The same way Solidarity came under the control of the USSR. If we hadn't taken on the Soviet Union they would have been more than willing to use their surrogates in Yemen and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa to takeover Saudi Arabia. They also would have succeeded in their drive to the Indian Ocean through Afghanistan and Iran
No, Al-Qaeda might have found a home in Afghanistan, they started in Africa and have drawn from all over the Middle East.
The US did check the Soviet's ambitions and there are several people in the world that should thank us for what we did but with what she was talking about she really didn't appear to know too much about the subject matter.