<P> At least some, such as leftist journalist Alexander Cockburn, were unsympathetic, criticizing Afghanistan as "an unspeakable country filled with unspeakable people, sheepshaggers and smugglers, who have furnished in their leisure hours some of the worst arts and crafts ever to penetrate the occidental world . I yield to none in my sympathy to those prostrate beneath the Russian jackboot, but if ever a country deserved rape it's Afghanistan ." Robert D. Kaplan on the other hand, thought any perception of mujahideen as "barbaric" was unfair: "Documented accounts of mujahidin savagery were relatively rare and involved enemy troops only . Their cruelty toward civilians was unheard of during the war, while Soviet cruelty toward civilians was common ." Lack of interest in the mujahideen cause, Kaplan believed, was not the lack of intrinsic interest to be found in a war between a small, poor country and a superpower were a million civilians were killed, but the result of the great difficulty and unprofitability of media coverage . Kaplan note that "none of the American TV networks had a bureau for a war", and television cameramen venturing to follow the mujahideen "trekked for weeks on little food, only to return ill and half starved". In October 1984 the Soviet ambassador to Pakistan, Vitaly Smirnov, told Agence France Presse "that journalists traveling with the mujahidin' will be killed . And our units in Afghanistan will help the Afghan forces to do it ."' Unlike Vietnam and Lebanon, Afghanistan had "absolutely no clash between the strange and the familiar", no "rock - video quality" of "zonked - out GIs in headbands" or "rifle - wielding Shiite terrorists wearing Michael Jackson T - shirts" that provided interesting "visual materials" for newscasts . </P> <P> Whether the introduction of the personal, portable, infrared - homing surface - to - air "Stinger" missile in September 1986 was a turning point in the war is disputed . Many Western military analysts credit the Stinger with a kill ratio of about 70% and with responsibility for most of the over 350 Soviet or Afghan government aircraft and helicopters downed in the last two years of the war . Some military analysts considered it a "game changer" coined the term "Stinger effect" to describe it . According to US Congressman Charlie Wilson who was instrumental in funding the Stingers for the Mujahideen, before the Stinger the Mujahideen never won a set piece battle with the Soviets but after it was introduced, the Mujahideen never again lost one . </P> <P> However, these statistics are based on Mujahedin self - reporting, which is of unknown reliability . Selig Harrison rejects such figures, quoting a Russian general who claims the United States "greatly exaggerated" Soviet and Afghan aircraft losses during the war . According to Soviet figures, in 1987 - 1988, only 35 aircraft and 63 helicopters were destroyed by all causes . The Pakistan Army fired twenty - eight Stingers at enemy aircraft without a single kill . </P> <P> Many Russian military analysts tend to be dismissive of the impact to the Stinger . According to Alan J. Kuperman, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev decided to withdraw from Afghanistan a year before the mujahideen fired their first Stinger missiles, motivated by U.S. sanctions, not military losses . The stingers did make an impact at first but within a few months flares, beacons, and exhaust baffles were installed to disorient the missiles, along with night operation and terrain - hugging tactics to prevent the rebels from getting a clear shot . By 1988, Kuperman states, the mujahideen had all but stopped firing them . Another source (Jonathan Steele) states that Stingers forced Soviet helicopters and ground attack planes to bomb from higher altitudes with less accuracy, but did not bring down many more aircraft than Chinese heavy machine guns and other less sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry . </P>

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