Soviet Involvement in This Crisis True End of Detente

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, once quipped that “SALT [Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty] lies buried in the sands of the Ogaden.” The Ogaden War (1977–1978) between Somalia and Ethiopia upended the Cold War geostrategic balance in the Horn of Africa, and bore tragic consequences for the region that linger today. While many observers associate the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve of 1979 with the end of détente, historians now recognize that it was the Soviet intervention in the Ogaden conflict, for American decision-makers like Brzezinski and Carter, that precipitated the end of this era. Three decades later, the Horn is once again a potential flashpoint of global competition — this time between the United States and China.