Whoops! Hey. Sorry about your kids.

[Anomalocaris]

Is all of afghanistan really worth fighting over? I don't think so.

Even the Russians finally came to that conclusion.

The Soviet Union wanted to nip in the bud any Islamist revival on the borders of their primarily Muslim Central-Asian Soviet Republics by invading Afghanistan. They were in fact much closer to success in 1983 then we are now, when they have all but crushed all resistence in the cities and in the countries. But we decided in the name of freedom to arm all and sundry who would discomfit the Soviets. The Taliban and the train cadre of Al Qeada grew directly out of Mujahadin we armed through Pakistan and the 6 years of guerrila war that resulted. In many ways we are reaping what we've sown in Afghanistan. It was the war in Afghanistan that undoubtedly popularized the notion amongst Islamists of armed jihad against all who are perceived to transgress into Islamdom, and created the belief that Islamic ferver, a smattering of modern weapons coupled with rejection of modern values, can defeat even the most modern and powerful secular forces. One might say the defeat of Soviet Union in Afganistan that we crowed over in 1991 is really a long unfolding diseaster that will be with us for decades to come.