Editing Reagan Doctrine (section)

===End of the Cold War===
As arms flowed to the contras, Savimbi's UNITA and the ''mujahideen'', advocates of the Reagan Doctrine argued that the doctrine was yielding constructive results for U.S. interests and global democracy.

In Nicaragua, pressure from the Contras led the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinstas]] to end the State of Emergency, and they subsequently lost the [[1990 Nicaraguan general election|1990 elections]]. In Afghanistan, the ''mujahideen'' bled the Soviet Union's military and paved the way for Soviet military defeat. In Angola, Savimbi's resistance ultimately led to a decision by the Soviet Union and [[Cuba]] to bring their troops and military advisors home from Angola as part of a negotiated settlement.

All of these developments were Reagan Doctrine victories, the doctrine's advocates argue, laying the ground for the ultimate [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]].<ref>"It Was Reagan Who Tore Down That Wall," [[Dinesh D'Souza]], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', November 7, 2004.</ref> Johns later argued that "the Reagan-led effort to support freedom fighters resisting Soviet oppression led successfully to the first major military defeat of the Soviet Union ... Sending the Red Army packing from Afghanistan proved one of the single most important contributing factors in one of history's most profoundly positive and important developments".<ref>[http://michaeljohnsonfreedomandprosperity.blogspot.com/2008/01/charlie-wilsons-war-was-really-americas.html "Charlie Wilson's War Was Really America's War," by Michael Johns] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708053536/http://michaeljohnsonfreedomandprosperity.blogspot.com/2008/01/charlie-wilsons-war-was-really-americas.html |date=2011-07-08 }}, January 19, 2008.</ref>