Editing UNITA (section)

===Guerrilla movement===
{{Covert United States involvement in regime change}}
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Savimbi sought out vastly expanded relations with the U.S. He received considerable guidance from [[The Heritage Foundation]], an influential conservative research institute in Washington, D.C. that maintained strong relations with both the [[Reagan administration]] and the U.S. Congress. [[Michael Johns (policy analyst)|Michael Johns]], the Heritage Foundation's leading expert on Africa and Third World Affairs issues, visited Savimbi in his clandestine southern Angolan base camps, offering the UNITA leader both tactical military and political advice.<ref name=MichaelJohnsSavimbiVictory>{{cite web |url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:E26OC9-320 |title=Savimbi's Elusive Victory in Angola |work=[[Human Events]] |via=[[Congressional Record|U.S. Congressional Record]] |last=Johns |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Johns (policy analyst) |date=26 October 1989 |access-date=20 January 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Through the lobbying efforts of [[Paul Manafort]] and his firm [[Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly]] which was paid $600,000 each year from Savimbi beginning in 1985, UNITA gained strong backing from the Reagan administration.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Swan |first1=Betsy |last2=Mak |first2=Tim |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-aide-led-the-torturers-lobby |title=Top Trump Aide Led the 'Torturers' Lobby' Blood Money: Paul Manafort and the partners at his firm made a fortune repping some of the most despicable dictators of the 20th century. |work=[[Daily Beast]] |date=13 April 2016 |access-date=28 August 2021 |quote=Updated on 6 November 2017.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Evan |author-link=Evan Thomas |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-1,00.html |title=The Slickest Shop in Town (page 1) |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=3 March 1986 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=18 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418033553/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-1,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Evan |author-link=Evan Thomas |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-2,00.html |title=The Slickest Shop in Town (page 2) |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=3 March 1986 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226060300/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-2,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Birnbaum |first2=Jeffrey H. |author1-link=Michael D. Shear |author2-link=Jeffrey Birnbaum |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html |title=McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized: Charles Black, John McCain's top political strategist, is now retired from a 30-year (page 1) |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=22 May 2008 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309131432/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Birnbaum |first2=Jeffrey H. |author1-link=Michael D. Shear |author2-link=Jeffrey Birnbaum |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006_2.html |title=McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized: Charles Black, John McCain's top political strategist, is now retired from a 30-year (page 2) |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=22 May 2008 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416161838/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006_2.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Levine |first=Art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnVC8yS4N_AC&pg=PA62 |title=Inside Washington's Propaganda Shops: Publicists of the Damned |work=[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]] (volume 6) |pages=52–60 |date=February 1992 |access-date=28 August 2021 |quote=See page 60. The full title of the article is "Believe it or not, there are Americans out there who have nice things to say about Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceaucescu, and the murderous governments of Zaire, Myanmar, and El Salvador&nbsp;– and they have better access to your congressman than you do. They're lobbyists, and they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars flacking for fascists and schmoozing on behalf of tyrants blithely waltzing through life as PUBLICISTS OF THE DAMNED."}}</ref>

In 1986, [[American conservatism|U.S. conservatives]] convinced President [[Ronald Reagan]] to meet with Savimbi at the [[White House]].  While the meeting itself was confidential, Reagan emerged from it with support and enthusiasm for Savimbi's efforts, stating that he could envision a UNITA "victory that electrifies the world," suggesting that Reagan saw the outcome of the Angolan conflict as critical to his entire [[Reagan Doctrine]] foreign policy, consisting of support for anti-communist resistance movements in Central America, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jun/08/usa.comment|title=Terrible legacy of the Reagan years|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|author-link=David Aaronovitch|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=7 June 2004|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>

Under Savimbi's leadership, UNITA proved especially effective militarily before and after independence, becoming one of the world's most effective armed resistance movements of the late 20th century. According to the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]], UNITA came to control "vast swaths of the interior (of Angola)".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6619.htm|title=Angola|work=U.S. Department of State|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> Savimbi's very survival in Angola in and of itself was viewed as an incredible accomplishment, and he came to be known as "Africa's most enduring bush fighter"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399488/Angola-Key-Figures.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399488/Angola-Key-Figures.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Angola: Key Figures|date=8 August 2002|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=20 January 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> given assassination attempts, aided by extensive Soviet, Cuban, and East German military troops, advisors and support, that he survived.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-980554.html|title=Angolan peace talks stall over alleged attempt to kill Savimbi|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|last=Taylor|first=Paul|date=19 December 1993|access-date=27 January 2020|archive-date=29 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329152848/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-980554.html}}</ref>

As Savimbi gained ground despite the forces aligned against him, American conservatives pointed to his success, and that of Afghan [[mujahideen]] and the Nicaraguan [[contras]], all of which, with U.S. support, were successfully opposing Soviet-sponsored governments, as evidence that the U.S. was beginning to gain an upper hand in the Cold War conflict and that the Reagan Doctrine was working.  Critics, on the other hand, responded that the support given to UNITA, the contras, and the Afghan mujahideen was inflaming regional conflicts at great expense to these nations. Furthermore, UNITA, like the Angolan government it fought, was criticized for human rights abuses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/apic_92699.html|title=Angola: Human Rights Watch Report, 9/26/99|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|editor=Ali B. Ali-Dinar|date=26 September 1999|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>