The current War on Terrorism and all of the deaths it has brought with it are largely the result of the actions of one man, Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden, the rich Saudi terrorist, has a long history of fighting for his radical vision of Islamic Jihad, beginning with the Soviet-Afghan War. Since America fought on the same side as bin Laden during the ten year war, it has been suggested that bin Laden is, in a sense, America's creation. Is that true?
It is true that the American CIA and bin Laden both supported the mujahidin in their struggle against the Soviet Union between 1979 and 1989 and that some of aid that the US gave to Afghan fighters in the 80s is now being used against its soldiers there today. It also true that they both the CIA and bin Laden sought the same goal, the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. What is not true is the notion that they fought together to accomplish that goal. They may have been fighting for the same cause, by they never cooperated with each other. They had no communication with each other and the US never aided bin Laden with money, weapons, or training.
Given the threat of further Soviet expansion, the United States and several other countries did funnel money to the mujahidin through Pakistan. The US did not send money to the mujahidin directly, but only through a covert Pakistan program. Thus, they had little say over who the money went to, although most of the sources agree that it only went to native Afghans. Bin Laden and other Arab Muslims supporting the mujahidin in Afghanistan had their own sources of funding and apparently never traveled in the same circles as any CIA operatives.
It seems that the CIA made a distinction between local Afghans and their Arab brethren and determined to only work with Afghans. The Arabs were seen as much more radical and more interested in jihad than in simply driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Thus, the Arabs were seen as troublemakers, even among the mujahidin they were supposed to be helping. Certain Afghan fighters told CIA operatives that the mujahidin considered the Arabs a nuisance, were offended by their condescending piety, and would shoot them if they caused too much trouble. By all accounts, the Arabs played only a very limited role in the Soviet-Afghan war although the press tended to greatly magnify the relationship they had with the mujahidin and the CIA. In fact, no direct relationship exists and there is no proof that material or funds from the CIA ever went to the Arab fighters, even by accident.
