Word: pullback
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this light, the Soviet pullback in the Third World is an autonomous Soviet decision, the first fruit of Gorbachev's "new thinking." The problem with this theory is that it overlooks one fact. In this sense it is very much like the common explanation of Gorbachev's acquiescence to American terms for the INF treaty. Did Gorbachev withdraw his SS-20s from Europe because of a change in ideology? Because he wanted to turn his attention to domestic tasks? In fact, he withdrew because he met resistance that he could not overcome. The U.S. responded...
...faces of troopers who had been tense through much of the journey; a few jumped off their vehicles to dance with local Turkmen women. For the men in the convoy and an additional 10,000 withdrawn during the past two weeks, the war was over. Asked what the pullback meant to them, the soldiers generally repeated the official line of having "fulfilled their internationalist duty," though one lieutenant was more candid. Said he: "Obviously, it is time to leave. Gorbachev himself said that Afghanistan was something of a mistake...
...reduce its formidable naval buildup in the area. The current U.S. flotilla numbers 26 ships and costs an estimated $140 million a year to maintain. The U.S. has no intention of completely ending its naval presence in the gulf, which goes back nearly 40 years, and even a partial pullback of current forces will probably depend on a reassuring period of quiet. But, said Secretary of State George Shultz, who received news of the Iranian offer while visiting Tokyo, "if the problems go away, the ship presence will go down...
Chinese officials, especially those in the military, remain skeptical. General Jiang Hongji, a retired divisional commander and former military attache in Moscow, says the Soviet pullback "doesn't count for too much in a military sense," since the division that was withdrawn could return on short notice. General Chai Chengwen, first deputy chairman of the Beijing Institute for International Strategic Studies (BIISS), a think tank connected with the National Defense Ministry, says, "The Soviet Union is looking for excuses to delay its withdrawal from Afghanistan." From Deng on down, Chinese spokesmen say that Kampuchea, still occupied by Moscow's Vietnamese...
...declined to give details on the Sandinista pullback or be more specific on when the U.S. troops that arrived last week would depart...