Operation Cyclone - Wikipedia
Sir Martin Ewans noted that the Afghan Arabs "benefited indirectly from the CIA's funding, through the
ISI and resistance organizations,"
[62] and that "it has been reckoned that as many as 35,000 'Arab-Afghans' may have received military training in Pakistan at an estimated cost of $800 million in the years up to and including 1988."
[63] Some of the CIA's greatest Afghan beneficiaries were Arabist commanders such as Haqqani and Hekmatyar who were key allies of bin Laden over many years.
[64][65] Haqqani—one of bin Laden's closest associates in the 1980s—received direct cash payments from
CIA agents, without the mediation of the ISI. This independent source of funding gave Haqqani disproportionate influence over the mujahideen.
[44] Haqqani and his network played an important role in the formation and growth of al Qaeda, with Jalalhuddin Haqqani allowing bin Laden to train mujahideen volunteers in Haqqani territory and build extensive infrastructure there.
[66]