As America fought wars around the globe in the 20th century, one principle guided U.S. alliances: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. In the war against Hitler, the United States found common cause with Stalin. In the war against Japan, America aided Vietnamese rebel Ho Chi Minh. In Third World struggles, America helped Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein. And as Afghan rebels fought Soviet invaders in the During the 1980s, the United …
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…always easy to look back at a policy 20 years ago and say we made a mistake," Hagel said. "I suppose you could make a case we made an error to support the mujahedeen to drive out communism in Afghanistan," he said. But allowing communism to control the country also would have been bad, considering its proximity to Pakistan and Iran. "The reality in those days," Hagel said, "was anything that hurt the Soviets we did."