Margaret Thatcher could have been a guerilla fighter, Gorbachev papers reveal "Afghanistan is an occupied country," she told Mr Gorbachev. If my country was occupied, I would be a guerilla fighter and would fight for its freedom. I do not know what you will do with Afghanistan, but we support the creation of a neutral and non-aligned Afghanistan. She added: "It is too bad that you got involved in Afghanistan at all. It cost you dearly in terms of declining prestige in the eyes of the non-aligned Muslim countries. Americans were never in this region, so there was no rivalry between you. As for the government, we noticed that as soon as you entered Afghanistan, you changed one regime for another, and then a third. With hindsight, her comments may be seen as ironic. The US, with the help of Britain, invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taliban and Western troops still occupy the country. There is a planned programme of withdrawal of British and American military forces over the next few years. Doc%201%201987 03 30%20Gorbachev Thatcher%20memcon (PDF) Doc%201%201987 03 30%20Gorbachev Thatcher%20memcon (Text)