Charlie Wilson's friend turns into elusive enemy against U.S.We're talking about Pashtuns in Afghanistan. Next year we could be friends again, but unless we were close relatives I wouldn't let him hold my wallet.
When Jalaluddin Haqqani fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. showered him with praise, guns and money. The congressman celebrated in "Charlie Wilson's War," the movie and book about that conflict, called him "goodness personified."
I can't recall anybody ever referring to him that way within my hearing. He wasn't as greasy as Hekmatyar, but he was no Masood, either.
Now the U.S. is trying to kill Mr. Haqqani, who commands a Taliban guerrilla force fighting Americans in five Afghan provinces from his base in western Pakistan.