I saw a very interesting and detailed documentary (it went for 2 hours) last night on NatGeo which detailed the troubles in Afganistan from the Russion invasion period through to about 5 years ago - documenting the creation of the Taliban, the actions of OBL, their interaction and also the CIA/Saudi/Pakstani funding during that period.
The first misconception that this documentary reveals is that the CIA only provided funding, indirectly through Paksitan, to help the Afganis fight the Russians. By doing so, they helped Afganistan defeat the Russians. After the Russians had gone, the funding ceased. So there's no contradiction there - all they were doing was essentially payback for Vietnam where Russia funded the VC and ultimately their funding in Afganistan led to the liberation of millions when the Cold War ended. Not a bad investment really.
The second misconception is that Osama Bin Liner was funded as part of the CIA/Pakistani funding. Not true either. His funding came from the Saudis during the Russion invasion period. He subsequently left Afganistan when the Russions were defeated and did not return until the Taliban were formed and in power in the late 90s. During this whole period, the Taliban continued to be supported and funded by Pakistan...
When OBL returned to Afganistan at the invitation of the Taliban, he then made Al Qaeda stronger at his own expense and used his terrorist training camps to also train Taliban. The reality of the situation was that the Taliban provided OBL with "protection" and that the leader of the Taliban and OBL were friends, but not directly linked. Indeed it appears that the Taliban leadership underestimated or misunderstood what OBL was up to and when the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance was assassinated by an Al Qaeda operative only two days before 9/11, presumably to destabilise the main opposition to the Taliban in Afganistan and hence remove a possible strong ally for the USA, no-one put 2 and 2 together and worked out what OBL was up to.
Once 9/11 had happened, the Taliban (like the USA) apparently got the shock of their lives when the USA focussed on them as the "protectors" of OBL. Crutially, when George W asked the Taliban to give up OBL "or else". At this point, OBL is reported to have lied to the Taliban leader, denying Al Qaeda's involvement with 9/11 (which of course they subsequently admitted) and the Taliban leader took OBL at his word and did not give him to the USA. As a result, the USA went to war with the Taliban and within a year or so, the Taliban was out of power in Afganistan, having decided to "blend into the population" under the extreme force of the USA forces.
Of course, at this stage the new democratic government was installed in Afganistan but they, as had been the practice post Russian invasion, reutrned to corruption and the evolution of local drug warlords. Certainly, the USA was stupid in allowing this government to behave the way it did and they also had a big awakening. So by 2005 the Taliban were once again seen as the good guys by ordinary Afganis, having forgotten the human rights abuses that the Taliban had been famous for in their previous time in power. So the Taliban reemerged as a fighting force, and since then have been trying to regain power ever since.
The most important point about this whole deal is that the Taliban are fighting for a medieval form of Islamic law, which most modern followers of Islam reject. The worst aspect of the extreme form of Shairia law is that Women are forbidden from being educated or having any personal freedom. This is why the Taliban attack teachers and destroy schools which attempt to teach girls.
The question still remains whether Pakistan is still supporting the Taliban or not... but the recent fact that OBL was apparently in a "protected" locaton in Pakistan is a stong indicator that some continued support is possible.
And THAT is really scary.
