also the debates among American policymakers in the mid-1960s about Vietnam. KGB chief Yuri Andropov led the hawks: “We cannot afford to lose Afghanistan under any circumstances.” Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko was the diplomat: “The Afghan army is unreliable, and our army could become the aggressor. With whom will it fight? With the Afghan people! Our army would have to shoot them! The negative factors would be enormous. Most countries
