Remember back when the USSR was featured in all movies as being an evil group of people and were the villains in all things to the point where if they were ever featured as anything but that it was a surprise? Well, it is hard to imagine, but there was a time when the USA was supporting these poor oppressed people in Afghanistan because those meanies from Russia were picking on them all the time. Oh the irony.
I should clarify here, the treaty of Neutrality was in 1931 and while I don't care to go into too much detail, apparently the sentiment didn't extend into armed conflict with one another because the USSR ended up being very involved in the politics of that country, supplying funding and eventually putting boots on the ground to somewhat occupy Afghanistan in the 70's and early 80's. It came to an apex when USSR invaded in 1979. I don't even remember why because I was too young to care, I just remember that I was anti-Russia because Sylvester Stallone kept going on and on about how awful they were in all their movies (they cheat at boxing, that much we know is true.)
The reason why I think this is important is because all of those treaties (there was later a "friendship" and "Non-aggression" treaty) are pretty meaningless as it turns out because in the end USSR kinda did whatever they wanted anyway.
If you are around my age you probably remember when the United States was pro-Afghanistan and used to laugh at Russia's inability to conquer a group of rebels living in caves while the Russian technology and military was superior in every way. This is starting to sound a bit familiar right? There is speculation and even some proof that the weapons that the "rebels" (whoever you consider that to be at any given point in time) were actually provided to them by the people they happen to be fighting today.
source
the Russians were so storm-trooper-like that it was possible to ride a horse through machine gun fire and throw a Molotov cocktail on a tank
I didn't mean to get political and I'm not trying to make a point here or convince anyone of anything. I just find it tragic and ironic how the shoe is on the other foot because of superpowers meddling in other countries affairs.