Supporting the Mujahideen surely won’t backfire
by Kapanash
Supporting the Mujahideen surely won’t backfire
by Kapanash
18 Comments
During the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), the US supported Afghan mujahideen fighters against the Soviet Union through Operation Cyclone. While the strategy helped weaken Soviet influence, Afghanistan’s postwar instability later contributed to the rise of extremist militant networks.
As the saying goes, “think before you do.”
Time to support another insurgent group to fight against an insurgent group I supported! – the CIA
Why would he be angry at the prospect for more war?
Except the majority of the Mujahideen became the northern alliance. The Taliban did not receive US arms, it formed from younger Afghans after the Soviets left. Also the Taliban did not cause 9/11, it was Al Queda who probably would have done the thing regardless of who was in charge.
Lastly the Soviet Union was a much, much greater threat. Even if you do make the argument that this caused 9/11 it was a pretty easy choice. A few random assholes to fight in Afghanistan but the entire Soviet Union crumbles? Deal.
The wildest part is Zbigniew Brzezinski who architected this policy was asked in 1998 if he regretted it knowing what it became. he said what is more important in world history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe? That quote aged like warm milk.
Taliban came from Pakistan lol, this internet myth has to stop.
[Charlie Wilson’s War](https://letterboxd.com/film/charlie-wilsons-war/) (2007)
Aaron Sorkin as good as ever
The PLO leaders were so pissed that the CIA* recruited every guy they could get from Palestine refugee camps to fight the Soviets because these camps were the PLO’s main source of young frustrated *human resources*.
*local intelligence services backed by the CIA
The Mujahideen and the Taliban are different. Rambo 3 has a famous fake caption from the ending spread over the internet saying “dedicated to the brave Taliban fighters of Afghanistan” when it really said “brave Mujahideen fighters”
While some of the Mujahideen may have gone over, the two aren’t quite 1:1.
Even the Chinese, Saudis and Britain backed the Mujahideen
The soviets killed 500 thousand to 2 milion Afgan civilians during their invasion btw.
I’m a Mujahideen and I’m makin’ a scene.
Now ya gonna feel what the boom boom means.
It’s like Tupac said, “When I die I’m not dead.”
We are the martyrs, you’re just smashed tomatas.
**ALLAHU AKB…**
(Party poppers go off)
– Four Lions
So you’re telling me that funding a military force in Afghanistan leads to them becoming a cohesive force? One that won’t just disintegrate as soon as the US withdraws?
This is one of those oversimplifications that usually has a very clear rhetorical objective. While US support for the Mujahideen absolutely helped create some of the conditions from which the Taliban later emerged, you could argue the same about the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan itself, which is largely the root reason why the armed resistance formed in the first place
People also tend to ignore that the Northern Alliance, the main anti-Taliban coalition later supported by the West, was itself led largely by former Mujahideen commanders. The anti-Soviet resistance was never one coherent ideological organization; it was a fragmented collection of Islamist groups, tribal factions, regional militias, and warlords whose main point of unity was fighting the USSR. Once the Soviets withdrew, those factions split into different successor movements, alliances, and rivalries. Some eventually aligned with or joined the Taliban, others became their main enemies, and others simply turned into independent regional power centers
It’s all Tom Hanks’s fault.
Well… people always mix up the Northern Alliance and the Taliban.
Two completly different evemy organisations that BOTH fought the sovjets.
I see this falsehood is getting spread around again lol.
I can’t tell you how much more fun this makes watching *The Living Daylights* 😎