Outside the Beltway

Taliban History Lesson: Not Our Boys From the 80’s

The groups we supported were defeated by the Taliban in the civil war that followed Soviet withdrawal. The Taliban and Usama bin Laden were supported by the separate "Sayyaf" group of Mujahideen supported by Saudi Arabia and Deobandi fanatics in Pakistan.

James Joyner · Thursday, March 31, 2011 · 4 comments

I just heard Chuck Todd of the idiot MSNBC network assert as a predicate to a question that the Mujahid groups that the US supported against the USSR BECAME the Taliban and Al-Qa’ida.

NO! NO!

The groups we supported were defeated by the Taliban in the civil war that followed Soviet withdrawal. The Taliban and Usama bin Laden were supported by the separate “Sayyaf” group of Mujahideen supported by Saudi Arabia and Deobandi fanatics in Pakistan.

Thus endeth the lesson.

FILED UNDER: Middle East, World Politics, Chuck Todd, MSNBC, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, Pat Lang, Saudi Arabia, Taliban

About James Joyner

James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

G.A.Phillips says:

Thursday, 31 March 2011 at 19:59

yup…
sam says:

Friday, 1 April 2011 at 07:10

“The groups we supported were defeated by the Taliban in the civil war that followed Soviet withdrawal.”

So, none of the arms that Charlie Wilson secured for the Mujahideen were sent to Bin Laden’s group?
sam says:

Friday, 1 April 2011 at 07:52

It looks like it might be a bit more complicated than Lang’s history lesson would have it (or the implication of my question, for that matter). See, Tom Hanks Tells Hollywood Whopper in ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’.
TG Chicago says:

Friday, 1 April 2011 at 11:38

There’s an entire wiki page about this. It’s far from a settled issue.