The War in AfghanistanAnalyze the Causes and Effects

AfghanistanWhat is this land like?

Basics • Population = 32 million• Size = Texas • Language = Afghan Persian

– 70 different languages

• Ethnicity = Mixed• Pastun 50%• Associate with Tribes• Literacy Rate = 36%• Land = Mountain and Desert• Landlocked

Afghan History• Diverse Nation• Conquered in past by:

–Persians, Romans, Ottomans, British

• Won Independence from Great Britain in 1919

• 1978 Civil War

Afghan History

• 1979 Soviet Invasion Beat USSR in 89’ w/ USA aid

• 1989 – 1996 – Civil War Taliban wins• Taliban “seekers of knowledge” govt. in

power– Harsh & repressive government– Radical Muslims– Drug Trade (Heroin) Famine

• Extreme Poverty

USSR vs. Afghanistan 1979 - 1989

Soviets in Afghanistan 1988

Thanks USA

Soviets leaving Afghanistan 1989

Taliban Takes Charge of Country

Opium – poppy plants

Poppy seed

Heroin

September 11, 2001

How does this relate to Afghanistan?

The War in AfghanistanOperation Enduring Freedom –

Afghanistan• September 11, 2001• The Attackers and their Motivation• Planning of the Attacks• The Hijackers• Osama bin Laden & Khalid Sheikh Mohammed• US-led Coalition Response• Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan• Effects of the War in Afghanistan

Questions Page

• Which attack alarmed you the most?

• Why?

Al-Qaeda• Claims

responsibility for attack on USA

• Taliban lets Al-Qaeda hide out in their county because they are allies.

Al-Qaeda Alliance with Taliban

• 1996 Osama bin Laden moves from Sudan to Afghanistan

• Leader of Al-Qaeda

9/11

• Men who Hijacked planes

According to Bin Laden, he is concerned with• American foreign policy towards, and American actions

in, the Muslim world • US support for Israel in its ongoing theft of Arab land• US support for corrupt and repressive regimes in the

Muslim world (Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states).

• Post 9/11, the US has added to an already long list of Muslim grievances by occupying Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Why did these people want to attack America?

According to Bin Laden, he has never said that the attacks were, are, or will be because of American freedoms, the rights of our citizens, or even because of our religious differences.

He has said that the reasons for the attacks of the past as well as those of the future will be because of the way the US and its allies treat the Muslim World.

Why did these people want to attack America?

• The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity towards the United States felt by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the "principal architect" of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed "not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel".[

Osama bin Laden

Where’s Osama?

• Rumor has it … Pakistan

• Why so tough to find?

How did the United States respond?

• Tells Taliban to:– deliver Al-Qaeda leaders to USA– release all US citizens in jails– protect foreigners in Afghanistan – Close terrorist facilities

• Does the Taliban accept?

• Do you feel an attack on a country that harbors terrorists is justifiable?

Operation Enduring Freedom

• Invade Afghanistan (Oct. 7, 2001)

• Mission:

–1) Capture Osama bin Laden

–2) Destroy Al-Qaeda network

–3) Remove Taliban Regime

NATO• North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• “committed to preserving peace through international cooperation and collective (joint) security.”

• Have given forces to War in Afghanistan (49 countries – now 37)

Americans in Helmand Province 2007

Afghan Man

• Friend or Foe?

Taliban• “Thanks Iran!”

Questions• Do you feel the USA and

Congress made the right decision to attack the Taliban in 2001?

• Question:• Why do you think the US,

with the most powerful military in the world, and its allies, have not been able to totally subdue the Taliban?

Are both wars another Are both wars another Vietnam?Vietnam?

• Long dragged out conflicts with no end in sight.

• Can’t tell whose an friend or foe.

• Not popular at home.

• Not popular with other governments or their people.

• Not winning the hearts and minds of the people.

• Fighting primitive people with nothing to lose

What are the problems?• Friend or Foe?• Suicide Bombers• IED- Improvised

Explosive Devices• Taliban Aid from Iran• Taliban Aid from Russia• Drug Trade Flourishes

(92% of World’s Heroin)• Famine• Never known democracy• Extreme Islamic Groups

• Mountains and Terrain

• Border crossing• Inadequate amount of

US troops• Untrained Afghani

Troops• Legitimate Government?

• Civilian Casualties+3,000 Deaths

Successful or Unsuccessful?• New Government in Afghanistan

– Unstable however• Taliban no longer in control

– Yet have re-emerged (quadrupled in size) in SE Afghanistan & now parts of Pakistan

– NATO losing control in region• Osama bin Laden can’t be found

– Sanctuary in Pakistan?• 8 year war – Obama thinking deploying more troops to

the region.• Declared a Failed State by U.N.