Most of us did not know the name Afghanistan on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Centers in New York City was destroyed by Islamic Terrorists. Our intelligence gath-ering organizations quickly determined that the attack was from Al Qaeda, the terrorist group run by Osama Bin Laden. He was a Saudi with training camps for terrorists located in the mountains of Afghanistan.
President Bush immediately demanded that the Taliban — the government of Afghanistan — turn over Osama Bin Laden and his associates to the US for trial and punishment. They refused and in only three weeks after 911, the US Air Force began bombing the bases of Al Qaeda.
In the northern part of Afghanistan, there were several tribes that opposed the Taliban. The United States provided them with arms and transportation and they began to attack the Taliban forces. They operated under the name of the Northern Alliance. Three months after 911 there was a meeting in Germany of the leaders of the Northern Alliance and the former government leaders that were overthrown by the Taliban. They agreed to form a new democ-ratic government and elected Hamid Karzai to serve as the temporary leader. Mr. Karzai was from the Durrani Tribe and the former Royal Family that had served as King in prior times.
With the help of the United States and British Special Forces, the Northern Alliance was able to drive the Taliban from all of the major cities in Afghanistan. A nationwide meeting with representatives from all of the provinces and tribes in 2002, the nation was united and appointed Mr. Karzai as temporary president. They ratified a new constitution in January of 2004 and held elections in October under the name of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The Legislature was made up of all factions of the country including some of the former Taliban leaders and former Al Qaeda members. Twenty eight percent of the members were women. The Constitution states that the group will contain not less than 25 percent women.
Afghanistan was ruled by King Zahir Shah until 1973. He was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his brother-in-law who declared that he was President of Afghanistan. He was killed in 1978 and the country became the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. This government instituted freedom of religion and women’s rights. This government was very pro-Soviet Union. President Jimmy Carter covertly began to fund the opposition to this government who were mostly Islamic extremists who opposed the women having rights and freedom.
At Christmas in 1979, over 100,000 Soviet troops entered Afghanistan to support the exist-ing government. Over 1 million Afghan citizens were killed in this war and more than 5 mil-lion citizens fled to Pakistan and Iran. President Reagan continued the funding of the oppo-sition to the Soviets as did President George H. W. Bush who succeeded him as president. Osama Bin Laden came into Afghanistan during this time to fight the Soviets and estab-lished himself as a valuable ally to the Afghans. The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 after 10 years of fighting. The United States and its allies also abandoned Afghanistan when the Soviets withdrew.
In 1994, the government was overthrown by a religious tribal group that took the name of the Taliban. It had the support of all of the Islamic countries including Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. During the seven year rule of the Taliban they almost eliminated the poppy fields that had produced a large portion of the opium and heroin for the world illegal drug trade. They also banned the education of women and they banned women from holding jobs.
There are approximately 34 million Afghans in the Middle East. The largest city is Kabul which is the only city with over one million people. There are two ethic groups that comprise nearly 70 percent of the population. About 99 percent of the citizens are Islamic with around 80 percent being Sunni and 20 percent being Shites. The remaining one percent are mostly Hindus and Sikhs.
There is one major two lane paved road across the country which connects the major cit-ies. Most of the rest of the roads are unpaved. Unemployment in the nation is about 40 per-cent. The United States is providing about $3 billion in aid each year. In 2006, a $25 million Coca-Cola plant was opened with private investment.
The Taliban and Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda are fighting guerrilla warfare against the government and the NATO forces from the mountain range between Pakistan and Afghani-stan. Neither group is a current threat to the world at large. In spite of all of the rhetoric, Osama Bin Laden will probably remain in these mountains until he dies of disease or old age. There is no way to penetrate this stronghold with no
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