On Tuesday the 11th of September 2001, one of the greatest tragedies of modern history shook America to it’s core.The operation, known as 9/11 was a terrorist attack by the organisation known as Al-QaedaIt’s leader, an Islamic man by the name of Osama Bin LadenPresident George W. Bush gave the rulers of Afghanistan an ultimatum: hand over the terrorists responsible for 9/11, or “share in their fate”

American air strikes began on 10/7/01, less than a month after 9/11

The Taliban controlled government refused to hand over their allies

The war for Afghanistan

A refugee crisis

Root out any influence of the Taliban organisation within the government of Afghanistan and to replace it’s system with that of a western-style democracy. The current purpose of the war now is to prevent local villages and citizens from supporting the Taliban. Over time various other nations have joined America in fighting the insurgent terrorist groups within Afghanistan such as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, this group of nations is called NATO or also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Corruption within the government have allowed the Taliban to maintain small influence in the political world.

The objective

Areas of current possession

Civilian Impact

Since the war was based only in Afghanistan a large amount of damage was caused to local villages and tribes including civilian casualties and the destruction of nearby homes, this caused many people to leave Afghanistan in order to avoid death or persecution by the Taliban.

However these were not the only reason refugees decided to emigrate from Afghanistan, when the Americans installed a new government, it was filled with corruption and had ties to terrorist groups within Afghanistan.

Due to the war and the poorly managed government, the economy of Afghanistan has driven most citizens into extreme poverty, with most unable to get education or a decent meal.

The refugees had little choice, remain in Afghanistan and be ignored of basic human rights or to flee to a place of asylum in hopes to be taken care of.

Both options provided consequences, but the final decision was dependant on how heavily one outweighed the other.

Consequences of emigration

As refugees, people lose all of their social status and become fragile people in need, leaving the country means leaving your friends, family and everything you owned.

Not only that but by arriving in a foreign country you will experience isolation and discrimination, you will have to start from scratch in a completely new society.

Even worse, a few crowded refugee camps enable the spread of diseases, with most camps only setup to deliver the most basic of human rights people quickly die from various sicknesses due to bad hygiene, hundreds perish every month.

And despite all of this

the country may still not want you

Countries of asylum

Consequences on the country of asylumDriven from their homes with little food and few possessions, refugees tend to turn to the environment as a means of support, in Pakistan mass deforestation has left the area with less than 12% of it’s original forest cover.

Refugees use foliage for livestock feed, branches for firewood, timber for shelter and even going to the extent of digging up tree roots for firewood; these actions have left most of the area unfit for basic forms of agriculture. There are also large conflicts due to the unsustainable practice used on water sources and the ignorance of traditions and laws set in place to protect wildlife and other natural resources.

The are up to 8.4 million refugees from Afghanistan, 5.7 million in which have returned to Afghanistan

Afghanistan has an overall population of 35.32 million, making at least 23% of the population refugees

Javelin missiles are so expensive (75,000 ea.) that British soldiers in Afghanistan refer to firing a Javelin as "throwing a Porsche at them."

11 New Zealanders have been killed in the war so far

Over the past 6 years, 16,000 afghan civilians have lost their lives to the war

So far the war has cost USA 2.7 trillion dollars, $2,700,000,000,000

With that amount of money you could buy 1/3 of the entire internet, or just buy all of New ZealandOr at New Zealand’s current GDP, why not buy 5 New Zealands?

Special thanks to www.unhcr.org, www.reuters.com and en.wikipedia.org

By Jesse C