In a later interview in January 1998, Brzezinski clarified that, contrary to the popular view that US support for the Afghan jihad began in 1980, i.e., after the Soviet invasion, the factual position was that, at his urging, President Carter signed the first directive for secret assistance to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul on 3 July 1979. Brzezinski added that he had told the president that ‘this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention’.
