The Afghanistan War and its consequences

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 357.

The Afghanistan War was a direct consequence of the September 11 attacks. After the United States had presented evidence that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks, President Bush urged the Taliban Regime to deliver Osama Bin Laden. Since the Taliban ignored these intimidations, the United States started "Operation Enduring Freedom" with air strikes on October 7, 2001.

Initial goals of this war against terrorism were to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a base for terrorists and to attack the military infrastructure of the Taliban. After the fall of the Taliban, the war's main goal became hunting down al-Qaeda and the left Taliban warriors. On October 30 the USA confirmed the use of special ground forces in Afghanistan supporting warriors of the Northern Alliance. In the night between November 12 and 13 the Taliban escaped from Kabul and the Northern Alliance entered Afghanistan's capital city. In November the Northern Alliance furthermore conquered Kunduz, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. On November 25 U.S. soldiers entered the Afghan capital Kabul. Five days later American military forces started their offensive in the mountains of Tora Bora, where Bin Laden was suspected to be.

On December 7 the Northern Alliance captured the south Afghan city Kandahar^.It was the last big city controlled by the Taliban. Taliban leader Mullah Omar managed to escape. On December 5, 2001 members of Afghan parties signed an agreement for an interim government lasting six months at the Petersberg in Bonn, Germany. By the end of December Hamid Karsai's interim government had been sworn in. On June 19, 2002 the Loja Dschirga, a traditional Afghan national council, confirmed Karsai as the new President for another two years.

A bomb attack in Kabul on September 5, 2002 which killed 30 and injured 150 persons and the following attempted murder on President Hamid Karsai show that war in Afghanistan is not over. It will be several years until peace and order will come to Afghanistan.