I’m not sure how “rarely talked about” we’re talking about, but it doesn’t get brought up often enough that Reagan and Thatcher were involved in Operation Cyclone, a CIA and MI5-backed financing of terrorists. specifically, they financed the deeply religious mujahedeen, and even met their leaders.

Osama used to help the mujahedeen, so in retrospect, in my view, most theocratic violence was caused by the aftereffects of Reagan’s and Thatcher’s politics backing religious fundamentalists, rather than y’know, moderate socialists. Oligarchs remain oligarchs, after all.