THE seeds were sown for Australia's largest current overseas military expedition when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in the latest innings of Rudyard Kipling's ''Great Game'' for the control of central Asia.
The invasion on Christmas Eve 1979 rekindled an Australian fear of communism that had never really gone away.
Days later, the Soviet ambassador paid a visit to the prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, at his home at Nareen in western Victoria to finesse his nation's reasons for invading. He probably got tea, but no sympathy.
On February 22 that year, cabinet had been briefed on the consequences of Hanoi's recent invasion of Kampuchea (Cambodia) and the danger of the Soviet Union establishing a more powerful presence in Vietnam if conflict between Vietnam and China worsened.
A memo to cabinet revealed that Soviet military aircraft had the ability to reach Australia and a partly censored ASIO submission said there was ''a continuous threat from the activities of hostile intelligence services in Australia. The most significant is [Soviet] espionage and subversive activities.''
Malcolm Fraser told the Herald this week that the Russian navy had started circumnavigating Australia, and when the US appeared to be ready to countenance the presence of Russian vessels in the India Ocean, cabinet had been most concerned.
''The Carter administration's policies on the Indian Ocean and the Russian presence raised serious concerns about the viability of the ANZUS Treaty,'' he said.
''And it was the need to protect that treaty that became a contributing factor to why, the following year, I sought the Australian Olympic Committee's agreement in boycotting the Moscow Olympic Games. Of course, I was unsuccessful.''
Cabinet's deep suspicions of the Soviet Union were further aroused in July when reports surfaced that a Soviet ship was to be used by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia as the ''mother ship'' in that year's Sydney to Hobart race.
Cabinet started out by asking the minister for defence, Jim Killen, and the minister for transport, Peter Nixon, to investigate the possibility of providing a navy vessel to escort the race.
On July 13, a cabinet minute noted that Killen reported a naval vessel ''may'' be available, but 11 days later, when the Soviet cruise ship threat had abated, cabinet shoved a navigation and maintenance vessel into the breach.
In October 1979, the London newspaper of the expatriate journalist John Pilger and television reports brought the horrors of Pol Pot to world attention. Although Australia continued to recognise the ousted Phnom Penh regime, that month cabinet was already wrestling with the consequences of up to 3.5 million Khmers facing starvation.
However, although Australia's objectives were summarised in an October 2 submission as preventing an exodus of refugees to Thailand and addressing immediate humanitarian needs, cabinet accepted it might become necessary to recognise the Vietnamese-backed regime of Heng Samrin, or at least withdraw recognition from Pol Pot.
In Africa, the Rhodesia crisis was near the endgame, and the election in May of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister raised the possibility of Britain recognising the new government of Bishop Abel Muzorewa and ending sanctions, an eventuality that could split the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Zambia.
Australia was also concerned that if Western nations failed on Rhodesia, it would create further opportunities for Russian expansion in Africa, so Fraser lobbied Thatcher and other Commonwealth leaders, finding a formula that placated British and African leaders. It offered black minority rule, free and fair elections and safeguards for minorities that now look naive given that the following year Robert Mugabe was elected leader of the newly independent Zimbabwe. Fraser leaked the substance of the final communique, in effect locking the CHOGM leaders into their behind-closed-doors decision.
Australia's growing involvement with Indonesia and sensitivities about East Timor were shown in a secret submission by the acting minister for foreign affairs, Michael MacKellar, on humanitarian aid.
He told cabinet that 200,000 East Timorese needed urgent food and medical aid but said in early November that the Indonesian foreign minister, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, had given Australian embassy officials in Jakarta a dressing-down over media coverage of East Timor and he was considering doing without Australian aid.
Cabinet provided an extra $2 million in aid, but channelled it through the Red Cross rather than the Australian Council of Overseas Aid because Jakarta considered it pro-Fretilin.