Editing Reagan Doctrine (section)

===Carter administration and Afghanistan===
{{Main|Operation Cyclone}}
[[File:Reagan sitting with people from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region in February 1983.jpg|thumb|President Reagan meeting with [[Afghan mujahideen|Afghan ''mujahideen'']] leaders in the [[Oval Office]] in 1983]]

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| quote  = To watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons is an inspiration to those who love freedom.
| source = —[[Ronald Reagan|U.S. President Ronald Reagan]], March 21, 1983 <ref>[http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/32183e.htm Message on the Observance of Afghanistan Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116103312/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/32183e.htm |date=2010-11-16 }} by U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]], March 21, 1983</ref>
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At least one component of the Reagan Doctrine technically pre-dated the administration. In [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter administration]] began providing limited covert military assistance to the [[Afghan mujahideen|Afghan ''mujahideen'']] in an effort to drive the Soviets out of the country, or at least raise the military and political cost of the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet occupation of Afghanistan]]. The policy of aiding the ''mujahideen'' in their war against the Soviet occupation was originally proposed by Carter's [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] and was implemented by U.S. intelligence services. It enjoyed broad bipartisan political support.

Democratic congressman [[Charlie Wilson (Texas politician)|Charlie Wilson]] became obsessed with the Afghan cause, and was able to leverage his position on the [[United States House Committee on Appropriations|House Appropriations committees]] to encourage other Democratic congressmen to vote for [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] Afghan war money, with the tacit approval of [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Tip O'Neill]], even as the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] lambasted Reagan for the CIA's secret war in [[Central America]]. It was a complex web of relationships described in [[George Crile III]]'s book ''[[Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History|Charlie Wilson's War]]''.<ref name=crile2/>

Wilson teamed with CIA manager [[Gust Avrakotos]] and formed a team of a few dozen insiders who greatly enhanced the support for the ''mujahideen'', funneling it through [[President of Pakistan|Pakistani president]] [[Zia-ul-Haq|Zia-ul-Haq's]] [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]]. Avrakotos and Wilson charmed leaders from various anti-Soviet countries including [[Egypt]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Israel]], and [[China]] to increase support for the rebels. Avrakotos hired [[Michael G. Vickers]], a young paramilitary officer, to enhance the guerilla's odds by revamping the tactics, weapons, logistics, and training used by the ''mujahideen''.<ref name=crile2>{{Cite book |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |isbn=978-0-87113-854-5 |last=Crile |first=George |title=Charlie Wilson's war: the extraordinary story of the largest covert operation in history |location=New York |date=2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/charliewilsonswa00cril |access-date=2019-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103024535/http://archive.org/details/charliewilsonswa00cril |archive-date=2013-01-03 |url-status=live }}, pp. 246, 285, 302, and elsewhere</ref> [[Michael Pillsbury]], a [[United States Department of Defense|Pentagon]] official, and [[Vincent Cannistraro]] pushed the CIA to supply [[FIM-92 Stinger|Stinger missiles]] to the rebels.<ref name=crile2 /> Reagan's covert action program has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalissues.org/article/258/anatomy-of-a-victory-cias-covert-afghan-war|title=Anatomy of a Victory: CIA's Covert Afghan War|work=globalissues.org|date=2 October 2001 |access-date=2009-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326060844/http://www.globalissues.org/article/258/anatomy-of-a-victory-cias-covert-afghan-war|archive-date=2009-03-26|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Peter Schweitzer (1994). ''Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union'' (Paperback), Atlantic Monthly Press, p. 213</ref>