On the positive side one of the University of North Carolina Universities (renowned for its leftist leanings) celebrated the Kite Runner and ran many events to get students to read the book, see the movie, and generally maybe even understand the content. I guess the professors didn’t understand that the content showed America in a good light.

I found your article very informative and enlightening regarding the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. I also agree with your analysis that leaving Iraq suddenly is comparable with the defeat and withdrawal of the Soviets in Afghanistan thereby creating a vacuum of power which resulted in the ultimate ascendancy of the Taliban.

I also agree with you that it was the policy’s of the Carter Administration (or lack thereof) which led to Soviet expansion in several places throughout the world, and also the rise of Radical Islam in such places as Iran and Afghanistan. And it was Ronald Reagan that saw the threat of Soviet expansionism for what it was, called it what it was (Evil Empire) and began to fight back not by refusing to play in their silly Olympic games, but by supporting the Freedom Fighters around the world in places like Nicaragua and Afghanistan.

Yes , I did see the movie, Charlie Wilson’s War, but have to take issue with the political tone of the movie. I found the movie to be interesting in that it depicted Charlie Wilson, playboy congressman, helping secure the proper funding for the mujahideen freedom fighters in Afghanistan. However, the movie I saw tried to lead the viewer into believing that Charlie Wilson, not Ronald Reagan, ended the cold war. There is even dialogue in the film that belittles Reagan as distant and uniformed about what was going on in Afghanistan, not to mention portraying Rudolph Giuliani as the party pooping federal prosecutor trying to throw Charlie Wilson in jail for hanging out with cocaine dealers while trying to save Afghanistan. No mention of Jimmy Carter at all.

I won’t even get into the sub-plot of Christians portrayed as hypocritical buffoons (Ned Beatty character) easily manipulated by the obviously intellectually superior Charlie Wilson. The ending credits told the whole story for me. Written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Mike Nichols.

Interestingly enough, there is also another movie out about Afghanistan that received little or no acclimation either from the Motion Picture Academy or the Main Stream Media but I found to be more closely resembling the truth about the Afghan people, their culture, the Soviet invasion, and finally the rise of the Taliban. The film, Kite Runner, is basically about the friendship of two boys in pre-soviet Afghanistan. The film follows their lives from the mid 1970′s to 2001 with the backdrop of the communist takeover and it’s ensuing brutality through dark days of Taliban rule, followed by hope and freedom in America. One line spoken by Baba, the father of the lead character in the film, is very telling about the battle for the heart of Afghanistan. “The mullahs want to rule our souls and the communists say we have none.”

I don’t want to believe that Kite Runner, which shows America as a place of hope and freedom for the oppressed people of Afghanistan and the Soviets and Taliban for the ruthless murderers that they were, is the reason this movie was ignored by the Motion Picture Academy. And Charlie Wilson’s War, a film that highlights the typical stereotypes of conservatives by the left (Reagan was aloof and does not get credit for ending the cold war, Christians are hypocritical buffoons) was given much acclaim. But after seeing both films, both acted and produced well, I can come to no other conclusion than bias in favor of Charlie Wilsons War and against Kite Runner.

My recommendation; if you want to see a good movie about Afghanistan and how it got to where it is today, go see the Kite Runner.