Editing Operation Cyclone (section)

==Scandals and Controversies==
Operation Cyclone, while successful in its immediate objectives, is linked to several controversies:
===Support for Radical Figures like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar===
Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e-Islami received substantial CIA aid through Operation Cyclone, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. His group’s radical Islamist ideology and alleged involvement in opium trafficking (particularly in the late 1980s) embarrassed the U.S., as it highlighted the risks of arming extremists. Hekmatyar’s later opposition to U.S. forces post-2001, including surviving a CIA drone strike in 2002, underscored the blowback from supporting such figures.
===Drug Trafficking Allegations===
The CIA’s partnership with the ISI and mujahideen groups coincided with a boom in Afghanistan’s opium trade, which became a major global heroin source by the 1980s. While no definitive evidence shows the CIA directly facilitated drug trafficking, critics argue that the agency turned a blind eye to mujahideen involvement, including Hekmatyar’s, to prioritize anti-Soviet goals.
===Blowback and Al-Qaeda’s Formation===
Operation Cyclone’s funding of foreign jihadists, facilitated by Saudi Arabia and the ISI, created a network that evolved into [[al-Qaeda]]. [[Osama bin Laden]], though not a direct CIA asset, benefited indirectly from the training and resources provided to mujahideen groups. The CIA’s failure to anticipate the long-term consequences of arming Islamist fighters is a major critique, often cited as a precursor to modern terrorism.