In 1973, the king of Afghanistanwas deposed and the new rulerrelied on the support of communists.

But when the ruler purged thecommunists from power, acommunist takeover of thenation occurred in 1978. Ofcourse, not everyone was happy.

To help the communist regime,the Soviets invaded in 1979 andoccupied the land until 1989.

The Mujahidin quickly formed.It was a coalition of groupsopposed to the Soviet occupation.

One group within this rebelcoalition was the Taliban,a fundamentalist Islamicgroup.

By the time the Soviets wereforced to leave Afghanistan,the Taliban had gained control of 90% of the nation.

The Taliban established afundamentalist, Islamicsociety. Women had to be covered and segregatedfrom men.

But after the September 11th

attacks in the United States,the Taliban was overthrownby U.S. forces.

The Taliban had aided

and abetted

Osama bin Laden, the“mastermin

d”behind the

attacks.

However, fighting still persistsin Afghanistan. The Taliban

are determined to regain their power.

Iraq, too, has experienced greatconflict.

From 1979 until 2003, adictator ruled Iraq.

But in 1990, Sadaam Hussein,the Iraqi dictator, invadedneighboring Kuwait.

The United States and othernations defeated Iraq in thePersian Gulf War.

But Sadaam Hussein continued

to defy the international community. He refused to

stopa nuclear weapons

program.

Once again, Iraq’s dictator wasin trouble. After 9/11, the U.S. attacked Iraq again.

By 2003, Sadaam was captured,brought to trial, and executed.

But like Afghanistan, peacehas not come to Iraq. Thereis still conflict between thedifferent groups of the nation.