I don´t know if the Soviet Union waged war on Afghanistan so much that the PDSA asked the Soviet Union to aid them. It was way intensified by the US, which I think was a horrible mistake but again, different matter for different day.

What do you mean by how ugly it might be? Is democracy unpopular over there in Pakistan?

Yes, I remember as a kid people talking about the sanctions on pakistan, it was talked about here in California. However, aren´t they mostly gone now?