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Raise your hand if you know who is REALLY to blame for Afghanistan (Original Post)
Tommymac
Aug 2021
OP
The botched evacuation of Afghan interpreters is the Biden administration's fault
Fiendish Thingy
Aug 2021
#18
Sneederbunk
(14,208 posts)1. He went in to get Osama and Al Qaeda.
Dropped ball at Tora Bora. Put war on back burner for Iraq. Here we are.
lame54
(35,141 posts)3. Let the captured Taliban escape
PufPuf23
(8,689 posts)10. Recall the nifty Tora Bora OBL lair we saw repeatedly on TV?
Talk about bull shit.
Never should have been US military feet on the ground in Afghanistan.
unblock
(51,974 posts)2. I dunno, credit must at least be shared with Reagan
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)5. I can see that.
Raygun created the modern Taliban movement.
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)14. Wow I never thought about it that way
I think you're right though. It's one MORE thing to hold against Reagan.
Scottie Mom
(5,812 posts)4. No shit.
And one of those f*ckers made himself very wealthy with that war.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)6. Elections have consequences.
If we would have had President Gore, we wouldnt be in this mess.
sprinkleeninow
(20,136 posts)13. Ditto. eom
gopiscrap
(23,674 posts)7. fucking Bush
we never should of been there in the first place. Look what happened to Russia, that place has been unconquerable for centuries
at140
(6,110 posts)8. Dubya/Dumbya gets the blame 99%
for middle-east disaster.
doc03
(35,151 posts)11. I would say everyone the last 20 years but more
Cheney than anyone.
doc03
(35,151 posts)12. I would say everyone the last 20 years but more
Cheney than anyone. At least Russia was smart enough to get out in 9 years.
Srkdqltr
(6,129 posts)15. The men of Afghanistan
JI7
(89,184 posts)16. No, I blame the culture
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)17. Carter and Brzezinski started the ball rolling downhill.
The Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998)
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahiddin in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national securty advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahiddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout].
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it?
B: It wasnt quite like that. We didnt push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You dont regret any of this today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q : Some agitated Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today...
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isnt a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries...
https://dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu/brzezinski_interview
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahiddin in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national securty advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahiddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout].
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it?
B: It wasnt quite like that. We didnt push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You dont regret any of this today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q : Some agitated Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today...
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isnt a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries...
https://dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu/brzezinski_interview
Fiendish Thingy
(15,373 posts)18. The botched evacuation of Afghan interpreters is the Biden administration's fault
Sec. Blinken must resign.