10/15/1988

In October 1988, U.S. Special Envoy to the Afghan resistance Edmund McWilliams wrote a classified cable in reference to U.S. support for Pakistani and Saudi intelligence, titled, ” ‘ISI [Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence], [Afghan Islamist guerrilla leader] Gulbuddin [Hekmatyar] and Afghan Self-Determination.’ ‘THERE IS A GROWING FRUSTRATION, BORDERING ON HOSTILITY, AMONG AFGHANS ACROSS THE IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM AND FROM A BROAD RANGE OF BACKGROUNDS, TOWARD THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN AND TOWARD THE U.S. …THE EXTENT OF THIS SENTIMENT APPEARS UNPRECEDENTED AND INTENSIFYING. …MOST OF THESE OBSERVERS CLAIM THAT THIS EFFORT [BY HEKMATYAR AND ISI] HAS THE SUPPORT OF THE RADICAL PAKISTANI POLITICAL PARTY JAMAAT ISLAMI AND OF RADICAL ARABS. …WHILE THESE CHARGES MAY BE EXAGGERATED, THE PERCEPTION THEY GIVE RISE TO IS DEEP AND BROAD–AND OMINOUS…” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, Page 183