Ironically the Taliban owes its origins largely to Mujahideen fighters that were once armed by USA

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38323

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Jun 26 (IPS) - While United States officials accuse Iran of arming a resurgent Taliban, officials here say the weapons are actually part of vast caches left behind by the Soviet army that fought a nine-year war in Afghanistan before withdrawing in 1988.

Ustad Basir Arifi, secretary for the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in northern Afghanistan, told IPS that weapons abandoned by the Soviet Union there are now being moved by professional smugglers to the southern provinces where the Taliban Islamist movement has its stronghold.

"Huge caches of weapons remained with the people from the Soviet Union period. These are now being smuggled to the south of Afghanistan. These weapons are bought in the north of Afghanistan and smuggled to the south to be used against government and foreign forces," Arifi said. snip

Ironically, the Taliban owes its origins largely to Mujahideen (freedom) fighters that were once armed and backed by the U.S. against communist rule in Afghanistan and the Soviet occupation. (END/2007)