i think russians were not at all surprised that the americans were backing the religious groups. They'd done that all over the middle east since the first outbreaks of arab nationalism. It was trouble within their own ranks that angered them. And they said, we can't be attached to this sort of thing any longer. I'm convinced. Senior soviet people in intaskent and moscow more or less confirmed it. But i think there's no doubt that the Americans were trying to provoke a conflict. This is why,. i wrote an editorial called, soviet troops out of of ganissan, which is in the book, pointing out why it was a mistake