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as for the taliban: the americans trained and armed the taliban when they were convenient. realpolitick oblige i guess.
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Actually we didn't. The Taliban came 3 years after the Russians left. During the 10 year war we did not train combatants, we simply played quartermaster by giving guns and cash. The Pakistanis took care of the training, as they insisted on it as part of the deal.
The Taliban came in as an ultra-religious sect which swept through the civil war which ensued as the Russians left. Most of them were in religious schools during the Mujahadeen-Russian war.
I am making distinctions between the Taliban and the Talibani-Allies, however. As warlords saw the ruthlessness and increasing power of the Taliban (derives from Band of Talim or Band of the Religiously Taught/Teachers), some allied with them. Many of those warlords were supplied by us during the Russian war.
But yes, the whole notion of a Drug War is self-defeating and pointless.