•Directly after 9/11 the Taliban control 90% of Afghanistan•Refuse to hand over Bin Laden or expel al-Qaeda•By late 2001, CIA and special forces operatives join the Northern Alliance•By 2002 – 350 special forces soldiers, 100 CIA operatives, 15,000 Northern Alliance soldiers defeat 50,000 Taliban

Bin Laden escapes into the Northern tribal region of Pakistan

US shifts emphasis when war in Iraq begins in 2003

Taliban flees into Northern Pakistan and begins to expand South bringing Sharia law with them

Pakistani government reluctant/unable to challenge Taliban

Obama campaigns on a promise to withdraw troops from Iraq and put them in Afghanistan

End of Bush presidency and start of Obama administration see doubling of US troops (to 60,000)

By 2009 -- UK: 6,800; Germany: 3,400; France: 2,700

Casualties: Taliban -- 20,000 killedUS -- 687 killedAfghani security forces – 4,500 killedNorthern Alliance – 200 killed

Current Taliban and al-Qaeda strength (estimate) 9,000-13,000

Weapons of Mass Destruction Sanctions – food for oil,

corruption Suffering Civilian Iraqi

population No-fly zones, US troops still in

Saudi Arabia Sadam Hussein’s brutality Spread democracy Psychological?

Conventional war goes very well (250,000 US and 45,000 British soldiers capture Baghdad in three weeks)

Military unprepared for massive looting

Kurds, Shias happy – Sunnis nervous

US disbands Iraqi army

2004-2007 Sunnis launch

resistance campaign against US troops

al-Qaeda foments civil war – attacks al-Askari shrine

Concerns over Shia alliance with Iran

US strategy – heavily defended bases, patrols, searching for enemy

Starting in 2007 “Awakening Councils”

created in Sunni areas – assisted by al-Qaeda brutality

Troops stationed in neighborhoods and live among civilian population

Walls built between Shia and Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad

General Petraeus