United States, Afghanistan And Taliban: An Overview

https://nayadaur.tv/2020/06/united-states-afghanistan-and-taliban-an-overview/
June 3 2020 Naya Daur online

For my presentation/ views of the rise of Islamic State (IS) which will help in better understanding the current writeup better read - Islamic State and Religious extremism that I wrote in 2014

United States International Terrorism and Taliban: An Overview

Prof. Ijaz Khan

After the end of Cold War, the significance of Afghanistan had downgraded to a very low level in the US security perceptions and policy. It was never of much significance in economic evaluations, except for a possible alternate route to Central Asian states. Some concern was expressed when the foreign Jihadis started returning to Afghanistan, poppy production and also due to the increasing regional interventions and rivalries inside Afghanistan, especially that of Iran. However, for US these matters were not significant enough to divert its attention from Eastern Europe.

When Taliban emerged in 1994 and took control of Kabul in 1996, the US developed a cautiously positive view of them. In most of the 90s, at least till the 1998, not Al Qaeda (and Sunnis), but Iran (Shias) was considered the threat. Further, with the rise of Taliban, US experts started differentiating between the traditional Islamists and Pan Islamists. Taliban were termed traditional Islamists, with no international agenda and interested in Islamic system in their country (Afghanistan) only, while the Pan Islamists were those groups that had a global agenda, which included the emerging Al Qaeda too, but more dangerous were Shias, supported by Iran. The US expected Sunni Taliban can be useful against Shia Iran. The fact that Taliban were mostly Pashtuns added to their attraction, due to historic Persian-Afghan rivalry. This perception was further strengthened by the initial negative reaction of Pan Islamists aligned Mujahideen groups, to Taliban. Gulbadin Hekmatyar called Taliban as British agents.
click below to read here or on the link to Naya Daur