LA Times is engaging in revisionist history. It’s well documented and accepted that shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles provided by the CIA to the Mujahideen enabled the precision for shooting down Soviet transport helicopters in mountainous terrain. Because the Mujahideen could exist indefinitely and plan attacks on villages and towns where Soviet forces camped, and then run back to mountainous regions for cover, there was no way the Soviets could ever win the peace.
Syria does not have Afghanistan’s mountains