I see this mentioned so often that I think we need a handy post to link to.

In The Living Daylights, Bond gives mild assistance to a group of armed Muslim insurgents who are fighting the Soviet invaders. For some reason, a lot of people see "armed Muslims in Afghanistan" and think "Taliban".

So, to set the record straight: the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with essentially no justification, and the people of Afghanistan quite rightly fought back against the invasion. The insurgent groups who fought the communist invasion were known, collectively, as "mujahideen".

Like most revolutions (England in the 17th Century, France in the 18th Century, America in the 18th Century, Russia in the 19th Century), the native Afghans who fought the Soviet invasion were primarily educated, middle-class scholars. In a very poor country, the people handling CIA-supplied rifles and rocket launchers were, for the most part, people who had gone to school and had an interest in the future of Afghanistan as an independent state, and Islam as a valid religion and way of life (bear in mind, Soviet policy was to stamp out all religion).

And, with help from the CIA (and in fictionland, James Bond and John Rambo), the insurgents - the Mujahideen - won their war. They kicked the Soviets out of Afghanistan, and a few years later the Soviet Union ceased to exist. But it wasn't plain sailing for the people of Afghanistan, because a faction of hardcore Islamist fundamentalists - the Taliban - seized power.

But aren't the Taliban the same people James Bond helped?

No.

Were there people who fought the Soviets and later joined the Taliban? Undoubtedly.

Does this make every Afghanistani with a gun a member of the Taliban? You tell me. The majority of Mujahideen either fled the country or were executed by the super-fundamentalist Taliban.

Now, ever since the days of British empire, Afghanistan's had a very messy history. If it's not the Brits, it's the Soviets. If it's not the Soviets, it's the Americans. If it's not the Americans, it's the Taliban. Say what you will about how the CIA, Ronald Reagan, James Bond and John Rambo backing the anti-Soviet insurgency helped to destabilise the country, you're entitled to that opinion. But the logic that "James Bond helped some Afghan insurgents, and a decade later some Afghan insurgents formed the Taliban, therefore James Bond helped the Taliban" makes about as much sense as "Casimir Pulaski fought for American insurgents, but later on some American insurgents fought for the Confederacy, therefore Casimir Pulaski fought for the Confederacy."