RE: why are we ignoring the Western sponsored jihad against the Soviets that gave birth to the al-Qaeda movement?
That is a gross over simplification. Not all al-qaeda / Taliban are traceable to the Mujahadeen of the early through mid 1980s, and not all Mujahadeen morphed into so called "Afghans" in the terrorist sense. Some of the AQ/Taliban core derived from factions who were pro Kremlin during the 1980s and some of them were more aligned with the Pakistan / ISI locus. Of course, the feigned "split" between Pakistan and Russia is also less than straightforward - witness the Bout gang's CURRENT business activities headquartered in Islamabad!
That is a gross over simplification. Not all al-qaeda / Taliban are traceable to the Mujahadeen of the early through mid 1980s, and not all Mujahadeen morphed into so called "Afghans" in the terrorist sense. Some of the AQ/Taliban core derived from factions who were pro Kremlin during the 1980s and some of them were more aligned with the Pakistan / ISI locus. Of course, the feigned "split" between Pakistan and Russia is also less than straightforward - witness the Bout gang's CURRENT business activities headquartered in Islamabad!
That I must say is not very correct. Well firstly an Afghan warrior/warlord is a blatant oppurtunist and there is no such thing as a "pro-Soviet Mujahadeen " . All throughout Afghanistan's history the Afghan warriors very frequently switched sides often to their advantage. This happened even in the war againsts the Soviets and continued during the civil-war in the aftermath. And those who switch sides arnt considered traitors but rather they are hailed as master tactician. It only proves one thing and that is the Afghans Mujahideens are "pro-nobody" except "pro-themselves".
However the Taliban were a different breed. They were anti-Soviet down to the core. They purged any and all who were seen to have sided with the Soviets (remember how they hanged Najibulla). They even carried out pogroms in certain villages that were known to have helped the Soviets. Even when the Taliban accepted defectors from enemy camps the made certain that those renegades werent ever actively "pro-Soviet".
During the 80's it was mostly Rashid Dostum's (who held Baghram and Bamyan) faction that was actually "pro-Soviet" (and Rashid Dostum is considered the "master turncoat" in Afghanistan).After the fall of the Soviets, the Russians (and Indians )backed Ahmad Shah Masoud's Northan Aliance(who held the Panjshir valley). The Iranians backed the Ismailis and the Hazaras (who held Herat). The Pakistanis initially backed the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Gulbudin Hekmatyar but later on dumped them and placed their bets on the Taliban.
The fact remains that there was never ever any collusion between Pakistan and Russia on supporting the Taliban or else India (with all the RAW intelligence activity going on in Pakistan and Afghanistan) would have been the first to blow the whistle. The Russians hated the Taliban from day one.