Current Events – Afghanistan
Essay title: Current Events – Afghanistan
Afghanistan
To full understand Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and 9/11, you have to look into the past history. At some point in 1990, the FBI took a handwritten list of contacts from a top official of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, NY. (Al-Kifah is a charity front with links to both al-Qaeda and the CIA.)Not much is known about the list, like exactly when they took it, why, what was done with it, and whose names were on the list. Makes you a little curious, huh? The CIA was later accused of repetedly blocking the FBI’s investigations Al-Kifah.
In the early 1990s, the US started sattelite surveillence of Bin Laden’s training camp and army bases in Sudan and Afghanistan. They also made a viove print of his voice, so that NSA and the CIA could monitor Bin Baden’s calls. In the late 1990s to 1996 Bin Laden traveled to London a lot. Some people thought it was because he had protection from British authorities.
In 1990-2001, there were about 3 to 4 dozen Al-Qaeda operations. They were all stopped by the government or called off by Al-Qaeda. April 11, 2001, two of the hi-jackers involved in 9/11, Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi, moved into Coral Springs Florida. From then until June 28, 2001 the rest of the hi-jackers entered the US. April 12, the US was urged to review the Iraq policy. April 13, the FBI was warned that Al-Qaeda was planning an attack. From April 12th through September 7th, the hi-jackers get multiple drivers’ licences. The FBI was warned several times to look for information on Muslim extremist threat before 9/11.
Then it happened, the terrorist attacks took place. We all know how America was after 9/11, but this is about Afghanistan. Right after the attacks one of the leaders of the attacks went to Pakistan, and then went to Afghanistan and joined Bin Laden.
On Oct. 7, after the Taliban refused to turn over Bin Laden, the US and its allies began air strikes against Afghan. Five weeks later, with the help of US air support, the Northern Alliance to take key cities. On December 7, the Taliban regime collapsed. Its troops. Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar remained at large.
In December 2001, Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun (the dominant ethnic group in the country) and the leader of the Populzai clan, was named head of Afghanistans government. June 2002, he became president. In 2003, after the US changed its military efforts to