Why has Afghanistan become such an important issue in the last 10 years?

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As well as this they introduced many Islamic punishments like: public executions of convicted murders and adulterers and amputations of those found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow beards and women to cover up in a burka.

In November 2001 the Taliban were overthrown by the British and American armed forces, as well as Afghan fighters (from a group called the Northern Alliance). Three months before invasion 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks believed to have been planned by Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. During that time the Taliban allowed Al-Qaeda to have training camps in Afghanistan. A lot of international pressure was on Afghan leaders to hand over Osama but it was thought that Taliban were protecting him so the United States decided to invade (this started the war on terror!) In October 2001 the USA began bombing, they targeted Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Finally in November the Northern Alliance took control of the capital city Kabul whilst being helped by the US and other countries like the UK, although the Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden were not captured. All of this has meant that the Taliban have been worldwide news especially over the last 10 years mainly because of the involvement of major countries like the UK and US and the lack of stability Afghanistan has which may contribute to others. The Taliban, however, are only a small party and their democratic status is not strong. Many people do not think it was fair that a big country like the US should have been allowed to severely attack Afghanistan and cause harm and destruction to the people in its country all over the fact it wanted to drive out The Taliban.

Reference from ‘New America Newspaper’ explain that the reason the US are in Afghanistan  is to prevent the Taliban from coming back into Afghanistan and imposing their radical Islamic dictatorship over that country’s population. They are also there because the Taliban government that ruled in Afghanistan in 2001 played host to Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization that planned and carried out the 9/11 attack on the United States in which many people want closure for.

However, the moment they leave Afghanistan, the Taliban will be back, and it will be up to the government in Kabul to prevent them from imposing their rules .  

They do no want to be there much longer, or is it the responsibility of the American people, at great sacrifice in lives and money, to see Afghanistan turned into a western-style democratic society. The price which the US will ultimately pay for helping Afghan could be harmful for their country.

In the last 10 years the British Army have been deployed to Afghanistan in an attempt to stop the war. Sources from the ‘BBC’ tell us that UK troops are in Afghanistan to protect the national security by preventing Afghanistan from again being a safe place for international terrorist such as Al-Qaeda. It has become more of an issue as many of the British troops have lost their lives trying to protect this country. References from ‘Wikipedia’ say that currently 384 people (from the Army, RAF, Royal Marines and Special Forces) have lost their lives. Although plans are being made to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, they have to consider the fact that the war does not show any sign of stopping – if we did decide to pull out troops from Afghan the situation may worsen. The government in Afghan is not stable enough to run its own democratic party’s so the UK must be involved to protect it from groups like the Taliban taking over again. It will cost much more in the long term if they decide to leave Afghanistan simply because Bin Laden has been eliminated, but before the job has been finished making Afghanistan into a stable country, whose people will not permit their government to host future terrorists. As well as this some people believe that issues in Afghanistan are not our problem and we should not be getting involved with unwanted issues. Furthermore the money spent on Afghanistan is high and the amount is increasing, with the financial situation getting worse in the UK the government need to consider withdrawing troops and putting the money to use elsewhere.

Democracy is a big reason why Afghanistan has become target for attacks and contributes to how unstable it is. An example of this is the failed election of the president Hamid Karzai. Sources from ‘CBBC’ tell us how after being elected in 2004 and being president for 5 years Hamid had to stand for election again in 2009. At the time there was lots of violence in Afghanistan and some experts said the voting and counting wasn't fair - so it was decided that some of the votes cast in the election couldn't be counted, so they were disqualified. A new election was held for Mr Karzai and his biggest rival Abdullah Abdullah. However, Abduallah wanted changes made to the election process - when these were not fulfilled he did not stand , leaving Hamid as the president. Problems like this in democracy cause friction between the people in Afghanistan. Those who do not believe Mr Karzai should have been elected feel betrayed and some have chose to violence in an attempt to solve the issues.

Afghanistan has become more of an important issue since the attack on 9/11. Sources from ‘Wikipedia’ tell us that the attack on the twin towers was a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks in which 19 terrorists hijacked four planes. There were a total of 2,996 deaths from the attacks, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims. Later it was found out that Al-Qaeda lead by Osama Bin Laden were behind 9/11. Overall, the attack was to highlight their cause and punish the United States for, what they believed to be, crimes of religion and other freedoms. Since the attacks Afghanistan has been a ‘safe haven’ for Al-Qaeda. This has meant that Afghanistan has come under more attack from powerful countries (mainly the UK and US) trying to find Osama and Al-Qaeda. There is also a sense that Afghans as a whole were unfairly blamed in the attack because their Taliban rulers aided Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Most people also believe that without the September 11 attacks, America and the rest of the international community would have left Afghans to face the Taliban on their own. Many people say that if 9/11 hadn't occurred, Afghanistan wouldn't have come to the attention of the world. 

On May 2nd 2011 US forces shot Osama Bin Laden (leader of the Taliban) in Pakistan. Sources from the ‘guardian’ tell us that Bin Laden is believed to have ordered the attacks targeting New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 and was responsible for a number of other major terrorist invasions - he was also top of the most wanted list. He had said that it was the duty of Muslims to fight against America and all it’s allies – though many Muslims believed what he was doing was wrong. The killing of Osama is a significant step into defeating the Taliban – but the fight is not over. Recently a new issue has arisen as to whether the US should bring their troops home (however it has to be taken into account that the war is definitely not over and that returning the troops home would actually increase the issues). Many hope the death of their leader will give the Taliban greater incentive to talk rather than fight, although it may be the case that they want to seek revenge on those who helped to kill Osama.

Afghanistan has become very important due to its geographical position; it is adjacent to Middle Eastern countries that are rich in oil and natural gas and although it has little petroleum itself it borders Iran and Turkmenistan – countries, which as two of the largest natural gas reserves in the world. Until 1991 Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union and its gas only flowed through Soviet pipelines. However, over the last 5 years the Russians, US and Chinese all have plans to build new pipelines for their benefit. The pipelines they all plan to build will need to run through Afghanistan, although at the moment the country is too unstable. This therefore means that it is in the interest of countries such as the US to help stabilise Afghanistan so that they can build a pipeline so that the energy can flow south. Oil and gas have motivated US involvement in the Middle East for decades.

Overall, looking in on Afghanistan over the last 10 years highlights the issues which has made it an important issue. A lack of democracy, war from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, other countries want for its natural resources and the input of the UK and US, has all added to the lack of stability and uncertainty this country has put up with. Although progress has been made, such as the killing of Osama Bin Laden and removing parties like the Taliban, the ultimate threat in which terrorist organisations may return still lingers over Afghanistan. It is still thought that this is a war which cannot be won!