The Taliban is a Pushtun tribe group funded by the Pakistan army. That is one reason Trump cut off funding from Pakistan.
But it is true that many years ago, when Russia put a puppet regime into Afghanistan, that the CIA funded the opposition, including those who morphed into religious extremists.
AlQaeda was outsiders who came to “help” and morphed into a terror group.
But the Taliban is local: actually two groups: One the local Pashtuns, and the other, the better funded Pakistani military funded group. They dislike each other. And heroin money helps fund the terrorists, so as in Colombia they are essentially narco terrorists organizations.
But the Pashtuns are only 40 percent of Afghans. The way the Taliban were thrown out was after 911 the northern tribe alliance got help from the USA and easily overthrew them because they were unpopular.
No one has managed to control the independent Afghans for over 4000 years. They dislike outsiders, which is why if the US is too open in their help, they will be opposed.
And ironically, because Iran has a huge heroin problem and a million Afghan refugees, one solution would be to let them help.
And don't forget China: They are making a “new silk road” and their fingerprint is in this area. They also are pressuring Pakistan to stop funding these terrorists.
I was only quoting Joe M’s tweet.
I was not exaggerating.
Here we post from many sources for discussion.
Thanks for the additional background.
Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires, for good reason.
We never should have stayed for 18 years.
They are unworthy of our sacrifice in blood and treasure.
Whatever we negotiate will not matter—the Taliban will be in power 6 months after we leave.