Watch Congressman Jim McDermott on CNN Crossfire Sept. 10. 2002
Admit the US placed the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996.

Click here to download video mp4 clip of live Crossfire 9/10/2002


U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 68-482 CC 2000
GLOBAL TERRORISM: SOUTH ASIA-THE NEW LOCUS
HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JULY 12, 2000
Serial No. 106-173

From: http://www.house.gov/international_relations/fc071200.pdf
If taken down, you can download pdf file here.

"And since the Russians left...
Only the United States has given-and I again make this
charge-the United States has been part and parcel to supporting
the Taliban all along and still is
, let me add."

Mr. ROHRABACHER. This is a joke. I mean, you have to go to
closed session to tell us where the weapons are coming from?
Well, how about let's make a choice. There is Pakistan or Pakistan
or Pakistan. Where do you think the Taliban-right as we
speak-are getting their weapons. I have not read any classified
documents. Everybody in the region knows that Pakistan is involved
with a massive supply of military weapons and has been
since the very beginning of the Taliban.
Let me just state for the record here before I get into my questions
that I think there is a-and it is not just you, Mr. Ambassador,
but it is this Administration and perhaps other Administrations
as well. I do not believe that terrorism flows from a lack of
state control. A breakdown of state control, and all of a sudden you
have terrorism.
That is not what causes terrorism. What causes terrorism is a
lack of freedom and democracy, a lack of a means to solve one's
problems through a democratic process.
Afghanistan from the very beginning, when the Reagan Administration
was involved with helping the Afghans fight the Russians,
which were engaged in trying to put a totalitarian government
there; because of Pakistan's insistence, a lion's share of our support
went to a guy named Hek Makti Argulbadin, who had no democratic
tendencies whatsoever.
And since the Russians left, the United States has not been supporting
any type of somewhat free, somewhat democratic alternatives
in Afghanistan, and there are such alternatives, and those
of us who have been involved know that.
So there is no democracy or freedom in Afghanistan where people
who are good and decent and courageous have a chance to cleanse
their society of the drug dealers and the fanatics that torture and
repress especially the women of Afghanistan. The men of Afghanistan
are not fanatics like the Taliban either. They would like to
have a different regime.
Only the United States has given-and I again make this
charge-the United States has been part and parcel to supporting
the Taliban all along and still is, let me add. You do not have any
type of democracy in Afghanistan. You have a military government
in Pakistan now that is arming the Taliban to the teeth.
And in Kashmir, what have you got? You have got an Indian
Government that supposedly is democratic, steadfastly refusing to
permit those people to have an election to solve the problems there
democratically. You have got Christians; you have got Seeks
throughout India and Pakistan and Jamou where the people's
rights are being denied them. It is a breakdown of democracy on
the subcontinent, not a breakdown in state control that is causing
the violence that threatens the world right now.
Let me note that 3 years ago I tried to arrange support, aid, humanitarian
aid to a non-Taliban controlled section of Afghanistan,
the Bamiyan area. Mr. Chairman, the State Department did everything
they could to thwart these humanitarian medical supplies
from going into Bamiyan.
And we have heard today that we are very proud that we are
still giving aid to Afghanistan. Let me note that aid has always
gone to Taliban areas. So what message does that send the people
of Afghanistan? We have been supporting the Taliban because all
of our aid goes to the Taliban areas, and when people from the outside
try to put aid into areas not controlled by the Taliban, they
are thwarted by our own State Department.
Let me just note that that same area, Bamiyan, where I tried to
help those people who were opposed to the Taliban, Bamiyan now
is the headquarters of Mr. bin Laden. Surprise, surprise.
Everyone in this Committee has heard me time and again over
the years say unless we did something Afghanistan was going to
become a base for terrorism and drug dealing. Mr. Chairman, how
many times did you hear me say that?
This Administration either ignored that or are part of the problem
rather than part of the solution. Again, I am sorry Mr.
Inderfurth is not here to defend himself, but let me state for the
record at a time when the Taliban were vulnerable, the top person
in this Administration, Mr. Inderfurth, and Bill Richardson personally
went to Afghanistan and convinced the anti-Taliban forces not
to go on the offensive. Furthermore, they convinced all of the anti-
Taliban forces and their supporters, to disarm and to cease their
flow of support for the anti-Taliban forces.
At that same moment, Pakistan initiated a major resupply effort,
which eventually caused the defeat of almost all of the anti-Taliban
forces in Afghanistan.
Now, with a history like that, it is very hard, Mr. Ambassador,
for me to sit here and listen to someone say our main goal is to
drain the swamp-and the swamp is Afghanistan-because the
United States created that swamp in Afghanistan, and the United
States policies have undercut those efforts to create a freer and
more open society in Afghanistan which was consistent with the
beliefs of the Afghan people.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Will the gentleman yield for one statement?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. I certainly will.
Mr. GEJDENSON. I was wondering. During the time that the Administration
supported the Taliban and created this policy, who
was President during those years?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, there were several Presidents, and I
would say that George Bush has to accept some of the blame, but
I think the current Administration-no, the Taliban did not exist
before that, Mr. Gejdenson.
Mr. Gejdenson, one of the other myths is that the Taliban were
part and parcel of the Mujahadin. The Taliban, as both of you
know, were not part of the Mujahadin. The Taliban basically sat
out the war and came on the scene afterward. Mu Omar was not
a renowned commander in the Mujahadin.