Ha. The exact wording was '*pure bullshit', Leon. In any case, I think that the way things work around here is that the burden is not upon ME to prove you wrong. You posted the lead-in piece, so it's probably best if you take the lead also in substantiating what you've asserted in your personal remarks up-top. non?It is a long and complicated subject and you know it. With just a little research you will find that it is not just $43 million we have pumped to the fraticidal rebels of Afghanistan, but billions. According to an article by Steve Coll, 'Washington Post', July 19, 1992, the major buildup of support for these loonies was by the Reagan administration (to fight the Soviets, of course). Some quotes:
The cornerstone of the program was that the United States, through the CIA, would provide funds, some weapons and general supervision of support for the mujaheddin rebels, but day-to-day operations and direct contact with the mujaheddin would be left to the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI. The hands-off U.S. role contrasted with CIA operations in Nicaragua and Angola.
Saudi Arabia agreed to match U.S. financial contributions to the mujaheddin and distributed funds directly to ISI. China sold weapons to the CIA and donated a smaller number directly to Pakistan, but the extent of China's role has been one of the secret war's most closely guarded secrets.
In all, the United States funneled more than $ 2 billion in guns and money to the mujaheddin during the 1980s, according to U.S. officials. It was the largest covert action program since World War II.
. . .
Beginning in 1985, the CIA supplied mujaheddin rebels with extensive satellite reconnaissance data of Soviet targets on the Afghan battlefield, plans for military operations based on the satellite intelligence, intercepts of Soviet communications, secret communications networks for the rebels, delayed timing devices for tons of C-4 plastic explosives for urban sabotage and sophisticated guerrilla attacks, long-range sniper rifles, a targeting device for mortars that was linked to a U.S. Navy satellite, wire-guided anti-tank missiles, and other equipment.
. . .
In March 1985, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 166, and national security adviser Robert D. McFarlane signed an extensive annex, augmenting the original Carter intelligence finding that focused on "harassment" of Soviet occupying forces, according to several sources. Although it covered diplomatic and humanitarian objectives as well, the new, detailed Reagan directive used bold language to authorize stepped-up covert military aid to the mujaheddin, and it made clear that the secret Afghan war had a new goal: to defeat Soviet troops in Afghanistan through covert action and encourage a Soviet withdrawal.
Supplying radical extremists with massive firepower is based on the concept that the "end justifies the means". The problem is, we never know when the end comes. Apparently, getting the Soviets out of Afghanistan turned out not to be the end in this case.