[Peace-discuss] U.S. and Afghanistan

[David Green]

Since Jimmy Carter's "surprise" at the Soviet invasion
of Afghanistan in 1979 has been asserted twice in the
N-G in the past week, I thought I would dig up this
summary from William Blum:

Afghanistan 1979-92: Everyone knows of the
unbelievable repression of women in Afghanistan,
carried out by Islamic 
fundamentalists, even before the Taliban. But how many
people know that during the late 1970s and most of the
1980s, Afghanistan had a government committed to
bringing the incredibly backward nation into the 20th
century, including giving women equal rights? What
happened, however, is that the United States poured
billions of dollars into waging a terrible war against
this government, simply because it was supported by
the Soviet Union. Prior to this, CIA operations had
knowingly increased the probability of a Soviet
intervention, which is what occurred. In the end, the
United States won, and the women, and the rest of
Afghanistan, lost. More than a million dead, three
million disabled, five million refugees, in total
about half the population.




		
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