Afghan war and «Reagan doctrine»

Author(s):  T.V. Rabush, candidate of Sciences, associate Professor, St.Pererburg State University industrial technology and design, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, taisarabush@mail.ru

Issue:  Volume 45, № 3

Rubric:  Topical issues of world history

Annotation:  The article considers the influence of the regional conflict in Afghanistan with the participation of Soviet troops (so-called the Afghan war) over President Ronald Reagan doctrine. The author uses documents (including records of the US Congress debates) and scientific articles of the studied period, published in prestigious journals, both Soviet and American. Although the military doctrine in question was proclaimed in 1985, but in practice, its implementation began from the very first months of Reagan's presidency. The author analyzes how the military doctrine of the Reagan administration as a whole and its individual components – for example, examines the US military assistance to the states of the Persian Gulf region, the expansion of the functions of US rapid reaction force, strengthening of the US rates for military superiority in the sea and so on. The administration of Ronald Reagan paid special attention to the possibility of gaining access to the military bases of the states of the region for the US armed forces, which is also considered in the article. The author concludes that during the presidency of Ronald Reagan in fact been preserved the main elements of the so-called «Carter Doctrine» (announced in early 1980 Persian Gulf region vital to the United States and the same priority to protect US national interests, as for example, the region of Western Europe), but at the same time, the Reagan administration has given military doctrine more offensive and significantly intensified military efforts in the Middle East. The most important element of the Reagan Doctrine was to support the anti-government armed groups in various regions of the Third World as the directly opposing the Soviet Union, as well as pro-Soviet socialist regimes. According to the author, this element has been introduced into the doctrine, not least owing to the fact finding of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, which seemed to the United States the biggest threat to stability in the region

Keywords:  Afghan War, the Persian Gulf, the Soviet-American relations, the Cold War, US military doctrine, Ronald Reagan

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