No terrorists in Australia, says Habib

[Lumpen Proletariat]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

The US and UK did not finance and equip the Taliban. After the Russian withdrawal in 1989 they ceased funding to the area. Taliban took power in 1996.
The Afghan commander who organised the fight agaisnt the Russians and later the Taliban was actually killed by Al Qaeda.

You are really over simplifying a very complicated conflict.

I was referring to the Muhajadin of Afghanistan not the Taliban, which rose in power 4 years after the end of the Russo-Afghan War. The Taliban, as extremist as it is, was still a faction of the Muhajadin. At the time, they were fighting the Russian's, a common enemy.

The old saying. An enemy of my enemy is my friend.

There is no denying that these groups were trained and supported by the United States and United Kingdom including people such as Osama Bin Laden...

Originally Posted by Robin Cook, former leader of the British House of Commons and Foreign Secretary from 1997-2001

Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians

Lumpy