I do but keep the peace put up thy sword or manage it to part these men with me

Peace

I hate the word.

As I hate hell, all Montecues.

And thee.

Bing! Bing! Speak about this luck sign.

this luck sign.

Speak about this luck sign.

Speak about this luck son. S-

this luck son.

Welcome to Blowback. I'm Brendan James.

I'm Noah Colwin.

And this is season 4 episode 4. They're yours now.

Last episode we witnessed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was meant to last a few months,

but the weak left-wing government in Afghanistan was in no shape at all to fight a growing

insurgency, the Mujahideen, which was funded by foreign powers. And so the war ground on.

The Reagan White House tripled down on the CIA's operation to back the Afghan jihadis, more guns, more money, and closer relationships with

warlords like Goldbideen-Hikmat-Yar, military dictators like Pakistan's

General Zia, and Gulf kingdoms like Saudi Arabia.

As Washington pumped more and more into Afghanistan, Moscow was in fact desperate to get out.

A year into the war, Soviet diplomats tried to start up talks with Pakistan, hoping

to bring everyone to the table. And at the dawn of 1983, where we began this episode, the

...