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•Directly after 9/11 the Taliban control 90% of Afghanistan•Refuse to hand over Bin Laden or expel al-Qaeda•By late 2001, CIA and special forces operatives join the Northern Alliance•By 2002 – 350 special forces soldiers, 100 CIA operatives, 15,000 Northern Alliance soldiers defeat 50,000 Taliban
Bin Laden escapes into the Northern tribal region of Pakistan
US shifts emphasis when war in Iraq begins in 2003
Taliban flees into Northern Pakistan and begins to expand South bringing Sharia law with them
Pakistani government reluctant/unable to challenge Taliban
Obama campaigns on a promise to withdraw troops from Iraq and put them in Afghanistan
End of Bush presidency and start of Obama administration see doubling of US troops (to 60,000)
By 2009 -- UK: 6,800; Germany: 3,400; France: 2,700
Casualties: Taliban -- 20,000 killedUS -- 687 killedAfghani security forces – 4,500 killedNorthern Alliance – 200 killed
Current Taliban and al-Qaeda strength (estimate) 9,000-13,000
Weapons of Mass Destruction Sanctions – food for oil,
corruption Suffering Civilian Iraqi
population No-fly zones, US troops still in
Saudi Arabia Sadam Hussein’s brutality Spread democracy Psychological?
Conventional war goes very well (250,000 US and 45,000 British soldiers capture Baghdad in three weeks)
Military unprepared for massive looting
Kurds, Shias happy – Sunnis nervous
US disbands Iraqi army
2004-2007 Sunnis launch
resistance campaign against US troops
al-Qaeda foments civil war – attacks al-Askari shrine
Concerns over Shia alliance with Iran
US strategy – heavily defended bases, patrols, searching for enemy
Starting in 2007 “Awakening Councils”
created in Sunni areas – assisted by al-Qaeda brutality
Troops stationed in neighborhoods and live among civilian population
Walls built between Shia and Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad
General Petraeus