Episode #140 -- Soviets Leave Afghanistan

Sunday, February 15, 2009. Twenty years ago today, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan.  It was the end of the occupation, but not of the war.  I look at the fighting in Afghanistan, and consider the effects of the Cold War on a country which has been in conflict and turmoil for three decades or more.
The historical analysis offered here is strictly my own opinion, based on the sort of material any average American of my age would have access to: newspapers, TV documentaries, and perhaps a few books.  I make no claim to expertise in this (or any other subject I talk about in this podcast), and I have no ideological ax to grind.  Take it for whatever it's worth to you.