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monkChuck105 t1_j6325o1 wrote

Reply to comment by Lithuim in ELI5: How is donating equipment to participate in war, not considered going to war? by lloyd705

You're badly misinformed. It was the US that armed the Mujahideen to fight the Soviets, and this became the Taliban. Guess who also helped fight the Soviets? Osama bin Laden. This is how they came into being, American training and military aid. We did the same thing in Syria, and we have done the same in Ukraine. It's the American MO, arm the enemies of our enemies, even if they're Hitler or Stalin or Sadam or bin Laden.

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Peter_deT t1_j63gz6f wrote

Again, not quite. The original Mujahiddin were mostly Pashtun tribal groups, armed and trained by the US. The Taliban were religious students from both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border who grew support after the mujahiddin factions proved incapable of providing any kind of order.

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jimmymd77 t1_j63ik2v wrote

The Mujahideen weren't a monolithic group. This was why there was civil war after the Soviets pulled out. I am sure the Taliban fighters received arms, training from the CIA, but nothing in Afghanistan is that cut and dry.

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