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125ft Buddha statue, of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. It stood from approximately 570 until 2001.
(media.piefed.world)
It was one of two large Buddha statues in the Bamiyan valley, but they were destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban.
The Taliban hurt some other people in 2001 too. Probably never heard of it though.
But then the US fixed it, right? They brought freedom and democracy to Afghanistan and introduced markets, industrialization, and a Western standard of living?
Cause it would be really embarrassing if we went into the country and just bombed it to shit, then maintained our occupation by propping up opium cartels and pedophile warlords.
It would be even more embarrassing if the US funded and trained the groups that became the Taliban and AQ.
This is a common misconception. The Pakistani-funded Taliban overthrew the post-Soviet Mujahedeen government after being founded in the mid-90s, largely recruiting from Pashtun-majority religious schools in Pakistan.
Operation Cyclone trafficked weapons and funds to extremists via Pakistan, and many did not actually reach the target Afghanistan extremist groups, but were instead sold at local markets in Pakistan.
The US armed and trained "freedom fighters" in the entire region.
"Much of the aid was sold instead of reaching the intended recipients" is a far cry from "They funded and trained the groups that became the Taliban and AQ", and, as noted in the source, the most notable extremist recipient of the aid, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, was not part of or aligned with the Taliban or AQ.
Lmao.
He was literally driven out of Afghanistan by Taliban fighters during the civil war in the 90s.
Nah I was too distracted by the Saudis who flew planes into the World Trade Center in NYC
I do happen to know a bit about taliban. they originate from our neighbouring country, and, they did "hurt" a lot.
Sarcasm is hard to read on the internet. I was talking about 9/11.
Wasn't that al Qaeda?
Yes. The two were allied closely enough, however, that the anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud got wind of the plans from spies placed in the Taliban (he relayed a warning to the US, which was ignored - Massoud would be assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before 9/11), and the Taliban would subsequently offer asylum to Osama Bin Laden in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
Depends on who you ask and when you ask it.