Crisis in Afghanistan

CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN

Introduction

On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists launched coordinated attacks against the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people, damaged the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and destroyed New York City's iconic World Trade Center. U.S. officials blamed the deadly strikes on Al Qaeda, a network of Islamic extremists partially based in the Asian country of Afghanistan. In response to the attacks, President Bush (R) demanded that Afghanistan hand over reputed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other prominent terrorists to U.S. authorities.

At that time, Afghanistan was governed by the Taliban, a fundamentalist regime with natural sympathies toward Al Qaeda. The Taliban refused to surrender bin Laden, prompting the U.S. and its ally Britain to retaliate by bombing Afghanistan in October 2001. The U.S. also lent support to native rebel forces in Afghanistan that launched a ground offensive against the Taliban. The goal of the U.S.-led attack, dubbed Operation Enduring Freedom, was to drive the Taliban from power and eliminate Al Qaeda's core leadership.

By the end of 2001, the U.S. and its coalition of allies had effectively ousted the Taliban and replaced it with a more democratic, pro-U.S. Afghan government. Coalition forces also succeeded in capturing or killing many alleged terrorist leaders, but bin Laden evaded capture and remains at liberty.

Despite bin Laden's escape, the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan initially enjoyed strong public support. For example, a November 2001 Gallup poll found that nearly 90% of respondents agreed with the decision to send U.S. troops to that country. Many observers agreed that the Taliban had been an oppressive, pro-terrorist entity, and argued that the U.S. had acted correctly in overthrowing its regime. Therefore, U.S. policy in Afghanistan was fairly popular during the 2001 conflict and its immediate aftermath. In March 2003, the U.S. invaded another country, Iraq, on the subsequently discredited grounds that it was developing nuclear weapons. Many critics called the Iraq war unjustified, and complained that it drew too much U.S. military power and attention away from Afghanistan. But Bush administration officials countered that Afghanistan was relatively secure at that point and did not require a stronger U.S. military presence.

More recently, however, the security situation in Afghanistan has apparently deteriorated. Remnants of the Taliban's forces have reorganized to launch renewed attacks against both coalition troops and local Afghan security forces. In 2006, intensified fighting in Afghanistan killed about 5,000 people, roughly 50% more than had died during the preceding year. Suicide bombings in the country also increased by an estimated 500% in 2006, and deaths among U.S. and allied troops rose about 20%, to 191. Meanwhile, Afghan production of opium--a narcotic often used to make heroin--also increased dramatically in both 2006 and 2007, despite efforts by the coalition to suppress it.

Afghanistan's recent struggles with violence and drugs have led critics to accuse the U.S. and its allies of failing to stabilize the country. Defenders of U.S. policy, on the other hand, contend that Afghanistan is still fairly secure and well on its way to becoming a successful, independent country. The dispute remains heated as seemingly mixed signals of progress and ...