# what if about ussr and afghanistan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-about-ussr-and-afghanistan/98207>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 14, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-about-ussr-and-afghanistan/98207 "2002-03-14T04:34:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-about-ussr-and-afghanistan/98207/1 "2002-03-14T04:34:41Z")

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If the Soviet Union were still in existence today, or if the attacks on 9-11 took place before the fall of the USSR, what affect would this have on our situation in Afghanistan and on the war on terrorist in general? You can take as many liberties with this question as you like.

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**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-about-ussr-and-afghanistan/98207/2 "2002-03-14T21:25:58Z")

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comon, doesn’t anyone have an opinion on this.

i didn’t put this in GQ becouse there to boged down. i would really like to know what people would think the outcome of this situation would be.

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-about-ussr-and-afghanistan/98207/3 "2002-03-14T21:31:08Z")

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That’s one heck of a butterfly flapping some giant wings. It’s hard to say what else might be different as well. But it seems reasonable, in my opinion, to think that there would be a completely different zeitgeist. There is a chance it might have been one more of those humiliating episodes in American history, where the US blusters and boohoos at the UN, all the politicians condemn the act but stress the need for understanding, and people argue over who has to clean up the mess.

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**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-about-ussr-and-afghanistan/98207/4 "2002-03-15T22:39:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Libertarian \*  
> \*\*. There is a chance it might have been one more of those humiliating episodes in American history, where the US blusters and boohoos at the UN, all the politicians condemn the act but stress the need for understanding, and people argue over who has to clean up the mess. \*\*

you don’t think that the US would take ANY military action? Didn’t the USSR hate afghanistan also (not hate, but you know what i mean). do you think that the USSR would let us whipe out the taliban like were doing in real life or is afghanistan just to close to the USSR for comfort?