Reagan's Legacy in Afghanistan Debated

"While Afghanistan did become a magnet for "Arab bad boys," Islamic extremists were already active before they arrived, Beardon said. Also, Reagan's administration did not give weapons to Arab "volunteers" but focused on Afghan factions, experts said.
Nevertheless, Clarke said, when Washington engaged Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in the anti-Soviet fight, "America sought (or acquiesced in) the importation into Afghanistan and Pakistan of an army of 'Arabs' without considering who they were or what would happen to them after the Soviets left."
Nobody predicted these tacit U.S. allies would later turn so threatening toward America. "I think it would have been very difficult to forsee," said Katzman.
Critics complain the United States should have given its funding to moderate Afghan tribal groups and accuse Washington of being beholden to Pakistan's intelligence service, which channeled U.S. aid to the most extreme Afghan factions.
More broadly, experts fault Reagan's successor, father of the current president, and President Bill Clinton, for "walking away" from Afghanistan and Pakistan after the Soviet departure, allowing extremists to find havens there."