Russia Says U.S. Risks Al-Qaeda Boomerang With Syria Rebels
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Russia said the U.S., in deciding to arm Syrian rebels, is in danger of repeating the mistake it made in Afghanistan in the 1980s when it backed religious extremists who later formed the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The U.S. move is a “disaster” for efforts to end Syria’s two-year civil war, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview in St. Petersburg. “Al-Qaeda was basically born from the Mujahedeen movement financed by the United States when the Soviets were in Afghanistan. Then al-Qaeda boomeranged.”