Lessons Learned & Unlearned

Some nations learn from their mistakes early on; some do so later; and others unlearn what they learned belatedly. The now-defunct Soviet Union ordered a massive military airlift into Afghanistan’s capital Kabul toward the midnight this week in1979 (of December 24). Three days later, Moscow brought in from exile Babrak Karmal, leader of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), and installed him as Afghanistan’s executive head.