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It's a delusion of Western blamelessness to think that any supposed relationship between the actions of Islamic fundamentalists, their strategies and growth, im
by claudiawerner 6y ago
It's a delusion of Western blamelessness to think that any supposed relationship between the actions of Islamic fundamentalists, their strategies and growth, implies that "Islamic fundamentalism owes its existence to a transient American action".
Islamic fundamentalism was around before American involvement and it'll be around after. Nobody is claiming otherwise.
- varjag 6y agoThe origin of Afghan resistance was Soviet invasion. It was the 120,000 troops of Soviet mechanised infantry over 10 years that made Mujahedeen who they are, not a dozen CIA instructors showing them jumping jacks in Pakistan.
- 082349872349872 6y agoMANPADs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger#Soviet_War_in_Afghanistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger#Soviet_War_in_A...
- varjag 6y agoMANPADs were not delivered until 1986: by that time my dad already completed two 18-month rotations to Herat. Anyway MANPAD handling skills are irrelevant to what we discuss here.
- 082349872349872 6y agoNot so irrelevant, because at USD 40k per, they were a bit more than teaching jumping jacks. I mentioned them specifically because they seem to have been the least-deniable part of the package. The author of the lines «Горы стреляют, Стингер взлетает / Если нарваться, то парни второй раз умрут» also seems to have accorded them more respect than you do... I've heard the Chechens were able to manufacture their own small arms. Afghanis certainly had that capability; did they have it at the scale provided? Would they have been able to source their own MANPADs?
- varjag 6y agoVastly more Soviet troops were killed by Communist Chinese AK clones than by Stingers. But of course the impact on morale and logistics was profound. This is however not what we discuss here. How much US attrition was due to Islamic fundamentalist MANPAD use, during the whole War of Terror? See, it's irrelevant.
- KineticLensman 6y ago> The origin of Afghan resistance was Soviet invasion They also resisted the British quite well in 1842 [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_retreat_from_Kabul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_retreat_from_Kabul [Edit] In fact I think I'm right in saying that the last person to successfully invade Afghanistan was Alexander the Great, and even he had to stop campaigning when his army mutinied rather than continue ops in the Indian subcontinent.
- varjag 6y agoTrue, "The Graveyard of Empires" is an old metaphor.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y agoI believe Genghis Khan and Tamerlane also successfully conquered Afghanistan.
- davchana 6y agoThe Sikh General Hari Singh Nalwa also uprooted & defeated Afghan Leaders like Dost Mohammad & others, & ruled Afghanistan Throne & build forts around there, even died in his last battle, but did not let the news of his death come out making sure his side wins, in around 1830s. [0] [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_Singh_Nalwa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_Singh_Nalwa