Afghanistan/2001 Invasion

Afghanistan

 Afghanistan/2001 Invasion link(war) Corbett Report

File:Ten-years-of-war-on-terror-in-afghanistan-yasha-harari.jpg
Date	7 October 2001 - 30 August 2021
Location	Afghanistan
Description	The war in Afghanistan, instigated within a month of 9/11, supposedly in retaliation, with the claimed justification - for which no evidence has been presented - that the attacks were planned by Ossama bin Laden, and that he was based in Afghanistan.
Perpetrators	NATO
Blamed on	Responsibility Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden Alleged Saudi role Motives Hijackers 20th hijacker Hamburg cell Trials

The 2001 Afghanistan war lasted 19 years. It was a US-led attack, but involved military contingents from many other countries. It began on October 7, 2001, as the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) with substantial British military support, allegedly (as the official narrative has it) 'in response to the September 11^th, 2001 attacks on the US'. The UK has, since 2002, led its own military operation, Operation Herrick, as part of the same war in Afghanistan. By 2015, it has cost the US government over $1,000,000,000,000.

Official Narrative

The justification for the attacks we as that the 9/11 attacks of September 11, 2001 were carried out by Al-Qaeda under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden, who was taking refuge in Afghanistan, under the protection of Taliban forces. NATO's December 2009 publicity strategy states that "building on NATO’s current media operations and public diplomacy efforts in support of the operation in Afghanistan, NATO will pursue more targeted and expanded communication activities to generate broader and more comprehensive reporting on what NATO’s operation has already achieved in Afghanistan". As far as opium production is concerned, predictable smoke and mirrors are used to hide that fact that production has increased since the NATO-led invasion of the country.

Problems

There were reports that indicated that the US would go to war in Afghanistan as early as March 2001. Planning continued up to the day of 9-11. The BBC reported a week after 9-11 that "Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October".

Osama Bin Laden denied responsibility for the attacks and no evidence has been presented of his responsibility. On 5 October, the Taliban offered to try bin Laden in an Afghan court, so long as the U.S. provided what it called "solid evidence" of his guilt. The U.S. government dismissed the request for proof as "request for delay or prevarication".

Motives

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A recommended video by James Corbett

While the MICC profits from war anywhere, a range of local factors undoubtedly contributed to the selection of Afghanistan as a target. Afghan grown opium is an obvious major factor.

Opium

Sibel Edmonds links the war to Operation Gladio/B, suggesting that - drug eradication rhetoric not withstanding - a major motive for the war was control of the world's opium production. This was very low in 2000 after the crop was banned by the Taliban, but has quickly risen again and exceeded pre-invasion levels.

Oil

File:Opium production in Afghanistan.gif

Charlotte Dennett suggests that the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, planned since the early 1990s provides a more credible alternative explanation. The secret intelligence agencies have long been interested in the large profits to be made from the global drug trade, for which

Mineral wealth

A 2007 study by the USGS noted about $1 trillion in mineral wealth in the ground in Afghanistan.

War crimes

Full article: The Massacre at Mazar

War propaganda

Malala Yousafzai

Full article: Malala Yousafzai

Education

Images of NATO troops building (girls') schools in the country was a continued propaganda trope. {{#subobject: |Has superobject=Afghanistan/2001 Invasion |Has objectClass=Quotation |Has author=Erik Edstrom|+sep=, |Has text=“From a strictly economic perspective, if America's goal was to provide a quality education to Afghan children, it would have achieved far better social impact, at lower cost, with no suffering if the military followed these steps; Buy a used Gulfstream IV (~$4m), pack it full of Afghan children, fly them across the world to Andover, Groton, Eton, or some Swiss boarding school, and pay for their entire education (~$4.7m for 24 students, all four years, with boarding). And after everyone is off the private jet, fill two briefcases with money - $1 million, each; $2 million, in total, in brick of $100 bills - place them on the jet while it's still on the tarmac, and proceed to blow up the jet with high explosives. This is the effective cost of building a mud and cinder block shanty school in Afghanistan.” |Is about=Afghanistan/2001 Invasion,development aid,NATO,Afghanistan/occupation,|+sep=, |Has wikipediaPage= |Has location=|+sep=, |Has publicationDate=2020 |Sourced from=Un-American, A Soldier's Reckoning of our Longest War, page 128 |Has sourceDetails= |Has sourceTitle= |Has sourceName=Un-American, A Soldier's Reckoning of our Longest War, page 128 |Has sourceURL=

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“From a strictly economic perspective, if America's goal was to provide a quality education to Afghan children, it would have achieved far better social impact, at lower cost, with no suffering if the military followed these steps; Buy a used Gulfstream IV (~$4m), pack it full of Afghan children, fly them across the world to Andover, Groton, Eton, or some Swiss boarding school, and pay for their entire education (~$4.7m for 24 students, all four years, with boarding). And after everyone is off the private jet, fill two briefcases with money - $1 million, each; $2 million, in total, in brick of $100 bills - place them on the jet while it's still on the tarmac, and proceed to blow up the jet with high explosives. This is the effective cost of building a mud and cinder block shanty school in Afghanistan.”
Erik Edstrom (2020) 
Former captain in the U.S. Army

See Also

• Set of Radio Shows on The Invasion of Afghanistan

References