The Complete History of The Afghanistan War | Part 2
10/17/22 • 73 min
At 8:46am on September 11th, 2001 - the world changed forever...
A hijacked airliner was flown deliberately into the north tower of the World Trade Center followed seventeen minutes later by another plane which hit the south tower. A third airliner was flown into the Pentagon from where the US directed its global military operations while a fourth was brought down by courageous passengers who wrestled for control of the aircraft with the hijackers.
For decades, the US had believed that it existed behind an armoured shield comprised of its enormous military might. That belief was now shattered. With so many people killed not just from the United States but from across the globe, it was truly an attack on the free world and the cry went out for justice. For revenge.
Very quickly, it was concluded that the attack was authorized by Osama Bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network who had long dreamed of a spectacular attack on the US mainland. Known to be hiding out in Afghanistan under the umbrella of the ideologically driven Taliban regime, the US and its Allies geared up for war. On September 10th, only a small proportion of Americans knew where Afghanistan was on a map. On September 12th, nearly the entire population were focused on this rural, landlocked country as the hunt for the most wanted man on Earth began.
In this, the second episode of a two-part special on the violent history of Afghanistan, we are going to examine the American-led invasion of Afghanistan; America’s longest war.
At 8:46am on September 11th, 2001 - the world changed forever...
A hijacked airliner was flown deliberately into the north tower of the World Trade Center followed seventeen minutes later by another plane which hit the south tower. A third airliner was flown into the Pentagon from where the US directed its global military operations while a fourth was brought down by courageous passengers who wrestled for control of the aircraft with the hijackers.
For decades, the US had believed that it existed behind an armoured shield comprised of its enormous military might. That belief was now shattered. With so many people killed not just from the United States but from across the globe, it was truly an attack on the free world and the cry went out for justice. For revenge.
Very quickly, it was concluded that the attack was authorized by Osama Bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network who had long dreamed of a spectacular attack on the US mainland. Known to be hiding out in Afghanistan under the umbrella of the ideologically driven Taliban regime, the US and its Allies geared up for war. On September 10th, only a small proportion of Americans knew where Afghanistan was on a map. On September 12th, nearly the entire population were focused on this rural, landlocked country as the hunt for the most wanted man on Earth began.
In this, the second episode of a two-part special on the violent history of Afghanistan, we are going to examine the American-led invasion of Afghanistan; America’s longest war.
Previous Episode
The American Civil War: 1861 - 1865
The United States of America was born out of the yearning of the many people who had traveled there from the old world of Europe to be free of the imperial powers that had dominated them for centuries. To have democracy, liberty, justice for all and to take command of their own destiny.
The birth of the American nation was a painful one, first by having to fight against the forces of the British and then against the indigenous people of North America, within and from outside of the new borders they had declared. In between the many conflicts, the new nation had to establish its own laws, political system and even its own culture none of which developed overnight.
Obviously, there would not always be a consensus. Over the century after 1776 when the United States of America was born, while growing under a political union of the states that it was composed of, it also saw the widening of a cultural divide between the industrious northern states and the agricultural southern states. Perhaps more than anything else, the two sides of this divide found themselves at odds over the question of slavery.
The ethics of owning a person as property became a legal battle between those in support of the practice and those opposed in American courts and halls of power. Eventually, the dispute of course became a real battlefield. More Americans died in the American Civil War that raged on the North American continent between 1861 and 1865 than in any other war in which Americans have fought throughout its history.
And while the battles have long ended, the ramifications of the civil war continue to be felt to this very day in America over issues such as culture and of course race. So, let us delve into the history of this dark chapter of American history.
Next Episode
The First World War: The War to End War
"The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time" So remarked the British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, as the European continent geared up for war in the summer of 1914. Although at first glance his words appear somewhat fatalistic the fact is that what would transpire over the following four years would so dramatically change the world that the consequences of which would not be fully resolved until the end of the century when all the key figures involved had long died including Grey. Even today the consequences of that summer are still being felt in some way and we all live in the shadow of the aptly named Great War. The First World War. Welcome to Wars of the World.
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