805120
i can't read it but thanks
I find it strange that they are blaming the progressives for Trump..
The Israeli papers are also "stunned by Trump's incoherent rants."
Why aren't conservatives stunned?
You are claiming it didn't hurt the USSR?