RIP Charlie Wilson

Conveniently overlooked? Prior to 1979, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the country wasn't run by Sharia law, even if the government itself was being threatened by mujahideen. It was a politically unstable place marked by rampant corruption, and it was not too far removed from the stone ages, but it was a downright enlightened place compared to what it became because the Soviets invaded. It had cultural attractions and attracted the ballet, for example.

You make it sound like the Soviets did Afghanistan a favor. That is pretty twisted retelling of history. They invaded the country, took it over against the will of the people, and used gun ship helicopters to mass slaughter peasants who tried to put up any resistance. Whether what the U.S did to help the rebels fight the Soviets was good policy or not is debatable, but the U.S. didn't start the mess or create the resistance. The Soviets did by invading and taking over the country. If you really want to trace Al Qaeda, anyone reasonable would give a healthy look to the Soviet invasion first, second, third and fourth. And to try to paint them as benevolent somehow denies the reality. The Soviet Union invaded the country, mass slaughtered the population and put it through a 9-year hell that bolstered the mujahideen that eventually became the Taliban. That's not a skewed version of the history.

 

You're not serious, are you? The puppet government of the Soviets was on board with the Soviets invading?????

I'm not Afghani and I was 11 years old in 1979. So I am not sure I really have feelings toward the Afghani politics at the time.

But that Marxist government had overthrown the Daoud regime through an assassination and a coup! Not that Daoud was a saint, or very popular, but the PDPA was NOT the choice of the Afghani people. It had seized power through an assassination and coup the year before and was highly unpopular. It was holding the country hostage and, was being severely threatened by the mujahideen and was operating as a puppet of the Soviets. The rebels moblized to FIGHT that government, and of course the Soviets were their allies, because they were put in power by the Soviets. They WERE the Soviets. The Soviets had funded their activities and the Saur Revolution and wanted them in power so they could then invade and take over the country.

The mujihadeen threatened the PDPA government, which was Marxist and was unpopular, which is why trying to hang on for dear life, an unpopular authoritarian government that had taken over by coup was on board with a Soviet invasion.

Your telling of the history is akin to saying the Vichy government in France was supportive of the Nazis.

 

I wasn't tauting Dauod, who was ruthless--and I pointed out he was no saint. But he actually wasn't all that bad when it came to progressive values. You are incorrect. Dauod did not seize power through a military coup. His taking over was bloodless. Daoud was a prince, part of the royal family that ran the country through a monarchy, and he fought a power struggle against his cousin and disolved the monarchy. He was a dictator in that this wasn't a democracy, but if you want to talk about progressive reforms in Afghanistan--which was where you began the conversation--no one in their right mind would try to claim the Soviets were popular or tauting human rights. It was actually Dauod who did more to modernize Afghanistan than any leader had in a century with a series of progressive policies and modernization plans. Dauod did more for women's rights in Afghanistan than anyone has in the history of that country, for example, and had actually made small strides. It's why Afghanistan, a primitive country, was attracting the Joffrie Ballet, for example, while he was in power. His mistake was not allowing the Soviets to control him and in lessening Afghanistan's dependence on the Soviets, he instead turned to Iran and Egypt and Saudi Arabia for aid. He announced his government wouldn't be beholden to the Soviets anymore and would be closer to the West and the oil-producing Arab nations. The Soviets feared it would be a repeat of what happened when Egypt distanced itself from Soviet influence in the early 70s (in favor of a modernized, more secular and progressive government--within the narrow context of the middle east) and so they overthrew him and put in their puppet government and then invaded. No matter how you slice it, the Soviets were not good guys to the Afgahnis.

 

No obvious traces of poisoning and their bodies weren't radioactive when the undertakers got to them. So it's unlikely.