it doesn’t matter how many lessons you learn or how many mistakes you do or don’t repeat. you don’t occupy another country (unless they first started a world war, like germany). if you do, for a significant length of time, you will invariably alienate the population and run afoul of your luck.

From Raymond Garthoff: “Detente and Confrontation” (footnote 137)
“Thr Karmal government in 1980 loudly accused Amin of having been a CIA agent and referred to documentary proof that was never produced. The Soviet media picked up and reported these “official” Afghan statements of Amin’s alleged CIA ties but soon dropped the accusation. A Soviet official with known KGB intelligence affiliation told me in 1980 that, while Amin may not have been a CIA “agent” he had CIA “connections.” High level CIA officials stated privately to congressional inquirers that Amin had never been a “CIA agent;” information from a Senator who made that inquiry.”

Your account is incomplete as it fails to take account of the extensive aid Iran gave to Afghan insurgents under Ayatollah Khomeini, not to mention from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Also, it was people around “the poet” Taraki who tried to assassinate Amin September 14, 1979, prompting Amin to demand the right to take a bodyguard with him in a meeting with Taraki; the fear proved prophetic.

You seem to be fixated about Brzezinski. After 1981 he was only one of many foreign policy commentators but he wasn’t a policymaker. You can’t show a single smoking gun to back up your ludicrous “Zbig was advising everyone in sight.”

As to U.S. arms, read the statement published in the Department of State Bulletin 88,2135: 55 (June 1988): “Should the Soviet Union exercise restraint in providing military assistance to parties in Afghanistan, the United States will exercise similar restraint.” The obligation was clearly a reciprocal one. Gen. Gromov, in his May 14 1988 press conference, stated that $1 billion worth of Soviet military equipment would be left behind for the Najibullah regime. That, according to scholars who are a thousand times better informed than you are, was the issue that led to a continuation of arms aid.

I noticed you refrained from answering Evie’s questions and wonder what you are hiding.

Perhaps there are some regrets that quite so many Western troops have died, but there were definitely plans to invade Afghanistan long before 2001. Screw-up, yes. But conspiracy? Yes.

>Thus, what Israel (or, indeed, the US) would like hardly matters.

? Au contraire.

>Looming over everything are those poppies.
>the real reality. create a war and make big profits from that war.

Nicely put. Worth reminding people of every day to counter all the UN-type hype about fighting a war against drugs.

>the Soviets were invited into Afghanistan (where their paratroopers promptly killed the inconvenient ruler) like they were invited into Czechoslovakia.

Good parallel. Not a pretty picture, I grant you. The inconvenient ruler, Amin, was very likely CIA. He murdered the romantic poet president Taraki and was imprisoning religious leaders, intentionally or otherwise inciting civil war.

re “Zbig Brzezinski”, yes, a slip there. Thank you Mr Gatekeeper.
In my defence, dear “Zbig” was no doubt advising everyone in sight throughout the 1980s, 1990s, yes 2001 and on as well. My revised version reads “The US made a point of maintaining the flow of arms, even after Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev made it clear the troops would be withdrawn, intending to use this golden opportunity to stick the knife as deep as possible into the now unraveling Soviet Union.”
My point is all too valid, unfortunately, and like the readers’ comments about “the poppies” and “create a war and make big profits” should be repeated every day.

For those interested in the most complete information on the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, please see the following academic work, based on the Mitrokhin Archive:

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/ACFAE9.pdf

Like Bruce Wayne and Batman

Yes, the Soviets were invited into Afghanistan (where their paratroopers promptly killed the inconvenient ruler) like they were invited into Czechoslovakia.

Hey, at least all of the heroin addicts of the world are happy.

the real reality. create a war and make big profits from that war.

americans are too dumb to notice. keep right on shopping till they drop.

americans know how to shop give them that.

what a horrible sad country i live in. we had such potential after the world war and greed took over.

the decline is on and what do americans do whine.

they voted for these war mongers then whine. go figure.

“perhaps even facilitating” ? Hahahaha, such a sense of humor. Two words – Poppy Bush.

BTW do you use the nom de plume “Simon Jones”? Is it true you had a PR job with Uzbekistan President Karimov, who reportedly boiled his opponents in oil?

Extradition. The position in public international law is that countries are required to extradite except in three cases: their own nationals, fiscal offences and political offences. There is no denying that the offence bin Laden was charged with was political and the Afghan government was thus perfectly within its rights in refusing to extradite him. Moreover, the US government never actually applied for extradition in proper legal form, they just ordered the Afghan government to hand him over. Finally, no rule of public international law permits a country which has been refused extradition, even wrongfully, to invade the refusing country.

Lastly, even if it suits the Israelis to have their neighbours fighting among themselves, they can do nothing without American money and the US economy is collapsing. Thus, what Israel (or, indeed, the US) would like hardly matters.