Afghanistan

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Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It borders Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, Pakistan and Iran.

Its capital is Kabul. Other towns and cities include: Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-e Sharif, Kandahar.

Partial recent history:

After a brief communist government, then United States support of the opposition, Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR from 1979 - 1989 -- one of the hot spots of the Cold War. Pakistan, the United States, and other countries backed the mujahedin against the USSR. After the USSR withdrew, the nation suffered from intense factional fighting. In 1997 the Taliban, a group of "Islamic students" fought for and took control of most of the country except the northeast. Relative peace and stability was restored, albeit through severe Islamic laws, restricting a wide range of freedoms in an effort to realize their idea of a true and pure Islamic state.

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Through the year of 2001, the Taliban were only ever recognized by a handful of other countries as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The non-Taliban mujahedin and other groups making up the Northern Alliance coalition controlled only small areas, mainly in the northeast.

On October 7, 2001 the United States began an attack on the Taliban in response to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, which the United States asserted is the responsibility of Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network, both in Afghanistan under Taliban protection. After the terrorist attack, those few countries which recognized the Taliban cut off diplomatic contact.

In November 2001, with US support including heavy air bombardment of the Taliban front lines, the Northern Alliance advanced rapidly to control most of the country. The Taliban soon controlled only small areas, overwhelmed later.

As of early 2002, an interim government is in place, with many elements from the Northern Alliance, and a mix from other regional and ethnic groups. Troops and intelligence agencies from the United States and a number of other countries are there, some to keep the peace, some still looking for Taliban and al Qaeda. Much of the al Qaeda infrastructure in Afghanistan has been destroyed, and Osama bin Laden and most other al Qaeda and Taliban leaders remain at large.

Human rights organizations, including the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, are concerned that the Northern Alliance is as oppressive as the Taliban. The fact that the Northern Alliance is made up of mostly ethnic minorities makes it less-than-palatable to the majority Pashtun citizens of Afghanistan.

There are still two million refugees each in both Pakistan and Iran, and one million internally displaced in Afghanistan.

Article from the 1911 Encyclopedia

External links and references

Library of Congress country study (public domain) -- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/aftoc.html
Brzezinski interview re US involvement before USSR invasion: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html