Operation Cyclone was the most successful covert operation of all time. It played the biggest role in Reagan bringing down the Soviet Union.
Soviets were the ones creating the mess in Afghanistan. Before they barged in with their crap Afghanistan was a rather decent, if backwards, country developing in good direction. Then they put their commie madmen in charge and later had to send in their army.
Reagan breaking the dogma and allowing Stingers was an icing on the cake, but according to Mike Vickers the Soviets were already going to lose pre-Stinger with his combination of Oettinger guns, Tennessee mules, Blowpipe missiles and Russian heavy machine-guns.
This is what brought the Soviet Union down and it was a success to be celebrated!
Clinton should have bombed Taliban in 1995, when they were still small, but even with that failure the nuisance of Taliban is in no way comparable to taking down the existential threat of the Soviet Union.
Reagan was a genius, and the greatest modern American President, but this is about a General that undermines President Trump by misdirection toward Russia.
Operation Cyclone has nothing to do with the result of the Afghan war. Fairy tales of results are self-PR by people making fame and money out of it. Gorbachev in 1985 promised to withdraw by 1989 and he did. The war was practically lost by Mujahideen by 1986. Afghan government survived three years past Soviet withdrawal too.