How the CIA Defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan | Milton Bearden (Part 2)

In this second part of a remarkable conversation, Milton Bearden reflects on what came after the Soviet withdrawal and the decisions that helped shape Afghanistan’s next, far more chaotic chapter.

He explains how the CIA shifted tactics in dealing with Ahmad Shah Massoud, funnelling cash rather than weapons into a war that had effectively become a vast arms marketplace. He offers a more measured assessment of Massoud himself, arguing that by the late 1980s he was already looking beyond the battlefield and positioning for the political struggle that would follow.

Bearden also recounts the moment he sent a two-word cable to Washington, “We won”, as Boris Gromov crossed the Friendship Bridge. But while the Cold War was collapsing in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan slipped down the list of priorities. He is blunt. The United States lost interest, and it was a mistake. The episode challenges popular narratives around Osama bin Laden and the so-called “Afghan Arabs”, who at the time were seen as marginal players, valued more for the money they brought than their battlefield impact.

Most strikingly, Bearden reveals that in the lead up to 9/11, Taliban contacts signalled they were no longer protecting bin Laden, a message passed to Washington but ultimately ignored. What followed, he suggests, was not inevitable.

A sobering account of missed opportunities, strategic drift, and the long shadow of a war that did not end when it was won.

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Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi

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