Iran nuclear deal: Saudi Arabia warns it will strike out on its own

[Scootaloo]

33. You're actually wrong, regarding Afghanistan...

Mohammed Zahir Shah became king of Afghanistan in the usual way - Inherited from his father, Mohammed Nadir Shah, in 1933. Stalin had nothing to do with it. Nor did Stalin have anything to do with the coup d'etat that transformed Afghanistan from a monarchy to a socialist democracy in 1973 (Seeing as Stalin was pretty dead, by then). Zahir was actually a decent guy about it - he abdicated, rather than fight to keep the throne, and years later in 2002, made it clear that he would not seek involvement in Afghanistan politics unless the people so desired - they apparently didn't. Of course, by 2002, he was ninety-two years old, and he died two years later.

The soviets went into Afghanistan because they were asked to. Both the National Revolutionary Party that took power in 1973, and the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan were aligned with the soviets, but were not part of the soviet bloc (think Mongolia.) However, interfactional fighting and the assassination of Mir Akbar Khybar led to the counter-assassination of President Daoud by the communists, who seized power. At this point, the United States became involved - rather than see Afghanistan slip further into leftism, President Carter signed onto Operation Cyclone, which provided funding and arms for counter-revolutionary guerrillas in Afghanistan.

Faced with this new insurgency, the Tariki government appealed to the Soviets for aid, which they provided. This prompted full-bore international arms and funding for the militants the US had hired, leading to the decade of war in Afghanistan, the civil war, all theway up to the Taliban.