ADST: Cold War Podcast Cool Ben

us to work together preserving the experiences of America’s diplomats.

Afghanistan played a critical part in the end of the Cold War. As we recall from the last episode, the government of Afghanistan was overthrown in the 1978 Saur Revolution. After the fall of the Afghani government to the Communist revolution, Afghanistan was still divided between many factions such as the Communists and Mujahedeen. In this episode, we will witness the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the years following the Saur Revolution.

On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. This was controversial because before the invasion, the Soviet Union signed a treaty with the Afghan government known as the “Friendship Treaty” in 1978. This agreement provided the Afghan government with economic and military assistance, and allowed the Soviet Union a greater foothold in the country. However, Afghanistan no longer benefited from the treaty after President Nur Muhammad Taraki was overthrown by future-president Mohammed Daoud Khan. The instability of Afghan politics gave opportunity for the Soviet Union to spread their influence and gain control over new territory.

With the Soviet Union on the forefront of conflict with the United States, a new player formally found its way into the Cold War arena in 1950. Solidified by the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China had created a new accord, bonding two major Communist powerhouses. Despite the presence of a seemingly strong alliance between the two entities, the relationship would slowly unravel, presenting an opportunity for American diplomacy with China for the first time in over two decades of hostility and isolation. New, open relations with China would ultimately work to pivot the direction of the war in favor of the United States and help the Soviet Union and America in their quest to make forward progress.

In this episode of the Cold War series on containment, we move into the Vietnam War and analyze how the conflict played a pivotal role in portraying the U.S. desire to curtail the growth of communism. Ambassadors Burton Levin and E. Allan Wednt offer their perspectives from being involved in this era and explain the motivations behind carrying out the Truman Doctrine and preventing the toppling effects of the Domino Theory. From administrative efforts on containment policy to outright proxy wars in the cold war against communism, we leave with a better understanding of why the countries involved felt so compelled to act upon their respective, conflicting nationalistic ideologies.

Few moments during the Cold War were as iconic and memorable as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. This manifestation of Cold War tensions exemplifies both the success and failure of United States containment policy in the early stages of this global conflict. In this episode, we cover the rise of Fidel Castro, the failure of the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban Missile Crisis itself, all from the perspective of America’s Foreign Service Officers.

The early stages of the Cold War grew quickly, testing its limits in proxy states. Beginning with Korea and Iran, these were critical points of the war in which communist states and anti-communist states came into direct military conflict and civil war. In this episode, we cover how the US-Soviet rivalry was present in both the Korean Peninsula and Iran, all from the perspective of America’s Foreign Service Officers.