Two mistakes, 30 years apart

Obama seems destined to repeat the errors made by Soviet and U.S. leaders on the eve on the first Afghan war.

By DAVID MORRIS
StarTribune

Last update: December 3, 2009

It is fitting that President Obama announced his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan on the 30th anniversary of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's decision to do the same. The two events are joined at the hip.

In 1978, the Afghan army overthrew the existing government and made the head of the country's Communist Party president. The new government, with Soviet backing, immediately launched a modernization effort that included land reform, education and other rights for women and curbing the power of tribal chiefs and mullahs.

Landowners, ethnic groups and others rebelled. In February of 1979, Islamic fundamentalists took over Iran. The Soviet Union, fearing unrest in its majority-Muslim captive nations in Central Asia, began more actively aiding the Afghan government.

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