U.S. invasion of Afghanistan


The United States, with support from the United Kingdom and the Northern
Alliance invaded Afghanistan in October, 2001 as part of its "War on
Terrorism". The military campaign, led by U.S. general Tommy Franks, was
initially dubbed Operation Infinite Justice but quickly renamed Operation
Enduring Freedom, due to the perceived religious connotations of the former.
British military operations against Afghanistan were codenamed Operation
Veritas.

According to the US, the purpose of Operation Enduring Freedom was to target
Osama bin Laden, suspected of planning and funding the September 11, 2001
Terrorist Attack, and his terrorist network al-Qaida, as well as and the
Taliban government in Afghanistan which refused to unconditionally extradite
bin Laden and members of his organization. Many journalists have reported
that plans to attack al-Qaida and the Taliban had been made as early as the
Clinton administration, but bureaucratic wrangling had delayed action until
after the September 11 attack.

Initial Attack

Before October 7, there were reports that U.S. and British special-forces
soldiers were covertly landed in Afghanistan at some time after September
11, presumably for reconnaissance purposes, and that several of these troops
were captured by the Taliban. As of October 1, all such reports had been
officially denied by the U.S., British, and Afghani governments.

At approximately 16:30 UTC (12:30 EDT, 17:00 local time) on Sunday October
7, 2001, US and British forces struck at the Taliban forces and those of
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network in Afghanistan. The US
government justified these attacks as a response to the September 11, 2001
Terrorist Attack. The Taliban condemned these attacks and called them an
'attack on Islam.'

Strikes were reported over the capital, Kabul (where electricity supplies
were severed), at the airport and military nerve-centre of Kandahar (home of
the Taliban's Supreme Leader Mullah Omar), and also at the city of Jalalabad
(military/terrorist training camps). Both US President George W. Bush and UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed their respective nations on the subject.
Bush confirmed the attacks on national television at 1 PM EDT. He said that
at the same time as Taliban military and terrorists' training grounds would
be targeted, food would be dropped because the Afghani people were "friends"
of the US.

A number of different technologies were employed in the strike. Air Force
general Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that
approximately 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles, launched by British and US
submarines and ships, 15 strike aircraft from carriers and 25 bombers, such
as B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress and F-16 Fighting Falcon were
involved in the first wave. Two C-17 Globemaster transport jets were to
deliver 37,500 daily rations by airdrop to refugees inside Afghanistan on
the first day of the attack.

A pre-recorded video tape of Osama bin Laden had been released before the
attack in which he condemned any attacks against Afghanistan. Al-Jazeera,
the Arabic satellite news channel, claimed that these tapes were received
shortly before the attack. In this recording bin Laden claimed that the
United States would fail in Afghanistan and then collapse, just as the
Soviet Union did, and called for a war of Muslims, a Jihad, against the
entire non-Muslim world.

Briefings by Washington defense officials indicated that the assaults would
continue for the foreseeable future, with long-range bombing missions
attacking Afghanistan from US and allied coalition soil.

Taliban retreat

On November 13, the Taliban began a massive military retreat and Taliban
members in the city of Jalalabad announced that they were handing power over
to a civilian administration and then withdrew from the city. The Northern
Alliance pushed into Kabul and killing six Arabs and Pakistanis who
attempted an ambush in the process, as Taliban forces retreated to Chahar
Asiab. In Nimroz Province, as the Taliban retreated, Karim Baravi, the
former governor, retook power.

Operation Anaconda

In (March 2002). fighting was renewed as coalition forces made a massive
push against about 500 to 1000 Al-Qaida and Taliban forces (many of whom are
with their families) in the Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains southeast of
Zormat.

By March 6, eight Americans and seven Afghan soldiers had been killed and
about 400 opposing forces had also been killed in the fighting.

Nature of coalition

The first wave of attacks was carried out solely by American and British
forces. On the second day, only American forces participated. In addition to
the United Kingdom, a number of other countries provided support which,
although undoubtedly of practical value, is generally seen as primarily a
moral statement. In rough order of level of contribution, these were:

   * Canada: about 2,500 troops (mostly commandos), six ships and six
     aircraft.
   * France
   * Germany: Several thousand troops including special forces, naval
     vessels, NBC cleanup teams.
   * Russia
   * Italy
   * The Netherlands
   * Australia: about 300 SAS troops, air-to-air refueling tankers, Navy
     frigates, two Orion electronic intelligence gathering aircraft, and
     F/A-18 fighter aircraft for Diego Garcia.
   * Denmark: six F-16 fighters.
   * Norway: six F-16 fighters, logistic teams, mine clearance teams, and
     C-130 transports.
   * Bahrain: Naval vessels.
   * Jordan
   * Japan, in its first military deployment since World War II, contributed
     naval support for non-combat reinforcement of the operation.
   * Romania: 25 military police and a C-130 transport aircraft.
   * Note: this list is currently incomplete and almost certainly inaccurate

Despite reluctance in the Arab states towards retaliation against the
al-Qaida network in Afghanistan, the Pakistani leader General Pervez
Musharraf has offered support. Pakistan and Iran agreed to open borders to
receive the expected increased migration of refugees from Afghanistan.
Pakistan has traditionally supported the Taliban. Uzbekistan has allowed the
U.S. to place troops on the ground as well as use an airfield for
humanitarian relief.

The campaign is viewed on all fronts as an American initiative. The American
news media labeled the attacks as "America Attacks", "American Strikes Back"
or some such; the U.S. government repeatedly stated its willingness to
undertake the attacks unilaterally if necessary; the BBC referred to a
"confrontation between Afghanistan and the U.S."; the majority of the forces
are American; the entire campaign is unequivocally led by the U.S.; the U.S.
informed NATO of the attack but did not seek its consent.

Casualties and Accidental Strikes

On October 9, 2001, in a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, a United
Nations spokeswoman reported that a cruise missile had killed four U.N.
employees and injured four others in a building several miles east of Kabul.
The casualties were Afghans employed as security guards by the Afghan
Technical Consultancy, the U.N. demining agency (Afghanistan is the most
heavily mined country on the planet). The Taliban reported about 8 to 20
civilian casualties, unconfirmed by independent sources.

On December 2, 2001, the Afghan village of Agam - located 15 km north of the
Tora Bora complex - was hit by stray US bombing. 18 people were killed
(mainly members of a single family) and many more seriously injured. Other
persons near the village are also killed or injured by US bombing on or
about this time.

On January 24, 2002, Green Beret commandos mistakenly raided a district
compound and a school in Oruzgan, believing there were Taliban inside.
However, the people they fought and killed (16, according to the Pentagon,
21, according to the Afghans) were interim-government soldiers collecting
material from former Taliban supporters.

In the school, about 24 Afghans were asleep when several dozen Green Berets
landed from helicopters and attacked. At least one Afghan returned fire,
some escaped, one was taken prisoner and the rest were killed, including
commanders Abdul Qadoos and Sana Gul, killed by grenade. In the compound,
about 50 Afghans were asleep when American forces landed and attacked,
killing two and taking 26 prisoners.

On March 2, 2002, Army Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman, of the
Third Special Forces Group, was killed in an ambush along the road from
Gardez to the Shahi Kot Valley.

On March 4, 2002, Seven American Special Forces soldiers were killed as they
attempt to infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter
reconnaissance mission. Around 3 a.m. local time a MH-47 Chinook helicopter
was hit by an rocket-propelled grenade, causing a soldier to fall out and
damaging a hydraulic line. The helicopter made an emergency landing a
half-mile away.

A second helicopter on the mission picked up the first helicopter's crew and
flew to where the crew member had fallen. The soldiers soon came under heavy
fire, and six were killed. The remaining soldiers returned fire and
retrieved the bodies before returning to base.

On April 18, four Canadians soldiers were killed (Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl.
Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green and Pte. Nathan Smith) and eight wounded
when an American F-16 fighter jet dropped a bomb during a training exercise
near Kandahar. These were the first Canadian soldiers to be killed in combat
since the Korean War. An American board of inquiry eventually placed the
blame on the pilot, who dropped the bomb without first receiving
authorization.

On July 1, 2002, 48 people at a wedding party in a village in Oruzgan
province were killed, and a further 117 injured, in a bombing raid. The name
of the village is Del Rawad, though early reports gave its name as Kakrakai
or Kakrak. Gunfire meant to celebrate the wedding was apparently mistaken by
US military for hostile gunfire. A B-52 bomber and and AC 130 helicopter
were both involved in the incident, which reportedly went on for over an
hour. The victims included many women and children. Some survivors were
treated in Mirwai Hospital in Kandahar, and at least four children were
treated at military hospitals in Bagram and Kandahar.

The incident resulted in a formal protest, and later a warning, from the
Afghan government. An anti-American rally was held in Kabul on July 5 as a
protest against the incident. On July 3, US President George Bush expressed
"deep condolences for the loss of human life", and US authorities later
stated that the area affected by the bombing would be rebuilt. Several
inquiries into the incident were undertaken. According to The Times, a
preliminary UN report has stated that US forces arrived at the scene of the
bombing raid and removed vital evidence. However, this has been dismissed as
false by the Afghan government.

United States bombs have also struck a Kabul residential area and struck
near and damaged a military hospital (according to the U.N.) or an elderly
home (according to the Pentagon) in Herat.

By studying the available news reporting including Taliban reports, Marc
Herold came to the conclusion that 3767 civilians died because of US bombs
in Afghanistan between October 7 and December 7. Other inquiries have listed
only 300-400 civilians killed between October 2001 and July 2002.

Diplomatic efforts

Meetings of various Afgan leaders were organised by the United Nations and
took place in Germany. The Taliban was not included. These meetings produced
an interim government and an agreement to allow a United Nations
peacekeeping force to enter Afghanistan.

Humanitarian efforts

It is estimated that in Afghanistan there are 1.5 million suffering from
immediate starvation, as well as 7.5 million suffering as a result of the
country's dire situation - the combination of civil war, drought-related
famine, and, to a large extent, the Taliban's oppressive regime.

In Pakistan, the United Nations and private humanitarian organisations have
begun gearing up for the massive humanitarian effort necessary in addition
to the already major refugee and food efforts. The United Nations World Food
Program temporarily suspended activities within Afghanistan at the beginning
of the bombing attacks. The efforts have, as of early (December 2001),
resumed with a daily distrubution rate of 3,000 tons a day. It is however
estimated that 30,000 tons of food will be needed by (January 2002) to
provided sufficient relief to the impoverished masses.

By November 1, U.S. C-17s flying at 30,000 feet had dropped 1,000,000 food
and medicine packets marked with an American flag. Doctors Without Borders
called it an act of transparent propaganda and said that using medicines
without medical consultation is much more likely to cause harm than good.
Action Against Hunger head of operations in Afghanistan Thomas Gonnet said
it was an "act of marketing". A further dangerous problem lies in the fact
that the food packets are bright yellow in color; the same color as
unexploded bomblets from U.S. cluster bombs. Some injuries and damage to
housing also occurred from boxes of relief supplies dropped from U.S. aircraft.

Protests, demonstrations and rallies

Several small protest occurred in various cities and college campuses across
the United States and in other countries in the first days after the start
of the boming campaign. These were mainly peaceful but larger protests and
general strikes occurred in Pakistan, a previous Taliban ally. Some of these
were suppressed by police with casualties among the protesters. In various
Islamic nations, as well as in many "Western" industrialised nations with no
official state religion, protests and rallies of various sizes against the
attack on Afghanistan took place.

On October 7, there was a peace rally of ten to twelve thousand people in
New York City. They marched from Union Square to Times Square, cheering the
police at the beginning of the march. The list of about twelve speakers was
cut to three or four by the police, and they were herded at the end into a
one-lane-wide "bullpen". The New York Times buried their coverage of the
march on page B12 and, after the first couple of weeks of the campaign, few
protests occurred.

Many protesters felt that the attack on Afghanistan was unjustified
aggression and would lead to the deaths of many innocent people by
preventing humanitarian aid workers from bringing food into the country.

Misinformation and rumors

U.S. planned "terrorist" attack as pretext

     These attacks are stated to be in response to the September 11, 2001
     Terrorist Attack. However, many members of the Islamic community
     believe that there was actually a conspiracy, and that the terrorist
     attacks were planned as an artificial pretext for the American military
     action. Many Islamic media organizations are disseminating these
     theories. See also September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Misinformation
     and rumors.

Coded messages in Osama bin Laden tapes

     The U.S. government requested that national media not air or check with
     the federal government first, before airing pre-recorded messages from
     Osama bin Laden. The reasons they gave were that bin Laden may be
     sending coded messages within the tapes, and that the airing of such
     propaganda was inadvisable. The networks stated that they would review
     the tapes before airing them. See also propaganda, steganography, First
     Amendment.

Classified information

     The executive branch, claiming secrets from a classified briefing were
     leaked to the media (the actual story, involving a Washington Post
     article, is more complicated), said that it would henceforth only brief
     eight members of Congress on military exercises. As that is illegal,
     Congress objected and the President backed off. White House officials
     did say that they would reconsider the amount of information they would
     release in such briefings. See also Watergate, Pentagon Papers, Freedom
     of Information Act.

Slogans and terms

US Government:

   * Operation Enduring Freedom
   * War on Terror

   * Yahoo: "Allied Strikes"
   * CNN: "America Strikes Back", "America's New War"
   * MSNBC: "America Strikes Back"
   * ABC: "America Strikes" (AMERICA STRIKES in white bold italic sans-serif
     above three horizontal red stripes which fade at edges on dark blue
     background)
   * NBC: "Taliban Attacked" ("Taliban ATTACKED" in yellow sans-serif)
   * New York Times: "America Attacks" & "A Nation Challenged"