THIS refers to article `Absolutely not` (July 3), which raised an important question about what Pakistan had achieved in backing the Afghan Mujahideen in their bid to fight off the Soviets in 1979. The answer is actually simple.
The invasion of Afghanistan was phase-1 of the Soviet operation, and the phase-2 was expected to be about capturing Pakistani territory to reach the warm waters of Gwadar. As a matter of fact, the Afghan Mujahideen fought Pakistan`s war.
The government of the time handled the situation well and cultivated guid-proquo relations with the United States in which the latter provided us with sophisticated weapons, and looked the other way when it came to our nuclear capability.
Ultimately, when the Mujahideen won, the victory was shared by both the US and Pakistan. The US wanted to humiliate the Soviets and succeeded, while Pakistan had Mujahideen acting as a buf fer, and protecting us from the Soviets who had a history of invading eastern European countries andunleashingareign ofterror there. In short, the government policy at the time was apt and absolutely correct.
