Ten years of terror: Afghanistan WAR in PICTURES

[WatanDost]

Ten years of terror: Afghanistan war in pictures
By Lee Moran
Last updated at 12:40 PM on 7th October 2011

Ten years ago today (October 7, 2001) the U.S. and Britain launched an air assault on Afghanistan. It was less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, and was followed quickly by a ground invasion which aimed to topple the Taliban and destroy Al-Qaeda safe havens.
Initially, there was euphoria among many Afghans oppressed by the Taliban's brutal regime, but the group has since rebuilt and 10 years later, 2011 is on track to be the deadliest year yet for civilians in Afghanistan.
With US-led foreign combat troops due to leave in 2014, some experts fear the country is sliding back towards the kind of civil war that killed and displaced thousands of people in 1992-96.



2001:

Smoking: Anti-Taliban Afghan fighters watch several explosions from U.S. bombings in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in December 2001

Hunt: A Northern Alliance fighter prepares for fighting against pro-Taliban forces (left) in November 2001, as the mission to find Osama Bin Laden (right) continued

Order: An Afghan soldier uses a wooden stick to maintain order among women waiting for humanitarian aid at a World Food Programme (WFP) distribution point in Kabul, in December 2001



2002:

Searching: U.S. troops, under the watchful eye of locals, search houses in southeastern Afghanistan in November 2002

Radical changes: Villagers read local newspapers for the first time (left) while groups came together to watch dog fights for the first time since the Taliban fell (right)

Standing guard: The German ISAF force watch over the entrance to the Afghan National Army compound in Kabul in September 2002




2003:

Fighting back: U.S. soldiers fire a mortar in northeastern Afghanistan in November 2003

Year of change: Lima Azimi (right) became the first Afghan woman to compete in the athletics World Championships, while Vida Samadzai (left) became the first Miss Afghanistan for 30 years in 2003

Graduation party: New Afghan soldiers perform a traditional dance to the beat of a drum during a ceremony for the Afghan National Army in Kabul, June 2003


2004:

Election time: Afghan villagers collect ballot boxes from an UN helicopter in the remote eastern Afghan village of Qalai Qalan in October 2004, prior to the country's first ever democratic presidential election five days later

Decision time: Former Afghan King Zahir Shah sees President Hamid Karzai sign the new constitution in Kabul in January 2004 (left), while Afghan women line up to vote later on in the year in October (right)

Confiscated: Fighters stand before their ammunition that troops took from them at the Pakistan/Afghan border town of Chaman in August 2004

2005:

Destroyed: Afghan traffic police officers stand near the ruined King's Palace in Kabul in August 2005

War-torn: A woman suffering from leishmaniasis, a disease transmitted by sand flies, is treated at the Maywand Hospital in Kabul (left), while poppy farmers extract raw opium from poppy heads in fields in Zhera disrict, west of Kandahar city

Waiting: Afghan soldiers sit on a ledge overlooking the valley of Bamian in central Afghanistan, in September 2005

 

[WatanDost]

2006:

Mourning: A Remembrance Day ceremony held by British forces at Lashkar Gah Camp in the Helmand Provence, Afghanistan in November 2006

War and peace: Taliban fighters greet each other (left), as British Royal Marines arrive in the south of Afghanistan (right)




2007:

Friendship: A Canadian soldier shakes hands with an Afghan boy during a joint patrol with Afghan National Army troops near Panjwaii village, Kandahar province,in July 2007

Watchful: A French sniper looks through his rifle's scope while keeping watch over Qarabagh district, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Kabul, in November 2007

Wounded: A Canadian soldier from the NATO-led coalition crawls for cover seconds after his position was hit by a Taliban shell during an ambush in Zhari district of Kandahar province, in October 2007

2008:

Combat: Sgt William Olas Bee, a U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmsir in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, in May 2008

Focal points: Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire (left) was the destination for the repatriation of British soldiers, while Prince Harry had a secret deployment to Afghanistan in 2008

Waiting game: British paratroopers at Camp Eagle in the Zabul Province before being deployed by Chinook helicopter into Kandahar football stadium in Zabul Province, Afghanistan in 2008




2009:

Terrifying: A victim is taken away from a Kabul bomb blast in December 2009

Explosive: A U.S. mortar team return fire during an attack by militants on Michigan Base in the Pesh Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar Province, in August 2009

Defending: U.S. soldiers, one of whom is dressed in his underwear, take defensive positions after their combat outpost came under fire from the Taliban in the Korengal Valley in May 2009

2010:

Ruins: Afghans soccer players gather in front of the destroyed Darul Aman palace in Kabul, in June 2010

Reality of war: Bibi Aisha's (left) nose and ears were cut off by her husband, while an Afghan man is detained by U.S. Marines in 2010



2011:

Dramatic: An explosion is seen after airstrikes by NATO-led forces during fighting against Taliban insurgents

 

[murfi]

whatever and how powerful u r, u can never defeat afghanis (mujahideen), has been proved previously and is still proving.

 

[atensari]

The title should be "Ten years of State Terror"

 

[pakhtoon pardesi]

whatever and how powerful u r, u can never defeat afghanis (mujahideen), has been proved previously and is still proving.

Fully agree with you. Please read the article and decide who is the winner of this 10 yrs bloody war and which has no clue when to end.

AFGHANISTAN: TEN YEARS OF AIMLESS WAR
NEW YORK - October 08, 2011
Operation Enduring Freedom – the dreadfully misnamed ten-year US occupation of Afghanistan – has turned into Operation Enduring Misery.

The renowned military strategist, Maj. Gen. J.F.C Fuller, defined war’s true objective as achieving desired political results, not killing enemies.
But this is just what the US has been doing in Afghanistan. After ten years of war costing at least $450 billion, 1,600 dead and 15,000 seriously wounded soldiers, the US has achieved none of its strategic or political goals.
Each US soldier in Afghanistan costs $1 million per annum. CIA employs 80,000 mercenaries there, cost unknown. The US spends a staggering $20.2 billion alone annually air conditioning troop quarters in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The most damning assessment comes from the US-installed Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai: America’s war has been “ineffective, apart from causing civilian casualties.”
Washington’s goal was a favorable political settlement producing a pacified Afghan state run by a regime totally responsive to US political, economic and strategic interests; a native sepoy army led by white officers; and US bases that threaten Iran, watch China, and control the energy-rich Caspian Basin.
All the claims made about fighting “terrorism and al-Qaida,” liberating Afghan women and bringing democracy are pro-war window dressing. CIA chief Leon Panetta admitted there were no more than 25-50 al-Qaida members in Afghanistan. Why are there 150,000 US and NATO troops there?
Washington’s real objective was clearly defined in 2007 by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher: to “stabilize Afghanistan so it can become a conduit and hub between South and Central Asia – so energy can flow south.”
The Turkmenistan-Afghan-Pakistan TAPI gas pipeline that the US has sought since 1998 is finally nearing completion. But whether it can operate in the face of sabotage remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Washington has been unable to create a stable government in Kabul. The primary reason: ethnic politics. Over half the population is Pashtun (or Pathan), from whose ranks come Taliban. Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara minorities fiercely oppose the Pashtun. All three collaborated with the Soviet occupation from 1979-1989; today they collaborate with the US and NATO occupation.
Most of the Afghan army and police, on which the US spends $6 billion annually, are Tajiks and Uzbek, many members of the old Afghan Communist Party. To Pashtun, they are bitter enemies. In Afghanistan, the US has built its political house on ethnic quicksands.
Worse, US-run Afghanistan now produces 93% of the world’s most dangerous narcotic, heroin. Under Taliban, drug production virtually ended, according to the UN. Today, the Afghan drug business is booming. The US tries to blame Taliban; but the real culprits are high government officials in Kabul and US-backed warlords.
A senior UN drug official recently asserted that Afghan heroin killed 10,000 people in NATO countries last year. And this does not include Russia, a primary destination for Afghan heroin.
So the United States is now the proud owner of the world’s leading narco-state and deeply involved with the Afghan Tajik drug mafia.
The US is bleeding billions in Afghanistan. Forty-four cents of every dollar spent by Washington is borrowed from China and Japan. While the US has wasted $1.283 trillion on the so-called “war on terror,” China has been busy buying up resources and making new friends and markets. The ghost of Osama bin Laden must be smiling.
The US can’t afford this endless war against the fierce Pashtun people, renowned for making Afghanistan “the Graveyard of Empires.” But the imperial establishment in Washington wants to hold on to strategic Afghanistan, particularly the ex-Soviet air bases at Bagram and Kandahar. The US is building its biggest embassy in the world in Kabul, an $800 million fortress with 1,000 personnel, protected by a small army of mercenary gunmen. So much for withdrawal plans.
The stumbling, confused US war in Afghanistan has now lasted longer than the two world wars. The former US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, just said Washington’s view of that nation is “frighteningly simplistic.” That’s an understatement.
Facing the possibility of stalemate or even defeat in Afghanistan, Washington is trying to push India deeper into the conflict. This desperate ploy, and nurturing ethnic conflict, will ensure another decade of misery for Afghanistan.

Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2011

Ref: http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/afghanistan-ten-years-of-aimless-war.aspx

 

[az.ay]

Wow. Things sure have improved over the years.

Hahahahahaahhahahahahhhhahhhahhahahslkjfsljflskjdfklsjdflskjdflsdfjsdlf...

 

[Scorpion]

Now add another Thread titled as Ten Years of Stupidities-Pakistan Joining the US War for Terror . . . .

 

[karachiwala]

[MENTION=17789]WatanDost[/MENTION] what kind of a post is this. For a moment I had to go back as I thought it was from CENTCOM. Come are you paying a homage for the invading armies and trying to malign Talibaan. If that is the case then I am sorry I never understood you from the beginning.

 

[WatanDost]

@WatanDost what kind of a post is this. For a moment I had to go back as I thought it was from CENTCOM. Come are you paying a homage for the invading armies and trying to malign Talibaan. If that is the case then I am sorry I never understood you from the beginning.

Brother it is EVIDENT who is TERRORIZING AFGHANs
The INVADERS ofcourse.

Do Afghan Needs MARATHAN WINS?
or
AFGHANS were DYING to WIN beauty Contests?
or
Afghans were very fond of Watching P.Harry s motorcycle RIDES.