[269] The next day, reports suggested that the Soviets had fired on the plane by mistake.[270] In spite of the harsh rhetoric,[271] Reagan's administration continued discussions with the Soviet Union on START I.[272]
Although the Reagan administration agreed with the communist government in China to reduce the sale of arms to Taiwan in 1982,[273] Reagan himself was the first president to reject containment and détente, and to put into practice the concept that the Soviet Union could be defeated rather than simply negotiated with.[274] His covert aid to Afghan mujahideen forces against the Soviets[275] has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.[276] However, some of the American-funded armaments introduced then would later pose a threat to American troops in the 2001–2021 war in Afghanistan.[277] In his 1985 State of the Union Address, Reagan proclaimed, "Support for freedom fighters is self-defense."[278] Through the Reagan Doctrine, his administration supported anti-communist resistance movements in an effort to rollback Soviet-backed communist governments.[279] Critics have felt that the administration ignored the human rights violations in the countries they backed,[280][281] including genocide in Guatemala and mass killings in Chad.