United States Involvement in the Afghanistan War Do now: Describe Bryan Wood’s experience as a soldier so far in the book. What are two things that shock him in his first days?

 On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacked two targets in the U.S. Al-Qaeda is a group of Islamic terrorists that were largely based in Afghanistan. They hijacked four airplanes and intentionally crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in new York. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia and the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania in route to its target, the White House in Washington, D.C. The terrorist attacks on that day killed nearly 3,000 people.

 Osama bin Laden was blamed for the attacks, U.S. President George Bush called on other countries to help wage a war on terrorism to crush al-Qaeda. In October 2001, U.S., British, and Canadian forces invaded Afghanistan in search of bin Laden and to destroy al-Qaeda and their allies the Taliban (Operation Enduring Freedom).  Bin Laden was found and killed by a US team of Navy Seals in The grip of the Taliban and al-Qaeda on Afghanistan was broken. The U.S. let forces still struggle to control portions of the country.

 The group is wanted by the United States for its September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as a host of lesser attacks. To escape the post-9/11 U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s central leadership is believed to have fled eastward into Pakistan, securing a safe haven in loosely governed areas there.

 Al-Qaeda seeks to rid Muslim countries of what it sees as the influence of the West and replace their governments with fundamentalist Islamic regimes. After al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on America, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda’s bases there and overthrow the Taliban, the country’s Muslim fundamentalist rulers who harbored Bin Laden and his followers.  “Al-Qaeda” is Arabic for “The Base.”

 Al-Qaeda grew out of the opposition to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, bin Laden and the Palestinian religious scholar Abdullah Azzam, recruited, trained, and financed thousands of foreign mujahadeen, or holy warriors, from more than fifty countries. Bin Laden wanted these fighters to continue the "holy war" beyond Afghanistan. He formed al-Qaeda around 1988.

At the top was bin Laden. He was killed during a US Special Forces raid on May in Pakistan. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was thought to be bin Laden's top lieutenant and al-Qaeda's ideological adviser: killed by a US drone attack. Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan who was captured by Pakistani authorities in 2002 but managed to escape from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005, has emerged as the public face of al-Qaeda and another top- level leader.

The Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who established the Sunni Muslim extremist group al- Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and directed a series of deadly terror attacks in Iraq—including the beheadings of kidnapped foreigners—was also associated with al- Qaeda. Zarqawi pledged his allegiance to bin Laden in October 2004, and bin Laden praised Zarqawi as "the prince of al-Qaeda in Iraq." Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike near Baghdad in Abu Ayyub al-Masri, one of al-Zawahiri’s disciples since joining the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1982, succeeded Zarqawi as AQ #1 leader until he was killed on April 18 th, 2010

U.S. officials say several top al-Qaeda leaders are in their custody. Besides being detained, several senior leaders in the network have died or have been killed in the U.S.-led war against terrorists.

 There is no single headquarters. From 1991 to 1996, al-Qaeda worked out of Pakistan along the Afghan border, or inside Pakistani cities. Al-Qaeda has autonomous underground cells in some 100 countries, including the United States. Law enforcement has broken up al-Qaeda cells in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Albania, Uganda, and elsewhere.  To escape the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s leadership once again sought refuge in Pakistan’s tribal areas after September 11, Bin Laden, along with some other members of the organization, is thought to be hiding in Pakistan along the Afghan border.

 It’s impossible to say precisely, because al-Qaeda is decentralized. Estimates range from several hundred to several thousand members.

 In partners, read article and answer questions.

 Why is it important to know the experience of our veterans?  Do you think that veterans are treated properly in the US? Why or why not?  Continue reading through CH 2.

 Finish CH 2.