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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: skinowski who wrote (609856)	10/3/2016 1:56:21 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793914

(I sometimes wonder what ever happened with our Northern Alliance friends. One day they were allies, the next - they fell off the face of the earth). Their leader was killed and we backed Pakistan, who was our enemy. Ahmad Shah Massoud From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996, Massoud, who rejected the Taliban's fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, [6] returned to armed opposition until he eventually fled to Kulob, Tajikistan, destroying the Salang Tunnel on his way north. He became the military and political leader of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (also known in the West as the Northern Alliance). He was assassinated, probably at the instigation of al-Qaeda, in a suicide bombing on September 9, 2001, just two days before the September 11 attacks in the United States which led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation invading Afghanistan, allying with Massoud's forces.

To: skinowski who wrote (609856)	10/3/2016 4:14:42 AM
From: Maurice Winn	1 Recommendation Recommended By 3bar Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793914

In fairness to both USA and USSR, the price of oil is what has fueled modern jihad. The USA and USSR made the mistake of fighting each other, with the USA funding Osama bin Laden and co, with the end result of the Twin Towers destruction. For 200 years, Arabia and Islamic jihad were going nowhere as they were impoverished compared with the mighty Europeans with their industrial revolution, science and capitalism. Big oil cash has changed that. Money talks, and buys weapons galore. The USA also made the mistake of bullying the UK such as in the Suez crisis [Google has details]. Gorby was boss from 1985 rather than 1988 and it took years for the USA to stop foaming at the mouth at USSR although he was obviously totally different from Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko [a couple of caretakers]. It's true that when USSR took over Afghanistan it was a bit of a shock. A friend and I got maps out to see just how far it was to the Indian ocean which would have given USSR a substantial geopolitical enhancement. At the time, USSR was still in the mode of suppression of Hungary, Prague Spring, and loomed large with proxy wars and general MAD threat. So yes, initially Gorby was nothing to do with the Afghanistan conflict, but after he took over, it was time to think again. When Gorby took over, it was time to start being friendly to USSR. Regarding the Northern Alliance, it always seemed to me that General Dostum was very like Saddam Hussein. It seemed odd that he was being backed while Saddam was being overthrown. Shades of "The Arabian Nights". Mqurice