The moment that changed Afghanistan - Guardian/UK

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

So, according to the neo-hawks we are supposedly fighting to protect the nukes in Pakistan that we enabled them to build from the people we armed and supported who are now in Yemen or, somewhere.

FUBAR acronym: Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/28/afghanistan-1979-america-intervention

Thanks to the marvels of declassification, we now know precisely when America's engagement in Afghanistan was set in motion. It was on 26 December 1979, just two days after the Soviet invasion. President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, sent him a memo entitled "Reflections on Soviet intervention in Afghanistan". Carter endorsed it, and soon the CIA was funnelling huge amounts of money through Pakistan to fundamentalist warlords. A year later, after Ronald Reagan replaced Carter, American involvement further deepened.

"It is essential that Afghanistan's resistance continues," Brzezinksi wrote in his historic memo:

This means more money as well as arms shipments to the rebels, and some technical advice. To make the above possible, we must both reassure Pakistan and encourage it to help the rebels. This will require a review of our policy toward Pakistan, more guarantees to it, more arms aid and, alas, a decision that our security policy toward Pakistan cannot be dictated by our nonproliferation policy.

Until that moment, the US had been closely monitoring Pakistan's nuclear programme and blocking it whenever possible. As soon as Washington signalled to General Zia that it would stop monitoring the program in exchange for his help with the anti-Soviet war, he launched a global effort, led by AQ Khan, to assemble nuclear technology and fuel. Less than 20 years later, Pakistan successfully tested its first nuclear weapon.

Like so many American decisions to intervene in foreign lands, the decision in December 1979 to plunge into Afghanistan was made without serious consideration of the long-term consequences. It produced an apparent success that, with the passage of time, has come to look not much like a success after all.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Aka

shooting yourself in the foot.