
CIA Photo Taken Just Before Its Operatives First Entered Afghanistan After 9/11 - vinnyglennon
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29959/cia-releases-photo-taken-just-before-its-operatives-first-entered-afghanistan-after-9-11
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numair
This is the weirdest and most disturbing flex by the USG in a long time. For
reference on where some of this money ended up:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/world/asia/afghanistan-
mi...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/world/asia/afghanistan-military-
abuse.html)

(Yes, I know this report is from a period long after 9/11, but it's not like
these "cultural norms" and "accommodations" are unique to the 2010 era.)

I guess we're not even trying to act as though we're ashamed anymore.

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briandear
Ashamed of what? The Taliban was pure evil. If the photo was of American
operatives in 1942 headed to occupied France to bring money to the French
resistance, would this be any different?

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droithomme
Afghanistan was run by corrupt evil warlords who oversaw massive opium
production empires. The Taliban eliminated the warlords and got rid of opium
production, improving the country. The US plan to overthrow the Taliban and
restore opium production predated 9/11\. That's why it was ready to go after
9/11\. First thing we did was restore the warload power, calling them now the
legitimate government and paying them off, and making sure opium production
resumed, under US protection. If 9/11 never happened the US would still have
gone into Afghanistan on schedule. 9/11 had nothing to do with Afghanistan.

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jki275
You mean other than Bin Laden being there, of course.

The Taliban provided shelter to a guy who committed a terrorist attack on the
US, and refused to give him up. We would never have gone in otherwise.

No one in the US government wanted opium production in Afghanistan, we spent a
great deal of time eradicating it when we were there.

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peisistratos
> You mean other than Bin Laden being there, of course. The Taliban provided
> shelter to a guy who committed a terrorist attack on the US, and refused to
> give him up. We would never have gone in otherwise.

The US was involved in large scale operations in the 1970s and 1980s to
destabilize the secular Afghan government. The US bankrolled and armed bin
Laden, and much of what would become the Taliban, in their jihad against
Afghanistan's then secular government.

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vastoi
Where can I find more information about the history of the region? I know so
little.

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jki275
See the link I posted above. Lots of history there. Charlie Wilson's war also
has a lot about the US influence operations against the Soviet Union.

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Knufen
It's a wonder how CIA and other 3 lettered agencies are allowed to act. Almost
as sovereign states acting completly independent from the public and its
scrutiny.

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rudiv
Americans wonder why other countries don't always have a positive opinion of
the USG. Many countries meddle with the internal affairs of others. Very few
have the gumption to declare to the world that it is for the meddle-ees
benefit. There's only one that has consistently taken that stance for over 75
years.

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atemerev
Not exactly — we Russians are also doing our Russian meddling for the good of
all people involved (especially back in Soviet times). Why anybody would do
that for evil? /s

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nodesocket
There is an episode of Jack Ryan the show by Amazon Video where they pay a
turk sex trafficker to guide them to a vital asset. They essentially have cash
stuffed into a backpack and just hand it over to the trafficker after they
locate the assets.

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jokoon
aside from this photo, a lot of similar pictures appear on
reddit.com/r/militaryporn , not to mention similar subreddits like
/r/combatfootage

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balt_s
A lot of loyalty for some hired guns...

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faissaloo
Or perhaps they're wondering how the CIA managed to obtain all that cash

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new_guy
Khaki pants? I'd have thought they would have worn something more 'badass'.

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regularfry
Can't you deconvolve photos with a gaussian blur?

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soulofmischief
That's a lot of blur. There isn't much detail to extrapolate.

