Mikhail Gorbachev told Sputnik on Tuesday that the US operation in Afghanistan was doomed to failure from the beginning, recalling the wrong steps taken by the Soviet Union in withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1989.
“Defeat should have been accepted earlier,” he said. It is now important that we learn the lessons and at least avoid repeating such mistakes. “The idea was very unsuccessful from the beginning, although Russia supported it in the early stages.”
According to Gorbachev, “like many similar projects, this operation was based on the magnification of the threat rather than on explicit geopolitical plans, and then unrealistic steps were taken to establish democracy in a multi-tribal society.”
Gorbachev went on to say that the Soviet Union’s presence in Afghanistan was a political mistake, although he stressed that the decision to leave Afghanistan was made entirely with the support of the Soviet leadership and the military, as well as the people.
