Ronald Reagan was the 40th United States president that served from 1981-1989. In his 1985 State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan called upon Congress and the American people to stand up to the Soviet Union, what he had previously called the “Evil Empire”. From this State of the Union came the well-known Reagan Doctrine of 1985. This doctrine defined American interests around the globe and its determination of preventing communism from expanding.
“The Reagan Doctrine proclaims overt and unashamed American support for anti-Communist revolution. It is intended to establish a new, firmer--a doctrinal--foundation for such support by declaring equally worthy all armed resistance to communism, whether foreign or indigenously imposed.” (Krauthammer, 1985). A situation that required the United States diplomatic efforts during President Reagan’s time in office was the rapidly growing expansion of the Soviet Union in East Asia, Indies and the Middle East. Another situation was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which had begun in 1979. Previously, the Carter administration had little hesitation in coming to the aid of Afghanistan after the invasion. At the time, the United States had the understanding that the Soviet Union would eventually become Middle East and would be able to gain control of the oil fields. Two events increased U.S.-Soviet tensions: the suppression of the Solidarity labor movement in Poland in December 1981, and the destruction of an off-course civilian airliner by a Soviet jet fighter in 1983. The United States also condemned the continuing Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and provided aid to the mujahidin resistance there. The Reagan Doctrine pledged aid to insurgents battling against the pro-Soviets as Reagan administration assumed that the resistance might drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, but the insurgents defeating the Soviets were never an option.
Weapons supplied to the insurgents were said to be Chinese knock offs. The U.S. did not want fingers pointed at themselves if the U.S. made weapons were captured by the Soviets. The qualities of the weapons were questioned, but the Reagan administration assured the insurgents that enough weapons were delivered to fight the communist. All the U.S. had to do was give the insurgents help, only more if it and they would fight America’s war against the Soviets. This served the idea of making the Soviets pay in blood for the devastating results in Vietnam.
The Reagan Doctrine also served in Central America, where Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua was overthrown by the revolutionary front in 1979, Angola and Cambodia. In those countries, the Reagan Doctrine administrators chose to assist the insurgents as proxies for the United States. The assistance of the insurgencies helped destabilize the pro-Soviet regimes in the process of consolidating totalitarian control over their countries. The first key element of the Reagan Doctrine was the balance of power. During the Cold War Era, the U.S. and the Soviets often clashed over capitalism influence on the world against Communist influence. Soviet dominion over east Europe had made it clear to the U.S. that its biggest threat was the Soviet
Union and its enemy was communism.
In 1986 the Reagan administration armed the mujahedeen with stinger anti-aircraft missiles despite the objection of their advisers. The resistance gained tremendous amount of advantage against the Soviet super power. American made stingers cost approximately $60 thousand each but would easily bring down a $20 million Russian MIG fighter jet. The Russians were held back on the ground operations by CIA trained leaders of the insurgents as they were losing the air strike advantage. CIA trained Ahmad Shah Masoud repeatedly destroyed Russian Tanks, captured convoys and supplied his men with seized weapons. Another legendary figure was Osama Bin Laden who was the son of an extremely wealthy Saudi family. Osama was viewed as a humanitarian and one of the authentic freedom fighters. He was trained by the U.S. but later planned and ordered attacks on the U.S. Neither Reagan nor anyone from his administration would’ve known that he would become the most wanted and hated enemy of the U.S. decades later. The Reagan Doctrine played a vital role in the demise of Soviet Union, and the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles became the symbol of America’s historic success in defeating the “evil empire”, the Soviet Union.
The Doctrine’s hidden agenda was to prevent direct intervention of the U.S. forces and use proxies as the fighters for our countries interest. However, Afghanistan played the main role in the Reagan Doctrine. U.S. had support from non-regional allies, such countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia supported the U.S. in Afghanistan and provided financial and weapon assistance. In fear of Soviet invasion Iran also provided assistance to the U.S. in applying the Reagan Doctrine in Afghanistan, though it was more of a financial support. However, the most important support was provided by Pakistan as direct control and assistance to the region was provided.
In conclusion, the Reagan Doctrine is best known for its dealings on U.S. foreign diplomacy especially with the Soviet Union. The major advantage of the Reagan Doctrine was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which eventually became the only globally well-known advantage. The collapse of the Soviet Union provided the U.S. an advantage in the military technology industry. It is said that the U.S. had overestimated the Soviet strength and found that the U.S. was far more advanced in technology than that of the Soviet Union. The Reagan Doctrine shows that Reagan may have been one of the few people living in the U. S. in the early 80’s whom actually believed that communism would collapse. Some of the disadvantages include the support for both sides, especially with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Another disadvantage was our support of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan which created grounds for "blowback" as people armed by the United States did not necessarily share the interests of the United States beyond resisting Soviet. Lastly, we gained enemies such as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein who have caused the harshest events in the history of the U.S.

Resources:
American Experience: TV's most-watched history series. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-foreign/
Krauthammer, C. (2001, June 24). The Reagan Doctrine. Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,141478,00.html
Lagon, M. (1994). The Reagan Doctrine: Sources of American Conduct in the Cold War's Last Chapter. Retrieved August 1, 2015, from https://www.questia.com/read/9161911/the-reagan-doctrine-sources-of-american-conduct-in
Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.. (n.d.). “Ronald Reagan: Foreign Affairs.” Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://millercenter.org/president/biography/reagan-foreign-affairs
Presidency of Ronald Reagan. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/history-1990/modern-america/presidency-of-ronald-reagan.php
Reagan Doctrine, 1985. (2001, January 20). Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/rd/17741.htm