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September 11th (9/11) was the name given for the assault on the USA on September the 11th 2001 in which almost 3000 people were killed (original figures quoted in excess of 5000, this was later and quietly revised down and in February 2002 was reported at almost 2400, rising to almost 3000 in September 2002) at the World Trade centre and Pentagon when hijacked passenger aircraft were supposedly flown into them by suicide bombers. The assault was claimed by the Americans to have been masterminded by Osama Bin Laden, whom it was claimed was being sheletered by the Taleban regime in Afghanistan. Their refusal to hand him over to the Americans was the excuse needed by America and her ally Britain together with Afghan opposition forces (the Northern Alliance) to launch an all-out war against Afghanistan under the pretext that Afghanistan was involved in attacks against the West (this despite the fact that those involved in the September the 11th assault had been predominantly Saudi Arabian - 17 of the 19 hijackers being Saudi).
The war resulted in the destruction of Afghanistan's already pitiful infrastructure and the overthrow of the Taleban regime. Critics question the motives for the war against a country which produces around 75% of the world's heroin, and which had just been prevented from producing the drug by its ruling regime (the Taleban banned poppy planting in July 2000) - with the Taleban removed, intensive poppy planting got underway in late 2001 and the 2002 crop is expected to be a bumper crop. American and British objections to the Taleban regime had been passive and negligible for many years, the war happened to occur so soon after the Taleban's ban on opium production and failed in its declared objective which was to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden, leading critics to question the real reason for the war against a country with no army, air force or navy. Further controversy arose when it was revealed that thousands of Taleban prisoners of war had been murdered by Northern Alliance troops under the observation of American troops who made no attempt to prevent the massacre and subsequent hiding of the bodies.
After the September 11th incident suspicions were aroused that the attack may have been staged by the USA to justify a war against Afghanistan, Iraq and subsequently Iran and Syria also. Critics draw attention to similarities with 'Operation Northwoods' which was planned in 1962 to provide justification for a war against Cuba.
Although the USA claimed the invasion of Afghanistan was in order to arrest Osama Bin Laden, as of 2007 he was still at large.
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Warfare
