Afghanistan History

The US military began its 20-year incursion in Afghanistan, quite simply, because of the jihadist attacks on September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. There was never any doubt in official Washington about who was responsible. On the same day the attacks took place, President George W. Bush ordered his Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, to draw up plans to attack the jihad terror group al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, where the 9/11 hijackers had trained for their mission.

Sune Engel Rasmussen har tilbragt længere tid i Afghanistan siden 2001 end nogen anden dansk journalist. "Nyt blod" er baseret på reportager gennem tre år, hvor han boede permanent i landet, og handler om de afghanere, der er vokset op i en verden formet på godt og ondt af reaktionerne på terrorangrebene i USA den 11. september. Han tager læseren til frontlinjen, på motorcykel rundt i Kabul og langt ud i ørkenen. Vi møder Taleban-krigere, homoseksuelle, rigmandssønner og en ny generation af kvinder.

Afghanistan's strategically significant lands have long been fought over by foreign invaders. Today, as yet another generation risks life and limb in this inhospitable territory, an ever-rising death toll puts back under the spotlight the way the modern war in Afghanistan is being run, and demands answers. Drawing on interviews with Afghan politicians, businessmen and ordinary people, British, American and European diplomats and soldiers, Sandy Gall addresses the challenges that face those now fighting on the most dangerous frontier in the world.

In April 2006 the elite 3 Para Battle Group was despatched to Helmand Province on a tour that has become a legend. All that summer the Paras were subjected to relentless attacks. Two years later the Paras are back. The enemy has been forced to adopt new weaponry and tactics. But how much progress are we really making in the war against the insurgents? And is there an end in sight? In this searing account of 3 Para's return,

"America had a secret weapon," writes Steve Call of the period immediately following September 11, 2001, as planners contemplated the invasion of Afghanistan. This weapon consisted of small teams of Special Forces operatives trained in close air support (CAS) who, in cooperation with the loose federation of Afghan rebels opposed to the Taliban regime, soon began achieving impressive - and unexpected - military victories over Taliban forces and the al-Qaeda terrorists they had sponsored....

Following September 11, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country, and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of conflict. But Jones argues that, as early as 2001, planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, the United States had pushed al-Qaeda’s headquarters about one hundred miles across the border into Pakistan.

An award-winning military journalist tells the amazing stories of 22 soldiers who've won the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award.

Snipers work in pairs so relationship and trust are all important. Snipers are elite soldiers and clearly the author is among the best of the best. A Sniper's Conflict is a superb account of professional soldiering at the sharp end....

Amber Smith flew into enemy fire in some of the most dangerous combat zones in the world. One of only a few women to fly the Kiowa Warrior helicopter, Smith rose to pilot in command and air mission commander in the premier Kiowa unit in the army, repeatedly flying into harm's way during her 2005 and 2008 deployments with the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. Smith takes you into the heat of battle, enabling listeners to feel, hear, and smell the experience of serving as a combat pilot in high-intensity warfare

As night fell on 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. After a 20-year conflict with the United States, its Western allies and a proxy Afghan government, the Islamic militant group once aligned with al Qaeda was about to bury yet another foreign foe in the graveyard of empires. And for the US, the superpower, this was yet another foreign disaster. As cities and towns fell to the Taliban in rapid succession, Western troops and embassy staff scrambled to flee a country of which its government had lost control.

In spring 2008, inspired by the Vietnam-era Winter Soldier hearings, Iraq Veterans Against the War gathered veterans to expose war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here are the powerful words, images, and documents of this historic gathering, which show the reality of life in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Until the war in Iraq, the Special Forces were the military's counterinsurgency experts. Their specialty was going behind enemy lines and training insurgent forces. In Afghanistan, they toppled the Taliban by transforming Northern Alliance fighters into cohesive units. But in the almost nine years since, Special Forces units have forgone their previous mission, instead focusing on offensive raids.

The rugged routes to Kabul teemed with worldwide youth in search of cheap drugs and enlightenment. With the idyllic dreamers came hard core criminals. Sent to Kabul to take on the criminals was Federal Narcotics Agent, Terrence Burke. Working undercover, often without backup, Burke dismantled smuggling operations in Afghanistan and India. The issues he portrays in Afghanistan are still confronting us today.

Historische Vergleiche sind heikel und meist schief. Doch in diesen Fällen sind die Parallelen so frappierend, dass G/Geschichte es wagt, doch einen Vergleich zu ziehen: Zwischen Roms Niederlage in Germanien und dem verlorenen Vietnamkrieg der USA sowie dem Debakel der Sowjetunion und des Westens in Afghanistan. In allen Fällen schickt eine Weltmacht ihre Soldaten in ein Land, das wirtschaftlich und technologisch rückständig ist. Und muss erstaunt feststellen, dass die Einheimischen die fortschrittlichere Zivilisation keineswegs freudig begrüßen.

They marched under the heat with 40-pound rucksacks on their backs. They fired weapons out of the windows of military vehicles, defending their units in deadly battles. And they did things their male counterparts could never do—gather intelligence on the Taliban from the women of Afghanistan. Beyond the Call follows the groundbreaking journeys of three women as they first fight military brass and culture and then enemy fire and tradition. And like the men with whom they served, their battles were not over when they returned home.

The first rule of warfare is to know one's enemy. The second is to know thyself. More than 15 years and three quarters of a trillion dollars after the US invasion of Afghanistan, it's clear that the United States followed neither rule well. America's goals in Afghanistan were lofty to begin with: dismantle al Qaeda, remove the Taliban from power, and remake the country into a democracy.

Kandahar. The ancient desert crossroads and, as of fall of 2001, ground zero for the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in southern Afghanistan. In the northern part of the country, the US-supported Northern Alliance has made progress on the battlefield, but in the south, the country is still under the Taliban's bloody hold and al-Qa'ida continues to operate there. With no "Southern Alliance" for the US to support, a new strategy is needed if victory is to be achieved. Veteran CIA officer Duane Evans is dispatched to Pakistan to "get something going in the South." Foxtrot in Kandahar is his story.

General Mike DeLong deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars was second only to General Tommy Franks in the war on terror. At the centre of discussions between President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Tommy Franks, General DeLong offers the frankest and most authoritative look inside the wars - how the US prepared for battle, how they fought, how two regimes were loppled-and what's happening now.

Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and later as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities for years now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families.

What happens when a regular person accidentally finds themselves lost in the middle of a war? In 1991, BBC journalist Chris Woolf travelled to Afghanistan. The government in Kabul was fighting for survival, after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union. The parallels to today are extraordinary. Woolf was visiting a colleague to see if he’d like the life of a foreign correspondent. They hitched a ride with an aid convoy and bumbled straight into the war. They kept going, despite the horror and terror. There was no choice.