Where'd al-Qaida come from?

The Jerusalem Post today had an interesting article on Pakistan's potential future recognition of the Jewish state. But what really caught my attention was the information about the origins of al-Quaida. It is very easy for the West to forget that we were the ones funding "al-Quaida" (actually its idealogical roots) to fight the Soviet Empire. And then when we were done using them, we abandoned them to their poverty again. Not a very nice way to put it, but it explains a few things. Read the article to see the Pakistani President's take on it.


"[Musharraf] also touched on the anti-terror fight, saying that Pakistan was largely abandoned by the West in 1989, after playing a key role in ending the Soviet occupation of neighboring Pakistan [sic.; actually, Afghanistan].
"Everyone left us high and dry" to deal with 20,000-30,000 mujahedeen fighters holed up in Afghanistan and 4 million refugees who crossed the border into Pakistan," Musharraf said.
"The mujahedeen coalesced into al-Qaida," he added.
Then came the Sept. 11 attacks, and Pakistan found itself thrust back into the spotlight as a key supporter of the U.S. invasion in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism."
(For the complete article, go here.)