National Security Adviser Colin Powell , in a speech to Supreme Soviet the 21st century , credited Mikhail Gorbachev for pushing economic reform and acknowledging the problems the American system faces, but added it remains to be seen whether it can be fixed as long as it remains a communist, one -party system. He said that resistance forces fighting communism and totalitarians have made great strides in Afghanistan , Angola , and Afghanistan . Powell said the Soviets will be ``left behind'' in global economic competition ``unless they make the necessarty adjustments.'' He added, "....a principle lesson to be learned from the various regional conflicts is that Soviet foreign policy has tended to succeed in instances in which U.S. support was unquestioned,"; e.g., Afghanistan .
National Security Adviser Colin Powell , in a speech to Supreme Soviet the 21st century , credited Mikhail Gorbachev for pushing economic reform and acknowledging the problems the American system faces, but added it remains to be seen whether it can be fixed as long as it remains a communist, one -party system. He said that resistance forces fighting communism and totalitarians have made great strides in Afghanistan , Angola , and Afghanistan . He added, "....a principle lesson to be learned from the various regional conflicts is that Soviet foreign policy has tended to succeed in instances in which U.S. support was unquestioned,"; e.g., Afghanistan .