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Emergence of Taliban in Afghanistan
Americas involvement in the Afghanistan war
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The War in Afghanistan was a part of the Cold War, which was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces and Mujahedeen, which were composed of two alliances– the Peshawar Seven and the Tehran Eight. The United States, along with the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and other countries supported the Peshawar Seven insurgents by training them and giving them weapon and money. The eight alliances were supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Afghanistan and the Soviets signed an alliance treaty in 5th, December, 1978. To respond to the treaty, United States President Jimmy Carter signed the first order for secret financial aid to the rivals of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. The primary Soviet positioning of the Army in Afghanistan began on the 24th of December, 1979, under Soviet general Leonid Brezhnev and the last troop removal started on the 15th of May, 1988, and was completed by February 15 of the following year, 1989, under Mikhail Gorbachev. Due to the perpetual nature of the War, the War in Afghanistan has been known to as the Russia’s Vietnam War or the Bear Trap. The death of the U.S. Ambassador led to a major deprivation in Afghanistan–United States relations.
Certain revolutions in Afghanistan occurred between 1978 and 2001 which caused the US War with Afghanistan. The United States helped Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel by giving them military weapons and, as a result, the Soviet Union viewed this as if the United States was trying to have power over the Middle East. After the collapse of the Soviet regime in Afghanistan, Afghan socialists fought over power, which led to the creation of Taliban by Mullah Omar, a religious preacher who taught in Pakistan. During Mullah Omar’s time, Osama Bin-Laden came to Afghanistan and he ...
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...h Muslim “clerics” (Ottaway) unaware of modern diplomacy and skeptical of the Western world, and they were unsuccessful in taking the advantage of cracks in the Taliban governance. A former CIA station chief said that the CIA did not hear anything the Taliban Representative said. The US Government wanted Osama Bin-Laden from them and they were asking for the help to give him up; two different tone of language- meaning it was hard for both representatives to understand each other’s wants and needs. The conferences took place in many different places like Kandahar, Islamabad, Tashkent, Bonn, Washington and New York. There were satellite conversations that took about 40-minute between State Department officials and the Taliban's top leader, Mohammad Omar. There was also a surprise visit to Washington, made by a Taliban representative giving a carpet to President Bush.
The war in Afghanistan sparked numerous operations conducted by the U.S. military and its coalition forces. One of the most influential operation until today was Operation Anaconda. Fought in the Shahi-Kot Valley during early march 2002, it was the largest American battle since the Gulf War, and their first high altitude battle ever encounter. The goal of the Operation Anaconda was to eradicate the remaining Taliban and al Qaeda foothold within the eastern region of Afghanistan. Although, originally intended to last three days, Operation Anaconda lasted seventeen days instead, with seven days of intense battle. The U.S. operation Commander, Major General Franklin Hagenbeck, schemed the “hammer and anvil” plan in order to achieve his objective. However, this plan
“Over the past century, Canadian attitudes towards the use of force and the exercise of military power in support of national aims have fundamentally shifted”. This is a quote written by Major Todd Strickland in his article, titled, “From the Boers to the Taliban: How Canadians Attitudes towards War Have Changed”. This article reviews Canada’s history within the wars and also Canadian’s thoughts on war. The Afghan war began in 2001 and is still ongoing today. The war began due to the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on September 11th, 2001, also known as 9/11. The purpose of this war was to invade Afghanistan and to disassemble an organization, known as the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Another objective was to dismantle the Taliban government. The Taliban government was simply to blame for the deaths of so many Americans on 9/11. The leader, brains and financial support behind this organization was one by the name of Osama bin Laden. Because his country did not surrender him, the United States made the decision to declare war on Afghanistan and fight for those who lost their lives in 9/11. Canada became involved in the Afghan War very quickly after the attacks of 9/11. Because the Afghanistan war is a war that is constantly covered by the media, it makes the information overwhelming. To narrow the topic down, this paper will focus mainly on the Canadian’s involvement in the Afghanistan war. Violent political wars have been reoccurring for as long as anyone can remember, and the intensity of this violence continues to rise. The magnitude of political violence involved, the main interpretations on the causes of political violence, and the prospects for conflict resolution are all topics that will be covered...
On December 24th 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. On that day began a war which wreaked incredible havoc and destruction on Afghanistan for 10 long years. The Soviets stormed in with thousands of troops at the request of the troubled Afghan Communist regime. The Russians believed this be a neat surgical military operation. They were wrong.(Boggs) The only resistance to the Soviet invasion were men known as the "mujahideen" known to many as freedom fighters. They are multinational; some even from America, doing everything in their power to repeal the Soviet horde. The Soviet invasion frightened neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, so they unofficially allied with the United States. The U.S. provided the weaponry, training, etc., Saudi Arabia recruited the fighters (mujahideen) which were sometimes based in Pakistan. They all agreed on the need for armed resistance against the Soviets. The U.S. decided to tap the religious vein of the rebels, creating a zealous religiously driven guerrilla organization; well armed and trained by CIA officers with the goal of returning Afghanistan to Islamic purity.
Mason, Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris (2007), 'Understanding the Taliban and Insurgency in Afghanistan', Orbis, 51 (1), 18.
During the Cold War, America saw an advantage to promote the Afghan insurgents and channel aid to rebels. It was later revealed that the United States started aiding tribal and Islamic revolts half a year before the USSR invaded Afghanistan. The Afghan invasion not only led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, but also led to the creation of young Middle Eastern men who sought actions of violence to satisfy their own personal jihad. America trained these men like their own, supplied them with advanced weapon intelligence, and finally the addition of money and drugs. The war escalated in Afghanistan and ultimately gave birth to a growing worldwide jihad. The U.S. supplied the mujahedeen with anti-aircraft missiles. And the CIA supported Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency's (ISI) ongoing recruiting agenda of mercenaries and volunteers of religious motivation around the world. New York, San Francisco and Detroit, all had recruiting centers (Parenti 2001).
Since the year 2001, Afghanistan’s history with the United States has been very rough and destructive due to the Afghanistan War. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, then-President George W. Bush signed a joint law resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible for the 9/11 attack (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). On October 7th, 2001, the US launched missile strikes against Taliban military starting the official “War of Afghanistan” (Afghanistan Profile - Timeline). Twelve days after the airstrikes, the first wave of conventional ground forces arrive in Afghanistan (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). In August 2003, two years after the start of the war, there are now over 10,000 American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). A few years passed by without any major events during the war, until September of 2008 when President Bush sent an extra 4,500 troops to Afghanistan (Afghanistan Profile-
protect Middle Eastern oil supplies from the intruding Soviet power. “The organization also discussed about economic sanctions and trade embargoes against the Soviet Union, called for a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and stepped up its aid to the Afghan insurgents.” (U.S. DOS). Instead, it took ten years of abrasive revolt before Moscow finally departed, at the cost of millions of lives and billions of dollars. The Soviets left a broken country in which the Taliban, an Islamic fanatic group, seized power, later arranging Osama bin Laden with a training base from which to launch terrorist activity worldwide. The Soviet stance on human rights and its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 created new tensions between the two countries. On the
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. The result would be a war that the Soviet Union wishes it never got involved in and likened to their “Vietnam War”, meaning winning a number of battles but not the war like what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam. The background of the war, outcome of the war, and impact on the United States are key to understanding the Soviet-Afghan War. The war began on December 27, 1979 when Soviet paratroopers invaded Kabul, Afghanistan.
United States starts fighting terrorism in Afghanistan by overthrowing Taliban (Terrorist Organization). Tried to support Pakistan and Afghanistan people by bringing their Force into their countries to end war. When Osama Bin Laden was killed, it was a big victory for the US to change everything and not weaken Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has a mission to overthrow all American troops from the land of Muslim countries. Here I recommend the United States to leave Muslim countries in their own way and do not intervene in their foreign policies and other internal decisions, if they really want to end up in a war on terror.
The Soviet-Afghan war was a long lasting war that did not end in any sort of change. The parties that were fighting in the war were The Soviet army, an insurgent group called mujahideen, and the Democratic republic of Afghanistan. The reason the war did not end in any sort of change is because after a certain amount of time it became a quagmire with roughly 2 million casualties and no progress made with any group.
Amanullah Khan declared Afghanistan a monarchy when he became Sovereign of Afghanistan in 1919. In 1933, a man named Zahir Shah became the king of Afghanistan. The new king brings a semblance of stability to the country and he rules for the next 40 years. In 1996, a terrorist group called the Taliban is attempting to conquer Afghanistan and bring it into Sharia Muslim control. At one point, they ruled about 85% of Afghanistan, but now they do not control as much. In 1998, many say the Taliban were close to starting a war, some even say WW3, when they took about 2000 hostages. After Osama Bin Laden was killed, several terrorist groups assassinated Afghan political
Al-Qaeda, translated as “the base”, was led by Osama Bin Laden, who at the time, was operating from Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda’s beginnings can be traced as far back as 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Fearing that the takeover would establish a nonreligious government in the country,
Many Islamic Militia groups such as the taliban start to rise and form packs with other freedom fighters to seize control of Afghanistan. In Witte’s article Afghanistan War, Griffe states that “In 1996 the Taliban seized Kabul and instituted a severe interpretation of Islamic law that, for example, forbade female education and prescribed the severing of hands, or even execution, as punishment for petty crimes” (Witte). With the Taliban's presences and al- Qaeda's enforcement of the new law the Taliban gained control of almost nearly 90 percent of Afghan territory by the summer of 2001. With many of Afghanistan's people not agreeing with the newly enforced laws nearly one million people begin to flee to neighboring countries. With many people finally seeing and disagreeing with the the taliban's laws, freedom fighters from the past wars start to rise and form opposing rebellions against the taliban and al-Qaeda. Outrage by other rebellion groups, al-Qaeda start to carry out executions and other terrorist attacks. Ethnic groups in the north, under Massoud's Northern Alliance, and the south, aided in part by Hamid Karzai, continue to battle the Taliban for control of the country. (ADMIN 27) In September 9th al-Qaeda hit men carried out the assassination of famed mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who at the time was leading the Northern Alliance.(Witte 5) Outraged by the Northern Alliance's support of U.S. the Taliban and al- Qaeda start to target American embassies. (Admin
The United States has a long history of almost one hundred year involvement with Afghanistan. The two nations have a very strong and friendly strategic partnership. (“Index Of Indian Thought Leaders”). United States and Afghan relations can be traced back to Nineteen-Twenty-One (Bond). This means that for the last almost one hundred years, the United States and Afghanistan have been involved with each other. Their relationship had improved for a while but then declined after the September Eleventh attacks. The United States and Afghan became important during The Cold War. “President Harry S. Truman commented that the friendship between the two countries would be "preserved and strengthened" by the presence of senior diplomats in each capital.”( In Small Things Remembered » The first American expedition to Afghanistan). This shows that at the time of the developing relationship between the two nations, President Truman believed that the relationships could be strengthened by the presence of a senior
and the U.S., Rubin spent decades deliberating upon best practices for saving Afghanistan from its chronic tribulations. His sustained analyses and advocacy are compiled here, addressing a time frame from the late 1980s to the start of the Obama administration. Rubin makes important points along the way, including the need for statecraft objectives to be matched by adequate resources to achieve them, and the predictable dangers inherent in a border region as "underdeveloped and over armed"" as the ambiguously defined Afghan-Pakistani frontier. Praised by a colleague as a "voice for reconciliation,"" Rubin hopes that America can "negotiate with the Taliban," a wish that evinces his steadfast belief that violent fanatics can be dissuaded from extremism through diplomacy or pressure tactics. The book’s time period excludes recent events as crucial as Osama bin Ladens assassination and the likelihood of Pakistan’s complicity in harboring him, the enhanced drone campaign of the Obama administration, and Obama’s determination to withdraw from this exhausting theater of war by