The ashes of Harold E. Brown Jr. of Fairfax Va., are carried into St. John the Evangelist Church in Clinton, Mass. on 9 Jan 2010. Brown was 1 of the 7 Americans killed in a suicide attack at a CIA station in the Afghan province of Khost on 30 Dec 2009.
AP Photo

"Picking a Fight"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

December 22, 2010

Author: Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security

Back in the 1980's, when we in the CIA were helping the mujahidin resistance against the Soviets, we were constantly concerned that our "sanctuary" in Pakistan might be endangered — by Soviet air attacks, by terrorist attacks by Afghan proxies of the Soviets against Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, or even by incursions of Soviet land forces into Pakistan. Essentially it didn't happen, and instead the Soviets retreated. The last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan on February 15, 1989.

Our sanctuary in Pakistan had been essential to the victory. American and Saudi-financed arms had been funneled through Pakistan to the Afghan mujahidin by the Pakistani military intelligence service (the ISI), with the support of the Pakistani Government at the highest level. Also, the ISI trained and staged the mujahidin from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

Now the boot is on the other foot...

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