Did the US train the taliban to help it out in its crusade against Russia?

Question

I know nothing about this! Links, basic explanation of what happened etc will be welcome. Taliban's activities in russia, every wrong that was perpetrated etc. Thing is, I have a debate to prepare on the topic" batman is responsible for teh crimes of the joker". I have to interpret it and then take a stance on mt interpretation.

My friend came up with teh whoel taliban thing. So in my interpretation "batman" becomes the US government and "the crimes of joker" becomes the Taliban and everything that happened in Russia. . So essentially America, the good guys, encouraged Taliban, the bad guys.

So yeah, I need explanations on what exactly happened. Also, your views on the topic are welcome. I''ll be contributing my own view point shortly. Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Yes, they did.  Russia (then the Soviet Union) invaded Afghanistan.  The US provided weapons and training to the resistance fighters, including anti-tank weapons and handheld missiles for shooting down aircraft.  They are now, of course, using the same weapons against the US.

Answer 2

No.  Anyone who says that we did is completely, absolutely wrong.

1.  We definitely armed and providing some training to the Mujahadeen and warlords when the Soviets had occupied Afghanistan.  But there was no Taliban then.  Some we did directly  (such as Massoud, the Tajik of the enormously successful Northern Front).  Much of it was disseminated through the Pakistani ISI (their version of the CIA/military intelligence), partially for deniability and also because ISI wanted to have some "say" so they tended to choose Pashtun warlords.

2.  When the Russians left and the government fell, it was replaced with a weak adhoc coalition govt. which quickly fell apart.  There was tremendous corruption, looting, fighting for power by many of the rival factions.  Massoud (the most impressive of the Mujahedeen to emerge) was a Tajik (a northern minority) and thus unacceptable to the majority of the Pashtun people.

3.  As a result of the widespread corruption, fighting, rapes, a movement sprang up.  It was started by a one-eyed war veteran from Kandahar named Mohamed Omar (also married to one of OBL's daughters) announced the he was a humble Talib (student) and rallied others to him, saying that their role was to be humble and non-corrupt.  As more "talibs" joined they became the Taliban (the plural of "student" or "talib").  

Initially the Taliban enjoyed popular support.  Standing for an end to the factional fighting, the corruption, the widespread rapes, the cultivation of poppy, a countryside tired of fighting embraced the idea of a group of fighters seeking only to follow the Koran and not personal advancement.  But their brutal and extremist views quickly alienated many (the current President of Afghanistan Karzai initially supported the Taliban but refused their offer to be their UN Ambassador and left the country).

We could not have equipped or trained the Taliban because they did not exist during the Soviet occupation.  The Taliban didn't come into existence until about 1995, well after the Russian withdrawal and at a point that the US and the West was phasing out our interest and involvement in Afghanistan.

Answer 3

USA gave logistical help, arms and ammunitions through Pakisthan

to train the Talibans to oust the then Soviet Union from Afganisthan. Because the capilistic

countries are always alergic to Communists. The Soviets were

driven out and soon USA washed their hands. Bin Laden was waiting,

joined the Talibans and it was a boomerang on USA.  Pakisthan's

tribal regions became the hub of Islamist jihadis with huge quantity

of Russian and American arms and ammunitions.Though the Talibans

were ousted from Afganisthan by the Americans but they are creating

trouble for the Afgan government from their safe heaven.

Answer 4

http://all.atspace.name

you can get much information in this website,stay a minute in website and check anyone link at a time,you can aslo get your answer in Google Search in this website, which has helped me alot

Answer 5

In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in support of the government which was introducing reforms which were opposed by the extremist muslims.

The extremists formed a resistance force with assistance from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the CIA who supplied arms and money throughout the 1980s.

Ronald Reagan personally authorised the delivery of 1,000 surface to air missiles for shooting down Russian airplanes.. Only about 500 of these were used and the rest are still out there somewhere.

One of the Saudis involved was Osama bin Laden who formed a training camp at Peshawar called Al Qaeda and trained guerrillas with the help of the CIA.

The Russians eventually pulled out and the extremist muslims broke up into different factions fighting each other for supremecy.

The USA abandoned all assistance to Afghanistan as soon as the Russians left.

The Taleban were eventually the successful faction among the extremists and the reforms of the 1970 were reversed  

Answer 6

   An interesting topic, and a very good approach to make your argument. As has already been said, yes, the US helped the Taliban during the 1980s against their fight with the USSR. Giiven how the Soviets were treating the Afghans, and the opportunity it provided to damage the USSR, both from a PR viewpoint and in terms of actual monatary and military aspects, it was a good investment.

   Probably our biggest failure was in our not following through after the USSR gave up. The Afghans had expected continued American support to rebuild their nation. Instead, the US lost all interest in the area, and did nothing to intervene as the internal power struggles began. This allowed the Taliban to rise as the dominant power, with all of the consequences we know about today

   Ultimately I think your analogy is flawed. Your argument stems from the idea that when you see something evil, one should not act, because you cannot predict how you may make things worse in the future. The best counter to your analogy would be would be to quote or demonstrate that "For evil to triumph all it takes is for good men to do nothing". Whether or not your debate opponant will anticipate your argument and be prepared to rebut that point is somewhat unlikely. Good luck.

Answer 7

Sort of.  The US, through the CIA and the ISI, supplied and funded groups of Muslims from all over to fight the Russinas in the 80s.  Some of these people went on to create the Taliban.  But The Taliban as the former government of AF and the current insurgents did not exist as such in the 80s.  

USSR leaves AF by early 89 and US funding & supplies dry up.  Taliban forms in late 94

Read "Ghost Wars" by Steve Coll to get a real good idea of all this.

The Taliban do not currently use anti-tank weapons or surface to air missles against coalition forces as claimed above.