ABSTRACT
In the case of Afghanistan, the international community confronts a classical foreign invasion, waged with Nazi-like brutality. Scorched villages, executed hostages, massive bombings, even chemical warfare have been inflicted by the Soviet Union on a people who simply do not wish to be governed by communists. In Afghanistan, the Soviet Union approved, and perhaps sponsored, the original communist coup. The Soviet Union has charged that the United States has been actively supporting the mujahideen; the United States has focused public attention on the role of Cuban military advisers and Soviet military equipment in Nicaragua and on the threat that they pose regionally. The dominant, though not unanimous, view within the US administration was that the Sandinista victory would produce in Nicaragua a democratic regime, essentially friendly to the United States. The composition of such a force would be of obvious importance not only to the Afghans but also to the Soviet Union and the United States.
