it was the mujahedin. honor. honor that we became greedy for. larger and more daring. we would grow impatient. the russians stayed the russians stayed on their base, and it was difficult to strike. ran a trucking company. he told us a russian convoy would pass our village. eager as we were we asked a few questions. the operation will be simple. and if they did not show up some days later in the darkness we carefully repacked the soil and went home giving the matter little thought and planted a tree and casually wondered if it would grow. we we set -- we slept soundly. recover. as we walked through the clear, cold air, a cloud with fire. it had struck and we approached the road riding on great gusts of enthusiasm still, our situation was uncertain. the convoy, who knew if we would come across the survivors. we were not prepared for the south. the beginning of a child mistakes. the great steel beast we get to the. by the shattered windshield. one who met death immediately. and through this absence it was strangely alive. i cannot say how long we watched. so what have bee

it became a race inside central asia how to take over after the mujahedin had taken power and couplein 1992. -- taken power in 1992. he was a dissenting voice and they kicked him out. he had been a cia operative in vietnam. interesting foul. -- fellow. i don't know what can happen in afghanistan and less all of what you ask -- unless all the countries are asked what they intend to do. i'm not sure how whoosh and rumsfeld -- bush and rumsfeld would have looked at this. based on our failure to come up with critical analysis until an emergency happens i don't know how proactive or creative we are going to be. it depends on how astute and how much responsibility diplomats have. for the last decade and a half, 20 years, the pentagon has been taking power away from the state department. that is a problem when you are a diplomat. it is difficult to say what would have happened. that it was in context very important. what was going on in central asia, that real. i saw the vehicles outside. who knows what would have happened. this is how west point air force academy in annapolis, this is what

billions of dollars in the years from brezinski and carter to the reagan administration to support the mujahedinnd to supply them with weapons and a. following to the different rebel groups that was the soviets leave a kind of afghanistan is in ruins all these refugees, refugees wrecked towns from the soviet actions as well as from the fighting. and so it is kind of this by water now. and so that is an example. i think they mishandled. they later -- i thought this was too political. he is criticized for his caution and to guarded, sees a downside. there was something to this. something to the pitfalls and what might happen but he is also very nuanced and analytic and smart, not -- but most people want something a little more you know, quicker and uplifting, something, something shorter. they want a song to sing, as it were. he and baker and bush were not very good at this. it this. it was nothing like tear down this wall or axis of evil or nice messages these messages, but some easy way to get a handle on this world that was happening. i. i spend a good bit of time talking about this. the cold w

it became a race inside central asia how to take over after the mujahedin had taken power and couplein 1992. -- taken power in 1992. he was a dissenting voice and they kicked him out. he had been a cia operative in vietnam. interesting foul. -- fellow. i don't know what can happen in afghanistan and less all of what you ask -- unless all the countries are asked what they intend to do. i'm not sure how whoosh and rumsfeld -- bush and rumsfeld would have looked at this. based on our failure to come up with critical analysis until an emergency happens i don't know how proactive or creative we are going to be. it depends on how astute and how much responsibility diplomats have. for the last decade and a half, 20 years, the pentagon has been taking power away from the state department. that is a problem when you are a diplomat. it is difficult to say what would have happened. that it was in context very important. what was going on in central asia, that real. i saw the vehicles outside. who knows what would have happened. this is how west point air force academy in annapolis, this is what