4 ms·

I wish OP well, but as a person from South Asia, it's very hard to not have a bitter taste left in my mouth when you mention you used to be an CIA officer in So

by rudiv 8y ago

I wish OP well, but as a person from South Asia, it's very hard to not have a bitter taste left in my mouth when you mention you used to be an CIA officer in South Asia and then moved on to work for the NSA, no less.

Ar-Curunir 8y ago
I understand that the CIA have been villains in many different countries, but I didn't know about their involvement in South Asia. Could you elaborate a bit?
- jmknoll 8y ago
  Here is a (very) incomplete list of recent CIA activities in South Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Pakistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Pakistan Going back to the 80's, you have Operation Cyclone, which was the CIA operation to arm and finance the mujahadeen against the USSR, which led to the creation of the Taliban, 10 years of brutal theocratic rule and ethnic cleansing in Afghanistan, and ultimately to the September 11th attacks on the United States, and to the (still ongoing) NATO occupation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone I don't know much about India, but it looks like the CIA may be implicated in the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and bombed a plane in the 50's in an attempt to kill Zhou Enlai. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_India I think GP is pretty justified in saying that the presence of a CIA/NSA operative in South Asia would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
  - jonnybgood 8y ago
    > which was the CIA operation to arm and finance the mujahadeen against the USSR, which led to the creation of the Taliban That is actually not what happened. The mujahadeen are not precursors of the Taliban. Matter of fact, the mujahadeen and Taliban fought each other. Many members of the mujahadeen left to join the Taliban but they are not the same. The Taliban was started by students.
    - namdnay 8y ago
      Indeed, but the Taliban's rapid recruitment and easy access to heavy weapons was a direct consequence of the US support of the Mujahideen
    - vidarh 8y ago
      Mujahideen just the plural form of mujahid: a person who engages in Jihad. It is not a specific group. The term applies equally well to the Taliban as the many other groups that operated in Afghanistan.
      - aedron 8y ago
        Not in this case. The mujahideen were a specific group of warlords who fought against the taliban (which just means 'students' by the way).
        vidarh 8y ago
        No, they really were not a specific group. There was eventually an organization that organised some of the biggest groups of mujahideen in Afghanistan into a couple of alliances (the Peshawar 7 and the Teheran Eight being two of them), but there were many other groups as well. The Taliban did not in any case organize until after infighting broke out again among those groups, and the Taliban's growth came in large part exactly because these groups were far more disunited at the point the Taliban was rising than during the war against the Soviets.
    - chupasaurus 8y ago
      Mujahideen are not a single group of people, check the meaning. Taliban was started by Omar who was trained by Pakistan (with CIA and Saudi Arabia throught it) during Soviet-Afgan war. He used books about jihad made and published by University of Nebraska-Omaha as a part of education. That's the only 2 links I know.
  - Ar-Curunir 8y ago
    AHH yes how could I forget the CIA's involvement in Afghanistan. Thanks for the reminder!
- caymanjim 8y ago
  South Asia includes Afghanistan and Pakistan, to name just two. What's to wonder?
toyg 8y ago
Like most intelligence agencies of wealthy countries, the CIA has agents everywhere at all times. They may or may not be actively engaged into questionable activities, but you can be sure they are there, at the very least as diplomatic personnel. Your own country likely has equivalents in the US. It’s just how it is, the world is a bad place.
- jopsen 8y ago
  I presume that a lot of intelligence gathering is rather benign... Analyzing the course of political debate and the mood is important to understand a country you're working with. Not that this is particularly secretive work.
  - pnongrata 8y ago
    > I presume that a lot of intelligence gathering is rather benign... Well put, Mr. Google. ;)

by rudiv 8y ago

Ar-Curunir 8y ago

I understand that the CIA have been villains in many different countries, but I didn't know about their involvement in South Asia. Could you elaborate a bit?

jmknoll 8y ago
Here is a (very) incomplete list of recent CIA activities in South Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Pakistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Pakistan Going back to the 80's, you have Operation Cyclone, which was the CIA operation to arm and finance the mujahadeen against the USSR, which led to the creation of the Taliban, 10 years of brutal theocratic rule and ethnic cleansing in Afghanistan, and ultimately to the September 11th attacks on the United States, and to the (still ongoing) NATO occupation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone I don't know much about India, but it looks like the CIA may be implicated in the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and bombed a plane in the 50's in an attempt to kill Zhou Enlai. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_India I think GP is pretty justified in saying that the presence of a CIA/NSA operative in South Asia would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
- jonnybgood 8y ago
  > which was the CIA operation to arm and finance the mujahadeen against the USSR, which led to the creation of the Taliban That is actually not what happened. The mujahadeen are not precursors of the Taliban. Matter of fact, the mujahadeen and Taliban fought each other. Many members of the mujahadeen left to join the Taliban but they are not the same. The Taliban was started by students.
  - namdnay 8y ago
    Indeed, but the Taliban's rapid recruitment and easy access to heavy weapons was a direct consequence of the US support of the Mujahideen
  - vidarh 8y ago
    Mujahideen just the plural form of mujahid: a person who engages in Jihad. It is not a specific group. The term applies equally well to the Taliban as the many other groups that operated in Afghanistan.
    - aedron 8y ago
      Not in this case. The mujahideen were a specific group of warlords who fought against the taliban (which just means 'students' by the way).
      - vidarh 8y ago
        No, they really were not a specific group. There was eventually an organization that organised some of the biggest groups of mujahideen in Afghanistan into a couple of alliances (the Peshawar 7 and the Teheran Eight being two of them), but there were many other groups as well. The Taliban did not in any case organize until after infighting broke out again among those groups, and the Taliban's growth came in large part exactly because these groups were far more disunited at the point the Taliban was rising than during the war against the Soviets.
  - chupasaurus 8y ago
    Mujahideen are not a single group of people, check the meaning. Taliban was started by Omar who was trained by Pakistan (with CIA and Saudi Arabia throught it) during Soviet-Afgan war. He used books about jihad made and published by University of Nebraska-Omaha as a part of education. That's the only 2 links I know.
- Ar-Curunir 8y ago
  AHH yes how could I forget the CIA's involvement in Afghanistan. Thanks for the reminder!
caymanjim 8y ago
South Asia includes Afghanistan and Pakistan, to name just two. What's to wonder?

toyg 8y ago

Like most intelligence agencies of wealthy countries, the CIA has agents everywhere at all times. They may or may not be actively engaged into questionable activities, but you can be sure they are there, at the very least as diplomatic personnel. Your own country likely has equivalents in the US. It’s just how it is, the world is a bad place.

jopsen 8y ago
I presume that a lot of intelligence gathering is rather benign... Analyzing the course of political debate and the mood is important to understand a country you're working with. Not that this is particularly secretive work.
- pnongrata 8y ago
  > I presume that a lot of intelligence gathering is rather benign... Well put, Mr. Google. ;)