Actually we got involved in Afghanistan under Carter and his National Security Advisor Brzezinski. Reagan ramped it up. And the Taliban came after the Soviets left Afghanistan and Reagan left office.

@Scott321 Right, The Taliban emerged in 1994 as one of the prominent factions in the Afghan Civil War after Reagan, but it was all the same characters and it was always about Islamic law, just like the Conservative Christians in America are all about legislating morality. It's the same Devil.
Billy Graham wasn't tea party, but you know Billy was tea party pre tea party and integral to it's damn formation.

@Willow_Wisp We can go back even farther and blame the USSR for encouraging a coup against the centrist government back in 1978, because they wanted to acquire a new client state in SW Asia.

The Soviet intervention had the exact same problems ours had; able to largely control the cities, unable to control the countryside, unable to gain popular support and eventually facing stalemate against a determined Muslim opposition. They also tried to leave suppressing the rebellion to the Afghan army, only to find them ineffective and plagued with desertions.

Had we limited our goals to eliminating Al Qaeda, pursued that goal with appropriate forces rather than try to run a war on the cheap, sealed up Tora Bora rather than rely on a corrupt Pakistani military to do the job, and then finished the job rather than haring off to a war of choice in Iraq (which created 20 Al Qaeda recruits for every 1 that was killed).....

We would still have very likely come up against the same problem. But we would have had a stronger central government on our side, and possibly stood a chance of resolving it favorably, temporarily. At very least we might not be seen as the enemy of the whole Muslim people.