Afghanistan Rodas Tuumai

Policy: a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party, business, or individual.

-strategic location—prone to many invasions in it’s history

-ethnically diverse country

-Islam is the official religion

-labeled as a “failed state” _________________________

U.S. & Afghanistan Policy

• 1979: Soviet Union sets up regime • 1978: country’s (U.S.) foreign policy was operating

under the assumption that the Soviet Union sought world domination (during Cold War). They saw in Afghan Muslims a common ally in their cause against the Russians

• Quietly began supporting rebels they became “sympathetic to those Afghanistan’s who were determined to preserve the country’s independence”

• nearly $3 billion covert (secret) aid • 1988: Soviet Union backs off (and the US);

Afghanistan is in ruins with no government; no US aid was provided **

• The Taliban emerges from chaos in 1994 • Training grounds built by CIA became

camps and refuges for militant terrorists, Al Qaeda

Osama Bin Laden Leader

• The Taliban emerges from chaos in 1994 • Training grounds built by CIA became camps

and refuges for militant terrorists • U.S. supported Taliban 1994-1996—reason:

oil interests

_______________________________________________

September 11, 2001 brought U.S. policy towards Afghanistan full circle.

9/11

U.K. & Afghanistan Policy

Following 9/11 attack…

Operation Enduring Freedom begins US, UK, and allies launch military strikes against Al-Qaeda training camps

British Army First UK troops are deployed to Afghanistan

• 3,300 British troops sent to southern Afghanistan, one of the most volatile regions in the country in 2006

• UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces : extra 500 British troops sent taking the total to 9,500 in 2009

• UK has committed £178 million per year up to 2017

• 2011: troops begin to return

Background Why was the UK recently in Afghanistan? Terrorists threatened UK and rest of the world

Issue

• The UK has played an important role in developing and training Afghan security forces

• A more viable state; one that can provide basic services, improve the lives of its ordinary citizens and reduce instability.

• The terrorist threat to the UK from this region has been substantially reduced

Protect their national security by helping the Afghans take control of their ownThe Taliban government gave Al-Qaueda safe haven in Afghanistan

Actions 3 main areas –

1. military2. political/diplomatic 3. development

Goal: develop Afghan government so that it can determine it’s own future eventually without significant help from international community

Works Cited

"2010 to 2015 Government Policy: Afghanistan." Gov. UK. UK Government, 8 May

Harvey, Katherine. "Afghanistan, The United States, and the Legacy of Afghanistan's

"US Military Expansion and Intervention in Afghanistan." Global Policy Forum.

Civil War." Stanford.edu. Stanford, 5 June 2003. Web. 1 Nov. 2015. <http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Afghanistan,%20the%20United%20States.htm>.

Global Policy Forum, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <https://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/26365-us-military-expansion-and-intervention-in-afghanistan.html>.

2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-afghanistan>.