Zbigniew Brzezinski was the U.S. National Security Advisor under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. He is identified as the principal architect of the American operation against Afghanistan, which began with covert support for the Afghan opposition in 1979. Brzezinski’s strategy aimed to draw the Soviet Union into a quagmire, weakening its power. His 1998 interview with Le Nouvel Observateur explicitly stated this design and expressed satisfaction with its accomplishment. He played a central role in the strategic conception, political marketing of the operation to President Carter, and operational coordination with Pakistani and Saudi partners, integrating the Afghan operation into the broader American strategic framework he had developed throughout his career.
Brzezinski’s actions laid the foundation for the long-term destabilization of Afghanistan, which continued through subsequent decades and culminated in the rise of the Taliban and the eventual collapse of the Afghan state. Despite the immense human and societal costs, Brzezinski faced no accountability for his decisions, and he continued to defend the operation throughout his life. His legacy remains a subject of intense debate, particularly in light of the documented consequences of the operation on the Afghan population.
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See Also
usa.md, saudi-arabia.md, pakistan.md, constructed-catastrophe.md, legitimacy-through-exception.md