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10 years ago, the then US President George W. Bush announced a war operation against Taliban in Afghanistan.
The
reason for the operation was Taliban’s refusal to extradite Osama bin
Laden, the leader of the international terrorist network “Al Qaeda” and
the main organizer of the 9/11 attack – probably the most large-scale
terror act in history.
At first, the US role in
Afghanistan was limited to supporting the so-called “Northern Alliance”,
the main Afghan force which stood against Taliban, with airpower and
missile shots. However, when the main part of Afghanistan was freed from
Talibs, international forces were introduced there. At present, Taliban
doesn’t rule Afghanistan any more, but the remaining terrorists are
still leading a guerilla war against their both local and Western
opponents.
The killing of Osama bin Laden, which took
place on May 2 this year, can be called a serious success of
anti-Taliban forces. However, recently, General John Allen, who commands
international forces in Afghanistan, said that these forces would stay
in the country even after 2014, though, earlier, President Obama has
said that they would be withdrawn before 2013.
The
Afghan war has already cost the US many human lives – and a lot of
money. At a recent meeting in Brussels, US Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta said that the US cannot support NATO’s budget any more, because
EU countries are cutting their expenditures on defense, and the US
itself has cut its defense expenditures by $ 450 bln in the last 10
years.
By October 1, 2011, the international coalition has lost 2,747 servicemen in the war against Taliban.
According to the UK newspaper “Independent”, 14 to 34 thousand Afghan civilians were killed in this war.
The exact number of the killed Taliban militants is unknown. Western sources speak of “tens of thousands”.
In
an interview to the “Rossiya 24” TV channel, the head of the Russian
anti-drug service Victor Ivanov said that the volume of heroine
production in Afghanistan has considerably grown since 2001.
“This
war has three results, all very sad,” Mr. Ivanov said. “First, the
production of drugs in Afghanistan grew by as many as 40 times. That’s
an unprecedented figure. Second, the region is now stuffed with military
bases and foreign troops – over 150 thousand servicemen, which makes
the situation highly explosive. Third, Afghanistan is still very
politically unstable, and the number of militants is constantly
multiplying there.”
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