Afghanistan

Afghanistan "has been hit by some of the heaviest fighting since the US-led invasion in 2001 to oust" the Taliban, the BBC reported May 18, 2006. "So far this year there have been at least 20 suicide attacks compared with 17 for the whole of 2005 and five in 2004."

Afghanistan, "after more than two decades of constant warfare," CNN reported September 10, 2002, was "a nation in ruins." Towns and cities had become "reduced to rubble" and its social and political structure had become "torn apart by years of bitter conflict. ... It was this failed state, [said] Western leaders, that allowed Afghanistan to become a home to terrorists -- in turn paving the way for the events of September 11, 2001."

---

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Al Qaeda
• Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the prime training ground for foreign terrorists
• rogue state
• Operation Enduring Freedom
• Opium economy in Afghanistan
• Osama bin Laden
• Reagan doctrine
• war on terrorism

External Links

History

• See the History of Afghanistan in the Wikipedia.

Articles & Commentary

• "Afghanistan: Rebuilding a 'failed' state", CNN, September 10, 2002.
• "UN: Afghanistan Could Become 'Failed State' If Opium Production Rises", katv.com, October 29, 2003.
• John Heffernan and Jennifer Leaning, "Warlords' Crimes: Secrets of an Afghan Grave", International Herald Tribune, February 9, 2004.
• Seymour M. Hersh, "The Other War", The New Yorker, April 5, 2004: "Why Bush's Afghanistan problem won't go away."
• ""Poland to consider boosting troops in Afghanistan", Xinhuanet (China), July 19, 2004.