What Rambo was helping in this movie was the Mujahideen, a loose coalition of conservative and reactionary forces headed primarily by tribal and religious leaders.
When the Soviet-backed government was overthrown, civil war broke out between former Mujahideen. The Taliban's founders included some of these ex-Mujahideen like Mullah Omar, but to act as if "the Mujahideen" transformed into "the Taliban" is just bad history.
And while Stallone leans Republican, back in the 80s both parties were in favor of assisting the Mujahideen against the Soviet Army. In this sense the second film was actually more "conservative" in its messaging, since the notion that Vietnam was continuing to harbor American POWs, and that American politicians and bureaucrats sabotaged the US war effort in Vietnam, were far more widespread sentiments among Republicans than Democrats.
reply
share