Interesting article.

Could you please refer us to Tolstoy's accounts that you mention.

Can't help seeing that the common thread to these conflicts with Islamist terrorists, with Russia in Checynya, and America in Afghanistan, is that the Islamists want their own state free of interference or invasion by the imperial powers, and that both Russia and America for their part are projecting their military might outside their borders and into those areas.

Very interesting, I never considered the concept that terrorist attacks are used to appeal to a wider Islamist movement for resources- it's actually quite a worrying concept.

For distant Western countries like ourselves, the US and in Europe separating ourselves from them and not interfering is easy enough;
But for Russia (and Turkey)- who have annexed some Islamist territories and thus have open borders with them, thus unable to block them off, and more specifically the implications of surrendering land to them could have considerable consequences.

However the de-secularisation of Chechen rebels is an alarming prospect that reflects the dangerous nature of what messing with another country can do.

On the note that the US's neglectful rebuilding allowed the Taliban to gain power I seriously doubt- considering it was the Taliban they armed and trained, that was going to happen anyway.