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I had never thought on how much history of the region was affected by the Iranian Revolution.
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That's what Iranian exiles keep telling me
Take the Afghanistan story with a grain of salt, but I think a strong presence of pro-western forces just next door would have been a showstopper for the Soviets. As I said, they had a history of cross-border provocations and fly-overs with pre-revolution Iran.
Not 100% certain it would have stopped them though, after all China next door didn't prevent the US from intervening in Vietnam. Maybe more limited support for the communist Afghan regime?
OTOH the Taliban have not much to do with the Soviets. Remember Afghanistan was in a permanent state of near civil war long before the Soviet intervention. Had they not invaded, the Afghan government would probably have crumbled on itself or been overthrown anyway, and event would have ensued much like they did IRL, maybe at a slower pace.