Clinton: Arming Afghan Mujahideen was Worth It

In 2009, Hillary Clinton - then US Secretary of State - said that arming the Mujahideen to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan “wasn’t a bad investment.” That’s because, she claims, it helped bring on the collapse of the USSR.

Of course, this also led to the rise of the Taliban, which the US then went on to fight for 20 years in a campaign that ended in defeat and a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Soviet collapse also threw millions into poverty and saw the rise of an oligarch class that captured key industries and robbed the country’s wealth.

Washington has also destabilised countries in Africa with its self-interested meddling.

For example, in Somalia, terror group al-Shabaab emerged from the power vacuum left by the removal of the Islamic Courts Union, which controlled Mogadishu until it was ousted by US-backed Ethiopian forces.