The US spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Soviet-style arms to funnel to the Afghan resistance. The weapons were received by the Pakistani ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and then transported into Afghanistan. As many people now know thanks to the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" the Saudis were matching all US funding. But, one thing not mentioned in the laugh-riot of a movie is that Saudi Intelligence did a little fundraising on the side involving some ultra-fundamentalist Saudi religious charities. This is where things get complicated.
The left, especially University Professors at an unnamed State University located in Northern Arizona and certain segments of the media love to state that the CIA recruited and funded Bin Laden. IE...the US radicalized Bin laden and taught him how to be a terrorist. This is completely false.
Lets take a look at Osama Bin Laden's past shall we? Osama Bin Laden is a member of the Bin Laden family (duh!). They a welathy and prestigious family in Saudi Arabia with numerous links to the Saudi royal family. The Bin Laden family are contractors. They had been hired on numerous occasions by the Saudi government to build public facilities, roads, etc. Quite simply, they are very successful construction contractors with alot of connections with the royal family. Osama Bin Laden, as a young man attended King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda. He graduated with a degree in economics and public administration which makes sense considering his families line of work.
So, most people wonder how a man who had everything became so radicalized? Well, one must look at his time spent at the prestigious (no women allowed) King Abdul Aziz University. Apart from being a Saudi university, two of Osama Bin Laden's professors stand out as being a bit radical one may say. The first one is Mohammed Qutb. He's not that famous, but his brother sure as hell is. Mohammed's brother, Sayyid Qutb was one of the founding members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which to this day remains one of the most mainstream radical Islamic organizations in the world. Hamas, is considered the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sayyid Qutb was executed by the Egyptian government for plotting to assassinate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for daring to make peace with Israel. Needless to say, Mohammed Qutb is just as radical as his brother. He's famous for writing the book, Islam: The Misunderstood Religion in which he kindly describes how fundamentalist Islam is superior to the savage and perverted west.
The second professor was none other than Abdullah Azam, who later became one of the spiritual founders of Hamas. I would say its pretty clear that Osama Bin Laden got a healthy serving of fundamentalist dogma when he was attending King Abdul Aziz University. This is contradictory to that I've been told by left-wing media outlets and university professors. I've been consistently told that the US recruited and armed Osama Bin Laden, and I think that that is the prevailing belief amongst most Americans today. There are mixed reports as to when Osama Bin Laden first went to Afghanistan. However, it is known that he met Afghan rebel leaders at the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia and was inspired by them.
But, lets move on. Back in Afghanistan the battle is raging and the Soviets are starting to lose ground to the Afghan resistance. It is important to note that the Afghan resistance was far from unified. There were moderates and fundamentalist groups both fighting the Soviets. The majority of the funding went to the extremists, because well, they fight better, or so the CIA said. There were a few reasons as to how the extremists got a greater amount of support. One was what I just stated, and the other was that the Saudi money that was being pumped into financing the Afghan resistance wasn't necessary;y under the control of the CIA. The Saudi GID, or General Intelligence Division saw this as not just an opportunity to give Russia bloody nose, but to push their political beliefs. Saudi Arabia, with the encouragement of then Pakistani President Zia, constructed hundreds of Saudi madrassas (religious schools) along the border. The madrassas were used to spread fundamentalist Islam in the region because as we already know the fundamentalists fight better.
In order to train the Afghan resistance, numerous training camps were set up along the border with Afghanistan. As we consistently here in the news these days, the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan are fairly primitive. Getting weapons and fighters to these camps was proving to be a problem. There needed to be someway to better get supplies to the camps, while keeping the existence of the camps a secret. This was surely a problem. If only there was a group that was experienced in constructing roads that could be trusted. Perhaps someone whom the Saudi Royal family knew and trusted. AHA! The Bin laden family. They were trusted and experienced. The perfect choice! Enter: Osama Bin laden.
Osama Bin Laden, being a bit radical, wanted to be a successful business man and do his part for the global jihad. So, he left to Pakistan to build a system of roads that would connect the numerous training camps along the border of Afghanistan. Who hired and sent him there? Saudi Intelligence. Was it to go jihading and get uber amounts of money from the CIA? No. It was to build roads. He had always been interested in Jihading since he graduated, but his official capacity in Pakistan was to build roads, or so Saudi Intelligence maintains.
This is where we get back to the issue of unilateral Saudi actions in Pakistan that I mentioned beforehand. Saudi intelligence funneled funding and weapons to Afghan commanders that it favored, outside of the control of the Pakistani ISI or the CIA. The ISI and the CIA both knew about it, but did little to really stop it. What was unknown however, was how strong Osama Bin Laden's connections with Saudi Intelligence really were. The Saudi GID holds that they had occasional meetings with Osama Bin Laden, but that he was not being used to funnel money and arms to resistance groups that were favored by Saudi Arabia. Nor do they claim that he was there to lead them into battle against the Soviets. All of this is a bit murky and has to be taken with a grain of salt considering the Saudi government is unlikely to admit that Osama Bin Laden was their agent and that they actively funded and encouraged him to battle the Soviets.
What is known is that Osama Bin Laden actively engaged in battle against the Soviets and made a reputation for himself amongst the Afghan resistance as a brave and capable commander. Upon the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden created his own terrorist organization. And the rest is history...
What is clear is that the CIA did not fund Osama Bin Laden. The CIA did not arm Osama Bin Laden. And most importantly, the CIA did not actively recruit Osama Bin laden to go to Afghanistan and lead Saudi-backed Afghan rebels into battle against the Soviets. It is evident that he had an interest in Jihad ever since he graduated from from his university. He appears to have worked under the auspices of Saudi Intelligence with the understanding that he was in Pakistan to build roads. Whether or not there was more to his job remains a question, but it is one that only the Saudi's can answer. Please note that I said the Saudis, and not the CIA. There has been no evidence whatsoever that links the CIA with Osama Bin Laden. Merely stating that the CIA funded the Afghans and that because Osama Bin laden took part in the war, does not mean in any way that he was funded by or recruited by them.
Want to know where I got my information? The majority of it is from "Ghost Wars, The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden. from the Soviet Invasion to September 10th, 2001." by Steve Coll. Specifically, chapters 4, 5, and 6.
