U.S.-Jihadist Relations (Part 1): Creating the Mujahedin in Afghanistan
The intensifying war in Iraq has surprised the world. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a terrorist group, has taken over a large part of Iraq's territory and is still advancing toward other areas. Western and Middle Eastern governments are concerned about ISIS. How can we understand such developments?
The sectarian war in Syria that has been raging since 2011, which began as a civil war between democratic groups and the government, has given rise to alliances that many consider strange and, before the start of the war, unthinkable. In particular, Western support for the Syrian rebels, the great majority of whom are known to be extremist Islamist forces, Chechen terrorists, and radicals from all over the world (some are even from Western societies) -- the same types of forces against which the United States has supposedly been waging the "global war on terrorism" -- has been called hypocritical, odd, and immoral. But in fact, unlike what the uninformed public might think, the West has been totally consistent in cultivating such forces and using them to advance its interests. This becomes clear when one reviews the history of the rise of political Islam in Afghanistan and follows it to the present state of affairs.
The fact is that the Middle East has been transformed into a region of many failed or almost-failed states. Such a state of affairs is a direct consequence of the policies of the West in that region and the nature of the political systems that rule the Middle East. The most important root causes of what is happening in the Middle East are the dictatorial regimes of the region, the West's support for many of them due to the vast oil reserves of the Middle East and other strategic considerations, the economic inequality between the elite and the poor, and occupation of the Palestinians' land by Israel.
As long as these issues are not addressed, they will lead to more war, even if the region experiences a period of peace and stability. In a world in which even the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people have been disrupted, resorting to fundamentalism as well as violence might be a way of escaping humiliation and seeking "peace."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akbar-ganji/us-jihadist-relations_b_5542757.html
Operation Cyclone
Program[edit]
A mujahideen resistance fighter shoots an SA-7, 1988.
On 3 July 1979, Carter signed a presidential finding authorizing funding for anticommunist guerrillas in Afghanistan.[1] Following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December Operation Storm-333 and installation of a more pro-Soviet president, Babrak Karmal, Carter announced, "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War".[12]
President Reagan greatly expanded the program as part of the Reagan Doctrine of aiding anti-Soviet resistance movements abroad. To execute this policy, Reagan deployed CIA Special Activities Division paramilitary officers to equip the Mujihadeen forces against the Soviet Army. Although the CIA and Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson have received the most attention for their roles, the key architect of the strategy was Michael G. Vickers, a young CIA paramilitary officer working for Gust Avrakotos, the CIA's regional head who had a close relationship with Wilson. Vicker's strategy was to use a broad mix of weapons, tactics, logistics, along with training programs, to enhance the rebels' ability to fight a guerilla war against the Soviets.[13][14] Reagan's program assisted in ending the Soviet's occupation in Afghanistan.[15][16] A Pentagon senior official, Michael Pillsbury, successfully advocated providing Stinger missiles to the Afghan resistance, according to recent books and academic articles.[17]
The program relied heavily on the Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, who had a close relationship with Wilson. His Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was an intermediary for funds distribution, passing of weapons, military training and financial support to Afghan resistance groups.[18] Along with funding from similar programs from Britain's MI6 and SAS, Saudi Arabia, and the People's Republic of China,[19] the ISI armed and trained over 100,000 insurgents between 1978 and 1992[citation needed]. They encouraged the volunteers from the Arab states to join the Afghan resistance in its struggle against the Soviet troops based in Afghanistan.[18]
According to Peter Bergen, writing in Holy War, Inc., no Americans trained or had direct contact with the mujahideen.[20] The skittish CIA had fewer than 10 operatives in the region because it "feared it would be blamed, like in Guatemala".[21] Civilian personnel from the U.S. Department of State and the CIA frequently visited the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area during this time, and the US contributed generously to aiding Afghan refugees.
The U.S.-built Stinger antiaircraft missile, supplied to the mujahideen in very large numbers beginning in 1986, struck a decisive blow to the Soviet war effort as it allowed the lightly armed Afghans to effectively defend against Soviet helicopter landings in strategic areas. The Stingers were so renowned and deadly that, in the 1990s, the U.S. conducted a "buy-back" program to keep unused missiles from falling into the hands of anti-American terrorists. This program may have been covertly renewed following the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in late 2001, out of fear that remaining Stingers could be used against U.S. forces in the country.[22]
With U.S. and other funding, the ISI armed and trained over 100,000 insurgents[citation needed]. On 20 July 1987, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country was announced pursuant to the negotiations that led to the Geneva Accords of 1988,[23] with the last Soviets leaving on 15 February 1989. Soviet forces suffered over 14,000 killed and missing, and over 50,000 wounded.
Funding[edit]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone
America enabled radical Islam: How the CIA, George W. Bush and many others helped create ISIS
Since 1980, the United States has intervened in the affairs of fourteen Muslim countries, at worst invading or bombing them. They are (in chronological order) Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Yemen, Pakistan, and now Syria. Latterly these efforts have been in the name of the War on Terror and the attempt to curb Islamic extremism.
Yet for centuries Western countries have sought to harness the power of radical Islam to serve the interests of their own foreign policy. In the case of Britain, this dates back to the days of the Ottoman Empire; in more recent times, the US/UK alliance first courted, then turned against, Islamists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. In my view, the policies of the United States and Britain—which see them supporting and arming a variety of groups for short-term military, political, or diplomatic advantage—have directly contributed to the rise of IS.
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/18/america_enabled_radical_islam_how_the_cia_george_w_bush_and_many_others_helped_create_isis/
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Last edited Sat Nov 14, 2015, 04:00 PM - Edit history (2)
With Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Gust Avrakotos. Julia Roberts plays Joanne Herring.
It is a damned good film telling the basics of what went down and the blow back.
Hoffman, as usual, is fucking amazing as Gust.
Charlie Wilson's War
Check it out. It is worth a view or two.
BTW, it was directed by Mike Nichols. His last film.
Trailer:
A scene with Gust (Hoffman):
Brilliant!
I tend to watch documentaries and shy away from movies about politics these days. I will check out this film though. BTW too bad about Mr. Hoffman, great actor we lost a good one. 