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Soviet-Afghani stalemate: military success – political failure
Published: 16 February, 2009, 18:16
Edited: 25 November, 2009, 09:58
Even though Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan twenty years ago without tasting a single significant defeat, they were unable to bring peace to Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union gave Afghanistan a chance to join the modern, progressive world, but mired in their fundamentalist religious traditions the Afghan people failed to seize it. With hindsight it's easy to say that Brezhnev made a mistake, but I thought he was making a mistake the minute I heard of the Soviet invasion, just as I think that Obama is making a bad mistake continuing the war there without a clear goal in sight. Like some wise man said: "The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history."
If you gain the world and lose your soul at the same time, what's the point? Exercises in futility often lead to soul searching
What? what? I can't believe it! This is a fantastic article. What makes the difference? In-depth history, of course.