We did not, however, arm Japan.
A mistake is one thing ... being ashamed to admit one has made a mistake has cost many people their lives.
Perhaps if the U.S. had kept their noses out of Afghanistan, Russia would have solved that problem for us and thousands of American citizens would not be dead.
Of course, hind sight is 20/20, but denying what has happened keeps us from learning from the mistakes.
The alternative could have been worse.......
1979 was height of cold war. Israel and Egypt had signed peace treaty which soviets feared Egypt had been their ally and saw it as diminishing their influence in Mid East, Iran had over thrown the Shah and was establishing Muslim state.
Thousands of Afghans were being executed by the pro soviet Afghan government and when the Afghan people revolted because of the executions thousands more were executed many of who were tribal and village leaders.
Need to also remember our U.S ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped and later killed in assault by pro soviet Afghan troops and soviet advisors in Feb 1979 which can be considered an act of war.
The US and the Soviets both were supporting different sides of several
" brush wars" during the cold war as opposed to full scale nuclear war with each other....
So yes we supported the Afghan rebels who were fighting the pro soviet Afghan troops and Soviets, but need to remember we did it for multiple reasons one of which was Afghans were fighting because they were being executed by the 10's of thousands...
After the invasion, President Jimmy Carter announced what became known as Carter Doctrine, the U.S. would not allow any other outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf.
Soviets had no warm water ports and US feared that was part of their intent, along with a move towards Pakistan and Iran giving them a firm hold on Mid East and its oil which we could not allow.
Because of Iran, Soviets feared Muslim revolution would spread to their land that had millions of Muslims.
Even Jimmy Carter supported arming the Afghans as he was president when it all started.....
Shame on America for supporting oppressed Afghan people who were being executed by the 10's of thousands and shame on US for not surrendering Middle East to Soviets, if the Soviets gained control of the Mid East and it's oil and the money it produced we would be living in a far worse world today.....
It was a high stakes poker game and a wrong move could have meant the end of the world for all, once a nuke is launched all bets are off, "stick your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye....
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2