Originally posted by: syzygy
Let me ask a simple question. If an authoritarian government like the Taliban, a government with COMPLETE control over
everything in their country down to what women can wear, knows there is $43 million in aid don't 'ya think maybe they could
get their hands on it?
the taliban never acquired complete control over the whole of afghanistan. the northern alliance controlled the northeast
corner of the country, and the alliances which the taliban struck with numerous warlords gave them only nominal control,
and not complete control. the vast majority of the taliban's military victories were secured without a single shot being fired.
Funding anyone in Afghanistan while the Taliban ruled was like funding the Taliban
wrong. massoud was not in the taliban's pocket. a savvy intelligence service like the pakistani i.s.i. could have split the
taliban faction if they chose to swing their favor and largess to another camp. the taliban could never convince multinational
companies (like unicol) of their ability to form a legitimate government and maintain internal order. they remained an invention
of the i.s.i. that ran amuck.
. . . was like funding the Taliban. Which the USA did while they were fighting the USSR.
you're clueless. the taliban never fought the u.s.s.r.
the taliban coalesced in and around 1994-95, primarily funded by the i.s.i.
many of the individual pathans who formed the taliban commands did fight in the afghanistan war (1979-1989), but
so did many of the tajiks, uzbeks, and hazaras who were mortal enemies of the taliban. massoud fought against
the soviets, yet he was never aligned with the taliban. the monies the u.s. funneled to afghanistan went through
the i.s.i.
smart or not, the cia is said not to have had a single operative on the ground in afghanistan over the course of the
entire soviet conflict. they allowed all fiscal decisions to be made by the i.s.i., and in keeping with their islamist bent,
they favored the more rigid parties, like mullah omar and gulbuddin hekmatyar(aka 'mr blowback').
They may turn out to be the Taliban, or Saddam Hussein or any of the myriad dictators the USA has aided over the
years for short term political gain that come back to bite us on the A$$.
the u.s. aided the afghan combatants to stem the communist tide. how is that 'short term political gain' ?
the only error which foresight could've predicted, and which the cia concedes, is they allowed the i.s.i. unquestioned
control over the dispersal of u.s. tax dollars. the u.s. intellgience people thought the area to alien for their direct
intervention, and with a willing partner in pakistan why become embroiled further ? fight a proxy war instead. that
way everybody is happy. the afghans, who want to do the fighting, especially if it saves them from any overt 'foerign
assistance', and the pakistans, who keep their hands clean by deploying only a few logistical officers.