--- Luke Weiger <lweiger at umich.edu> wrote: It's a stretch to imply that that the international jihadi movement wouldn't be even stronger if one of its main governmental sponsors was still intact. Remember, the Taliban (unlike the Iraqi Baathists) really did collude with terrorists. I believe a member of the Taliban once told Mullah Omar that keeping bin Laden around would lead to their downfall.
And so it did, and I see no cause for regret. --
FWIW the US operation in Afghanistan was and is completely supported by everybody who lives around Afghanistan, with the exception of parts of Pakistan. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, India were all for. Moscow proposed a joint strike on the Taliban to Washington in 1999. The Talibs were destabilizing the whole area and trying to colonize Chechnya.
===== Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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