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Hi All, Please do not forget the past! I want to take a distance from racial or religious finger pointing and consider myself as a 100% ally of the US as my country harbors NATO's headquarters. But I consider some of you (reading some reactions) to have a superficial approach to the current situation. We should all know that America lost influence in Central Asia since the Shah of Iran's fall and was determined to prevent Iran's new regime from exploiting the Afghanistan-Soviet situation, so bin Laden was recruited by the CIA in that period and brought to Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia to organize the fight against Soviet forces. After the Soviet army's withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the pro-Soviet regime, Pakistan got involved and tried to re-establish the former government, but failed. They then started to build the Taliban with US support. The US was well aware of the Taliban's human rights abuses and its connections with drug production and trafficking, like heroine and hash. Also the Saudis started financing the Taliban as an anti-Iranian force. The US perceived them as useful, not only for enforcing the US containment of Iran, but also for providing access to Central Asian resources. They perceived the Taliban as potentially helpful as a source of security in their bid to construct a pipeline across Afghanistan to export gas from Turkmenistan to South Asia. The US, together with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enabled the Taliban to emerge and capture power in Kabul and defeat the former government in 1996. Still in a close relationship with the Taliban regime the US called for an Afghan government that is multiethnic and that observes international norms of behavior, but it never came. The former Afghan government (still seated in the UN) lost control over 90% of Afghanistan in favor of the Taliban. Not being able to tolerate any opposition the Taliban was determined to gain 100% control, but deserted by their allies, the US and SA they got desperate for manpower and moral support. So they Taliban welcomed Islamic militants of diverse nationalities like Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, etc. to join them on the front lines against the "Northern Alliance", a fragment of the former government . Bin Laden and his brigade may be the best-known since masterminding the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa but he is far from the only Taliban guest with a price on his head. It is obvious that other "leaders" accused of terrorist attacks in the West, China, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan have found sanctuary in a symbiotic relationship with the Taliban: They help the Taliban militarily; the Taliban let them set up bases on Afghan soil where they find not only a save haven but a source of income by trafficking in Afghan heroin. Osala bin Laden has been working to establish ties with his fellow militant groups and helping to fund some of them. The diverse groups have their own agendas, but some share his cry for a global Islamic revolution. Europe now is making probably the same mistake by helping the Northern Alliance, but somebody has to follow after the Taliban-period. These dangerous friendships threaten to export instability throughout the world as we all noticed on September the 11th. Emmanuel My last off-topic reaction on this
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