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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: thames_sider who wrote (19456)	7/26/2001 10:23:27 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

What the US didn't do effectively was work out who would actually be a 'good' leader - in, say, the Turkish sense, an Ataturk type - and support them while discouraging (or at least not funding/training/arming) the obviously vile types. I've never been one to easily absolve the US from its responsibilities, but they had few chances in Afghanistan. The Taleban did not emerge into prominence until the Soviets had already fallen; most of the US arms they acquired came not from direct aid, but from groups that they absorbed. Their emergence was not something that could have been readily predicted and anticipated.

To: thames_sider who wrote (19456)	7/26/2001 10:32:05 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I just lost a whole disquisition on this. I am frustrated with the computer glitch, so I will merely say that in no case was there the (American) public or international support necessary to impose more acceptable solutions in these instances. Maybe I will feel like trying to recreate the detailed analysis later......

To: thames_sider who wrote (19456)	7/26/2001 2:19:01 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 82486

In Afghanistan, the US was not too bothered about who fought the Soviets, so long as they did... drug-runners, religious zealots, secular warlords, whoever. What the US didn't do effectively was work out who would actually be a 'good' leader It can be pretty hard to find some one who might be a good leader, and even if you identify such a person you can easily be disapointed by what they do when they actually get power. A lot of the US aid was funneled through Pakistan and the government of Pakistan had a lot of influence on, and in some cases even control of which Afghanis got the weapons. Tim