Change "fatawas" in the first sentence of paragraph 3 to either fatawa or fatāwā. This is already the plural form; a final "s" is redundant and incorrect. Even "fatwas" (used elsewhere in the article) would be better than what's currently there. 2600:1700:3EC7:4150:3CD2:E660:A0DF:A704 (talk) 03:35, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
This page was extensively edited, with the lead almost entirely rewritten, by the block-evading sockpuppet TatesTopG: see [1]. In such cases, to apply WP:BANREVERT/WP:EVADE I often restore the revision immediately preceding the sockpuppet's first edit to the page and then reinstate good edits where possible. However, in this case there were frequent large edits, especially by Shadowwarrior8 and GreenCows, which made this impracticable. Could editors of this page instead manually revert the sockpuppet's changes where necessary? Thanks, ☿ Apaugasma (talk ☉) 21:28, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
Change the line "In his 2004 book Ghost Wars, Steve Coll writes that the CIA had contemplated providing direct support to the foreign mujahideen, but that the idea never moved beyond discussions.[468]" to "In his 2004 book Ghost Wars, Steve Coll writes that while the CIA had contemplated providing additional support to the foreign mujahideen beyond contributing funding, such as planning to incorporate radical anti-Soviet Islamic groups into an "international brigade," the idea never moved beyond discussions.[468]"
The reason for this change is that the source used here does not align with the conclusion and implication in the current sentence. Given its location in the section arguing against CIA involvement, use of the word "direct" implies that there was no involvement whatsoever, which is not what Coll argues. Here is the text of the passage that is being cited:
"From Pakistan arrived reports of a new group called the Islamic Salvation Foundation that had been formed in Peshawar to recruit and support Arab volunteers for the Afghan jihad, outside the control of any of the ISI-backed rebel parties. The network was operating offices and guesthouses along the Afghan frontier. Osama bin Laden, a wealthy young Saudi, was spreading large sums of money around Peshawar to help the new center expand. He was tapping into ISI’s guerrilla training camps on behalf of newly arrived Arab jihadists. The early reports of his activity that were passed along to the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center in this period suggested that bin Laden “certainly was not engaged in any fighting. He was not a warrior,” recalled Stanley Bedington, a senior analyst at the center from its beginning. Still, “When a man starts throwing around money like that, he comes to your notice."
When they first learned of efforts by bin Laden and allied Islamic proselytizers to increase the number of Arab volunteers fighting the Soviets, some of the most ardent cold warriors at Langley thought this program should be formally endorsed and expanded. The more committed anti-Soviet fighters, the better, they argued. As more and more Arabs arrived in Pakistan during 1985 and 1986, the CIA “examined ways to increase their participation, perhaps in the form of some sort of ‘international brigade,’ but nothing came of it,” Robert Gates recalled." Bisettes (talk) 04:03, 23 April 2023 (UTC)