阿富汗实为更难克服的困难。戈尔巴乔夫提议用一年时间完成撤军（美国认为是一项小小的让步），但拒绝订定开始撤离的日期，令总统与他的幕僚感到失望。

Afghanistan proved the tougher nut to crack. Mr. Gorbachev proposed to withdraw this troops over a12-month period, which the Americans took as a small concession, but he refused to set a date for the pullout to start, which disappointed the President and his staff.

戈尔巴乔夫和他克里姆林宫改革派盟友们，准备容忍，甚至鼓励温和的民族主义分子向中央控制挑战并要求独立。可是莫斯科自有理由觉得：在一个操多种语言，由102个民族组成的国家里，族裔之间的暴力则属过分。

Mr. Gorbachev and his reformist Kremlin allies are prepared to tolerate, even encourage, moderate nationalists who challenge central control and demand autonomy. But Moscow rightly feels that, in a polyglot country with102 different nationalities, ethnic violence is beyond the pale.