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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: RMF who wrote (296409)7/26/2006 10:50:30 AM
From: TimF  Read Replies (2) of 1580296
 
20 years ago the U.S. was one of the MAIN supporters and suppliers of the "jihadists" now known as Al Qaeda.

The US was funnelling money in to the area for people who fought the Soviets. Some of that money went to people who later had connections to, or even became members of Al Qaeda. Many of the fighter who got the money had no connection to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, and even fought against them. Its not like the money went to Al Qaeda, which didn't exist then, or even (at least directly) to some proto-Al Qaeda. Bin Laden was there but he was providing his own funding. Some very radical groups or individuals where favored by the Pakistani intelligence service who controlled the flow of a lot of the money and equipment. Throw billions around in a situation like that and some of it is going to get in to the hands of bad people, still more in to the hands of people who later act in ways we consider bad or who become our enemies.

Islamic radicalism was on the rise and would have been on the rise if we didn't help the Afghanis fight off the Soviets. Might the attempt to fight off the Soviets have failed if we didn't help? Perhaps it would have but I don't think that would have been a good thing. The Soviet failure in Afghanistan helped end the Soviet empire. Also while it might have taken longer, its quite possible that the Soviet puppet government in Afghanistan would have fallen anyway, in which case the radical elements would have gained just as much or even more power and prestige, and bin Laden might have been considered even more important.
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