Western powers met in secret soon after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and formed plans to back Islamic resistance, according to British files from 1980 released Thursday. Senior officials from Britain, France, then West Germany and the United States met in Paris on January 15 that year to discuss the West's response to the December 24, 1979 invasion.
The National Archives' release of the secret papers after 30 years in the vaults comes as Western allies prepare to enter another year of conflict in Afghanistan, battling Islamist insurgents. US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski was among those at the Paris meeting, as was Britain's cabinet secretary Robert Armstrong, the top civil servant.
He said support for the mujahideen should be co-ordinated by "our friends" - a euphemism for MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence agency, and its peers from the allies. Armstrong reported from the Paris meeting that while they wanted to avoid sparking a border war with Pakistan in the volatile tribal region, there was still much they could do.
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