remember the context....those Afghan guerillas were fighting against the occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.....and we were supporting their battle against the "Evil Empire."  Reagan, ever the "anti-communist" zealot supported the contras: "The contras (some references use the capitalized form, "Contras") is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to the early 1990s in opposition to the left-wing, socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua."  Trump's "crush" on Putin is quite different...it's not ideological support for some cause.  It's adulation for a despotic leader who seems intent on taking Russia back to the days of the Soviet Union with expanding hegemony over Eastern Europe and the role of the World's Super Power.  In addition, of course, Putin's control over Russia's military, economic and social systems has reached a truly frightening level.  ....yet, Trump admires him