Firstly , there was no Taliban fighting the Russians , it was the Mujahadeen, of which the Talibans arch enemy, the northern alliance was a part.
After the Mujahedeen wore the the Russians down and it became their Vietnam, they pulled out.
The Taliban were primalrly religious fanatics originating on Pakistan who then came to touch up the Northern Alliance. The Russkies were long gone by 1989. The Taliban appeared about 5 years later.
The US didnt need to "remove " the Taliban , Unocal already had a "handshake deal with both them and the northern Alliance to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.
"In January 1998, the Taliban signed an agreement that would allow a proposed 890-mile, $2-billion, 1.9-billion-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas pipeline project led by Unocal to proceed." Other reports put the date of the deal even earlier. But Unocal now denies that a firm agreement was ever reached.
It was the Unacol who pulled out after the US bombed Sudan and Afghanistan in response to the Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Investors bailed out of the pipeline project in droves; several months later Unocal quit CentGas, saying it was unwilling to collaborate with the oppressive regime, at least until it was recognized as a legitimate government by the West.
So in effect, it was the US government who trashed the pipeline deal, not initiated it...
Bit of a different scenario to yours ......nes pas?
