And Some People Think the Religious Right Created the Taliban

“In the event, President Carter secretly authorized $500 million (closer to a billion in today’s money) to help create an international network that would spread Islamism in Central Asia and ‘destabilize’ the Soviet Union. The CIA called this ‘Operation Cyclone,’ and in the following years poured over $4 billion into setting up Islamic training schools in Pakistan (hence the ‘Taliban’ movement, which means ‘student’). Young fanatics were sent to training camps paid for by the U.S. taxpayer, where future members of Al-Qaeda were taught ‘sabotage skills’ (i.e. terrorism). In Pakistan they were directed by British M16 officers and trained by the SAS” (Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, p. 211).