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We all thought we were doing the right thing in supporting the Hezbi, Jamiat, Massoud and others....
We didn't support Masoud much. That's part of the problem; we let pretty much all the aid get funneled through the ISI, and they gave it to the folks they wanted to support; that is to the Pashtuns (and the militant ones), in hopes that Afghanistan would become a client state and resolve their own security problems.
You don't believe me; later Masoud was getting aid from India when we wouldn't "take sides" and help him against the Taliban.
Could the radicalization of these groups have been predicted, ...
Yes. See Coll's book.
... at that time it was a coin toss at best. That was something that occurred much later in the arena.
We gave up after the Russians left, and just let the ISI do what they wanted. Many people (including in the CIA) were quite upset about that. So were others who were trying to forge a republican Afghanistan, perhaps of a federal nature. The U.S. sat on the sidelines and let the Taliban take over and consolidate their position ... with immense help from the ISI.
Cheers,
