America seems to always have its hands in the meddling. Most other countries supported one side or the other - I highly doubt that command to the PAF was anything more than a publicity stunt! During the Cold War, all sides cared only about making money from used ammunition and weapons.
They obviously couldn't appear to sell weapons to both enemies and promote the use, so they go with the saner, more friendly ally and say "hey, please don't use those guns on the poor bushmen..." YEAH RIGHT
Yea, sadly you are right. And that foreign policy strategy hasn't changed. Arming rebels on the down low while publicly coming out against them? This has been happening for years.