The US trained the mujahideen from which al-Qaeda later emerged

Evidence

In a 1985 speech, Reagan described the mujahideen as “freedom fighters.” With the help of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, the Reagan administration armed and trained the mujahideen from Afghanistan and elsewhere. He justified such support through the 1980s by stating that the mujahideen are “our brothers,” and “we owe them our help.” One such brother was the Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden, whose family had benefited from Saudi state contracts and US funding. Bin Laden became interested in Afghanistan after the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979. He had contacts with Afghan mujahideen leaders and moved to the country in 1982. Working with his former teacher Abdullah Azzam, he brought in and trained thousands of volunteers. By the mid-1980s he had established several camps of his own and in 1988 he created a database of the volunteers who passed through his camp; the file was named al-Qaeda. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 396

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the vault claim that contemporary terrorism threats were cultivated by US imperial policy — parallels Rana’s arguments about blowback. — connects to: US support for the mujahideen inadvertently seeded the creation of al-Qaeda — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 257; CIA-trained Afghan mujahideen produced the terrorist attacks against America — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 269; US and Pakistani intelligence funded and trained bin Laden’s mujahideen network (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• US support for the mujahideen inadvertently seeded the creation of al-Qaeda #corroborates (0.97) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 257
• U.S.-funded mujahedeen proxy wars helped fuel Al Qaeda’s rise #corroborates (0.95)
• US and Pakistani intelligence funded and trained bin Laden’s mujahideen network #corroborates (0.92)
• US aid created the mujahideen it later designated terrorists. #corroborates (0.88) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 648
• CIA-trained Afghan mujahideen produced the terrorist attacks against America #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 269
• U.S. Cold War funding created the mujahedeen who became Al Qaeda #corroborates (0.85)
• The same mujahideen shifted from US freedom fighters to designated terrorists #corroborates (0.82)
• CIA-trained Afghan militants later turned their violent skills against the United States #corroborates (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 411
• CIA-trained Afghan militants became the later anti-US threat #corroborates (0.80)
• The US supplied billions to mujahideen who later became its top enemies #corroborates (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 687
• The US armed Al-Qaeda as freedom fighters before designating it a terrorist group #expands (0.78) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 648
• US-trained Afghan militants produced blowback against America as imperial power #expands (0.75)
• US-supported jihad framing recruited global mujahideen for Pakistan’s regional ambitions #qualifies (0.72)
• US-backed mujahidin enabled the Taliban power that later justified wars #expands (0.72) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 543