“Nothing remotely consistent” in US foreign policy from 1948 until 1991?? You jest!! It was remarkably consistent even if not best directed. It had one objective and that objective is clearly stated in the article above:

“What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of central Europe and the end of the cold war?” – Zbigniew Brzezinski

And of course Zbigniew Brzezinski was perfectly correct at that time.

Also quite tiresome are the endless references to “historical parallels” that anything but.

The Anglo-Afghan Wars of the 19th Century:
A series of short sharp shocks to keep the rulers of Afghanistan in line and neutral. In achieving this strategic goal the British were 100% successful.

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan:
An action forced upon an extremely reluctant Soviet Leadership by the failure of their PDPA puppets in Afghanistan who by their excesses had only managed to get the entire country raised against them in armed opposition. In short communism in Afghanistan needed rescuing, as Amin turned in desperation from seeking help from the USSR to India, China and “heaven forfend” the USA.

The Soviet Union was just about to demonstrate the weaknesses of its armed forces, poorly led, poorly motivated, poorly trained, poorly equipped conscripts who did want want to serve in any army let alone a Soviet Army operating in a war zone outside “Mother Russia”. It was reckoned that around one million men rotated through Afghanistan during the Soviet’s nine-and-a-quarter years there and yes, as mentioned above, they lost 15,031 men killed, around 54,000 wounded in combat. The figure not given above were the numbers who succumbed to seriously debilitating diseases (Over 413,000).

Putin offered to provide the US with charts of mined areas?? He’d be bloody lucky – they don’t exist. The minefields sown by the Soviets to protect their “Sangars” were never charted they were sown from helicopters. In 2008, 4% of all children injured in Afghanistan were injured by Soviet era land mines and “butterfly bombs”. The greatest Taliban source for IED’s and IED materials were salvaged from areas sown with Soviet mines. In Ross Kemp’s first documentary from Afghanistan, the Royal Marine who got killed at Kajaki Dam was killed standing on a Soviet mine, not one laid by the Taliban.

The Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was on a hiding to nothing from the word go because they themselves did not want it or believe in it.

US-Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) October 2001 to October 2006:
Undertaken in response to the Al-Qaeda attacks on WTC and Pentagon on 11th September 2001. US provided assistance to the Northern Alliance and succeeded in driving the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda “guests” out of power and out of the country. For the most part all the fighting was done by the end of summer 2002 (Doubt that then look at casualty figures for Afghanistan between 2001 and 2006). With the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership in hiding in Pakistan responsibility for security in Afghanistan was handed over to ISAF in a rolling process Kabul; North; West, SOuth & East between 2003 and 2006.

UNAMA & ISAF Missions 2003 to Present:
As agreed with Afghan leaders the United Nations put its weight behind efforts to rebuild Afghanistan and rstore it to stable governance. The framework for this effort was outlined in a document called “The Bonn Agreement” signed in Bonn in Germany in December 2001. Under the auspices of the UNAMA countries contributing to ISAF were to fund Provincial Reconstruction Teams who would be responsible for reconstruction projects within Afghanistan on a Province by Province Basis. ISAF was also tasked with training the new Afghan Security Forces to replace the militias of the former Mujahideen War-Lords.

Having been comprehensively defeated militarily by the Northern Alliance and US-OEF forces the Taliban from across the border in Pakistan viewed the ISAF effort as striking at their traditional support base in the southern Provinces of Afghanistan, so in the Summer of 2006 the Taliban declared war on the Afghan Government, ISAF and the reconstruction effort. That conflict is still in progress and the Taliban are losing it.