(Discontinued. I just realized that this althist is a bit unrealistic and anyway, I haven't got time to divert my attention to here.)
Summary: The Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact and Comecon survive as the Cold War continues into the 21st Century. But due to the September 11th Attacks, the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact, the United States and NATO are united in a common cause against terrorism.
What happened in Reality: In reality, when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, he introduced reforms to the Soviet Union, but they did not work and after the August 1991 Coup, the Soviet Union was dissolved.
What Happened in POD: In this timeline, Mikhail Gorbachev was able to replace the hardliners in the Soviet Union so he could make sure that his reforms worked. And they did. Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, all the communist countries still stayed communist apart from Czechoslovakia and Romania, which were the only countries that became part of NATO soon after. The people then became happy with all the reforms but many hardliners in the Army and the KGB did not, so still in August 1991, they launched their coup. But it was not successful as the people rioted against it and despite all attempts to stop the protesting, Gorbachev was set free and returned to power. But then a few years later, in 1997, he resigned and Vladimir Putin took the place as President of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He introduced both military and more economic reforms. Then in 2001, the September 11th Attacks took place still and the Warsaw Pact and Comecon condemned the action. As part of friendship to the US, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact offered to fight alongside NATO forces in the invasion of Afghanistan, which the Taliban had controlled since 1996. The Soviet Union helps NATO invade Afghanistan through Central Asia and in the war against the Taliban, the Warsaw Pact and NATO fight alongside in a campaign.
Timeline[]
Timeline (Cold War continues and is cancelled in 2001)