"WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?"

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid couldn't figure out who their pursuers were when escaping from a train holdup gone bad. A group of detectives, with an uncanny Indian scout hired by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad to stop the robbing of his trains, relentlessly pursued the outlaws and were not fooled by their tricks.

With 80,000 troops on the ground and more requested, we are dedicated to defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan, knowing that they are the 'militants', 'insurgents', 'terrorists', 'abusers of women's rights' and overall bad guys that we 'the righteous and good guys' need to attack and conquer.

But "who are those guys?" To answer we need to look back at the Cold War times and the invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S.S.R. The U.S. met this aggression by enlisting the help of Afghans, Pakistanis and Saudis, notable among them was Osama Bin Ladin. The U. S. supplied cash and modern weapons. What evolved was an alliance that drove the Russans out and empowered the native Afghans --the so called Taliban.

Quoting from our Secretary of State in testimony to the House Appropriations Committee: [ from "Fighting the Taliban" by Reza Pirbhai ,www.Counterpunch.com]

“Let’s remember here… the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago… and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union. They invaded Afghanistan… and we did not want to see them control Central Asia and we went to work… and it was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what it sounds like a pretty good idea… let’s deal with the ISI and the Pakistan military and let’s go recruit these mujahideen. And great, let them come from Saudi Arabia and other countries, importing their Wahhabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. And guess what … they (Soviets) retreated … they lost billions of dollars and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. So there is a very strong argument which is… it wasn’t a bad investment in terms of Soviet Union but let’s be careful with what we sow… because we will harvest.”

After Russia's exit, the Russian installed communist Najibullah regime remained and the U.S. continued to support the Taliban force in opposition, using Pakistan and Saudi Arabian channels. In 1992 the Soviet Union collapsed as did the Najibullah regime, yet our influence remained.

The inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1992, signalled an emphasis on ties with the ‘Northern Alliance’ – itself a band of Taliban-style groups, sprinkled with regional ‘warlords,’ known for their drug running and human rights abuses. This relationship was actually initiated by Clinton’s predecessor, George Bush (Sr.), in 1989, with the appointment of a US charge d’affair for the Northern Alliance, at the very moment that the charge d’affair for Afghanistan as a whole was withdrawn and the US embassy in Kabul closed.

In other words, the US now joined Russia, Pakistan, India, Iran and Saudi Arabia in backing one of the other of the Taliban-style militants and warlords vying for control of Afghanistan, the result of which was the destruction of major cities like Kabul and most of the country’s infrastructure, as well as the continued killing, rape and torture of thousands more civilians.

This is not the first time the U.S. has found it expedient to turn against it's former allies in pursuit of contemporary goals. It turns out; however that the Taliban (Official definition: Religious students) are really very tough and vicious customers, skilled in guerilla warfare as well as terror and abuse of non-combatants and are winning the 'war'. A monster we have fed and nurtured can no longer be contained. Can anyone say Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Panama and Cuba?

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN