Afgahnistan Iraq and Al-Qaeda

An Afghan Kingdom In 1919 the British gave up and it became a Kingdom The Kingdom lasted for two generation and ended in 1973, and it became a republic. In 1978 a communist regime seized power and was supported by the Soviet Union. A Muslim freedom movement (Including Osama Bin Laden) fought back…supported by the US War devastated the country for 10 years

The Taliban In 1989 the Soviet Union gave up. War raged between moderates and the Taliban a fundamentalist Muslim movement. In 1992 the Taliban won. It rules according to Sharia (Islamic) Law and local conservative values They allowed almost no religious or intellectual freedom Women lost their rights

Iraq becomes independent For many years Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire. After WW1 in was placed under British Control In 1932 it became an independent Kingdom Though the British kept military bases there. In 1941 the British fought a Iraq Nationalist group that had seized power to ensure oil for the Allies. The Kingdom was restored after WW2 It was overthrown by a military coup in 1958 Which was overthrown by another military coup in 1963 Finally the Ba’ath party took control in 1968

The Ba’ath Party The Ba’ath party was an Arab secular socialist political party that sought to unite Arab countries as one large socialist nation. It came to power in Egypt and Syria in the 1950’s establishing socialist dictatorships From the Ba’ath party united the countries of Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic or “UAR” Ba’athists controlled Iraq from 1968 until the US invasion in During the Cold War they were supported by the Soviet Union Thus relations with the US were tenuous at best

In 1979 a Sunni Arab named Saddam Hussein, a leader of the Ba’ath party seized power to avoid a union with Syria He then invaded Shia Iran after the revolution The War continued for 10 years. Iraq used poison gas on Iranians and ethnic Kurds during the War violating international law. In 1990 Iraq conquered its oil-rich neighbor Kuwait. The United States declared war on Iraq The Arab league supported the US which easily drove the Iraqi army out. It was called “Desert Storm” An Aggressive Iraq

Bin Laden Dissed Al Qaeda – US Enmity begins When Iraq invaded Kuwait Bin laden offered the Saudi King troops to fight Iraq. The King rejected the offer and accepted US forces allowing them to live and operate in Saudi-Arabia Bin laden declared that this “profaned sacred soil.” He attacked Saudi-government with words and eventually the US with terrorism He went into exile in Sudan

Al-Qaeda Around 1988 Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi veteran of the Afghanistan war against the Soviet Union founded a terrorist organization called Al Qaeda (The Base) It advocates global Jihad with the goal of establishing Islamic Theocracies worldwide Saddam Hussein was secular and therefore had no interaction with Al-Qaeda Because of his connections with the Taliban Al- Qaeda was based in Afghanistan

The Al Qaeda Plan Its plan is to… 1.Attack the US so they will invade as many Muslim countries as possible 2.Organize local resistance, & recruit terrorists 3.Expand conflicts into wars expensive to fight 4.Make Al-Qaeda an ideology that “franchises” terrorism 5.By 2020 make US Economy collapse producing global chaos and Wage Global Jihad..bringing Islamic rule to the world

9/11 9/11 in New York and the Pentagon Two Hijacked planes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center One crashed into the Pentagon On one passengers fought with the Hijackers crashing in rural Penn. It was intended to hit the White house 2,977 people died

US Response The US asked the Taliban to turn over Bin laden They refused In 2001 the US invaded Afghanistan and threw the Taliban out of Power But the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban fought on from bases in the south and the Pakistani border region. On May Osama bin Laden was killed…but… It and its Taliban allies still control parts of Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda is an ideology that has spread into many countries. As the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS) and Boko Haram