Mujahedeen Quotes
Wilson had been successful in getting money and arms to the Muslim Mujahedeen in Afghanistan to fight the Russians who had invaded and occupied the country. But the Russian armed helicopters gave the Russians control of most of the company. Wilson wanted to send Stingers to the Mujahedeen, but the agencies were worried that the missiles might fall into the hands of anti-American radical Muslims. It turned out that the agencies were correct and after the defeat of Russia, many of the Mujahedeen then, buoyed by their great victory over a Superpower, came after the United States and Western nations who were “occupying Islamic land”. The terrorist tactics, that the United States ignored when the Russians were the victims, became the major military and foreign policy problem of America and the West.
Some people believe that the United States pressured Pakistan to enable America to support the Mujahideen in their effort to fight the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Actually the President (and virtual dictator) of Pakistan wanted aid from America and was offering bases. America did not want bases but did want a platform for arming and training the Mujahideen, Pakistan allowed us to use Pakistan as a platform. We increased our foreign aid to Pakistan by 500 percent. There was no arm twisting.
Most American felt that way at the time of the Russian occupation and the Mujahedeen resistance.
The Caliph in the past was the religious and secular leader of all Muslims. Many of the fundamentalist terrorists have as their objective, the reestablishment of the Caliphate which will unite all Islamic countries under one leader who is both the secular and religious supreme authority—a religious and a civil dictatorship. Most Muslims, like most people of all religions, are not terrorists and believe that much of terrorist activity violates many basic tenets of Islam. However, in order to function, the terrorist must have the tacit support of sufficient numbers of people so that they can function without being exposed. That is an important objective for Al-Qaeda: to enlist sufficient numbers of ordinary people who although they will not commit the terrorist acts, will support the objectives of the terrorists and provide money, shelter, and other services.
