[Sorry it struck a nerve or whatever it did.]

No need to apologize

["How was the USSR making Afganistan a puppet about defeating the West? I don't think they were ever so stupid as to embark on something so drastic and damaging without having a namable interest to gain."

So, I suppose you think that only America could be so stupid?

No. It was just an honest observation on my part. To start a war in the USSR, you had to justify it to the politburo, and ultimately to the people. People who do publicly stupid things in the USSR tend to do poorly.]

Yeah, so basically what I said- you think USSR has a better system [at least in terms of formulating foreign policy].

[Well, I suppose USSR did lack the thousands of colleges, lacked a free press, and numerous other factors which could create a huge amount of stupidity. But despite this, it seems to me that USSR could possible make some tiny and inconsequential mistakes and even large mistakes could be a remote possibility without all this assistance that America has.

You are trying really hard to make something of this. I only meant that Afganistan is the back-end of nowhere, and it has few rewards for a conquerer.]

Well, Afghanistan did border the USSR.
The view from the States is it could be seen as back-end of nowhere. And as for rewards, Afghanistan was selling drugs to Europe and rest of the world. And that means the Soviets could *export* more than gold and oil:)

[And the main point of my post: you said Russia <sic> mainly saw it as a way of defeating the West. HOW SO? That's it. No politicing (at least in my post). Just a simple question about your interpretation of recent history that I have a hard time understanding.]

Well, I am assuming the Soviets had an interest in controlling Iran and controlling Afghanistan would be a step towards this. AND if they were thinking, "what could the American superpower do to stop this advance into Afghanistan?", it would be a hard place [practically impossible] for America to use conventional forces to try to stop this Soviet advance. So, from Soviet point of view, what could *possibly* be the problem be with this?
They could go into Afghanistan and "save it", and be at Pakistan back door. Perhaps help India settle it's problems with Pakistan- and possibly cut any remaining alliance Pakistan had with the West. And be in position to influence Iran [who regarded America as the hated enemy and done a good job at isolated itself].