Death of a Friend

When I interviewed President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan in January, he told me proudly, “From the USSR to Vietnam, only one country stands up to the Soviets: Pakistan. Pakistan will never become a drop in the Red Ocean.”

What he should have said is that Pakistan would resist Soviet expansionism—as long as he was alive. Zia understood Soviet aspirations and probably gave his life in the fight he undertook—to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan and to keep that country, and his own, free from Soviet domination. He was the linchpin both for the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan waged by the U.S., China, and Saudi Arabia, and for the successful campaign to isolate the Soviet-backed Afghan regime in the international community. For he understood that Pakistan’s choice was to fight the Soviets on the outskirts of Kabul, or on the outskirts of Islamabad.

LW

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Lally Weymouth

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When I interviewed President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan in January, he told me proudly, “From the USSR to Vietnam, only one country stands up to the Soviets: Pakistan. Pakistan will never become a drop in the Red Ocean.”

What he should have said is that Pakistan would resist Soviet expansionism—as long as he was alive. Zia understood Soviet aspirations and probably gave his life in the fight he undertook—to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan and to keep that country, and his own, free from Soviet domination. He was the linchpin both for the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan waged by the U.S., China, and Saudi Arabia, and for the successful campaign to isolate the Soviet-backed Afghan regime in the international community. For he understood that Pakistan’s choice was to fight the Soviets on the outskirts of Kabul, or on the outskirts of Islamabad.