I know it’s almost impossible to be critical of anyone associated with Democratic Presidents since the Bush and Trump regimes, and Trump might well rewrite the record book. Still, the outpouring of tributes to the late Zbigniew Brzezinski has invariably overlooked his critical contribution to the jihadist menace that has killed untold numbers of Muslims and others during the past decades, has created mayhem in Europe, and had a disastrous impact on US politics (through exaggerating its current threat here).
Brzezinski was obsessed with Soviet Communism and Communism in general. As a consequence he did two things. The first was unforgivable, but had little effect; the second produced a nightmare we are still in the throes of: the active and critical support of jihadism vs. the Soviets in Afghanistan.
A little background is useful. Afghanistan had a monarchy and the Soviets always had excellent relations with the regime. But, local Communists decided that the monarchy was an obstacle to modernizing the country and overthrew it. Some of the reforms they introduced were praised by many in Kabul perhaps (e.g,, civil marriages, literacy campaigns), but in rural areas—where the vast majority lived---they were anathema and local resistance followed and was repressed.
Brezinski got the bright idea to mobilize and fund jihadis to attack the regime. This would put the Soviets in an awkward position. They didn’t want a revolution in the first place—were content with a friendly monarchy---but the violent overthrow of its successor was a threat, because the anti-Communist sentiments by any new regime would be a major problem on their common border.
So he convinced Jimmy Carter (great as ex-Prez; not so great as Prez) to organize and help fund jihadis to fight the Commies in Kabul in the hopes it would bring in the Soviets to rescue their allies (even though they didn’t care for them). The ultimate goal was to make the Soviets pay a price in blood as payback for what they “put us through”(as if we were forced to be there) in Vietnam by supporting and supplying the North Vietnamese.
Brzezinski, of course, had little concern for the welfare of Afghans, because any successor regime would be a jihadist one or sympathetic towards the ideas of the most conservative Muslims (eventually, the Taliban, a purely domestic variant, beat out all the other contenders).
In the link below, from an interview in a French journal in 1998, we can read Brzezinski’s thoughts and his glee at his great accomplishment. Not sure he had been asked about the interview post 9/11, but whatever he might have said, our policy, begun under Carter and continued under Reagan, played a critical role in the current nightmare: the blowback to beat all blowbacks. Of course, he didn’t think that once the jihadis had bloodied the Soviets they would turn their attention to their other enemies and would view all those who didn’t share their sectarian views as mortal enemies. Just a bunch of “stirred up Moslems,” of no account, except as our tools. Here’s the brief interview.
www.globalresearch.ca/...