Charlie Wilson's Blowback—Afghanistan and the Creation of al-Qaeda

Empire of Liberty: America's Foreign Entanglements from the Founders to the Forever Wars - Ep. 12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyDpTQSjpcE

This episode traces the direct line from American covert action in Afghanistan to the September 11 attacks—the paradigm case of blowback. We examine the largest CIA operation since Vietnam: how Charlie Wilson and Gust Avrakotos built a billion-dollar program to arm the mujahideen, how Pakistan directed aid to extremists, how the Arab Afghans including Osama bin Laden built networks that would become al-Qaeda, how American abandonment created the vacuum that the Taliban filled, and how the sanctuary they provided enabled the attacks that transformed American society.