Afghanistan: Current Issues and U.S. Policy
Abstract
Afghanistan is a fragile state attempting, with U.S. help, to stabilize after more than 22 years of warfare, including a U.S.-led war that brought the current government to power. Before the U.S. military campaign against the Taliban began on Oct 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion in 1979. The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until its collapse in Dec 2001 at the hands of the U.S.-led military campaign. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Osama bin Laden. Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghan citizens are enjoying new personal freedoms that were forbidden before, but security concerns are slowing reconstruction. On May 1, the United States and the Afghan government declared major U.S.-led combat to have ended and that U.S.-led forces would henceforth concentrate on stabilization. U.S. stabilization measures include extending the writ of the central government, building a new Afghan national army, supporting an international security force, setting up regional enclaves to create secure conditions for reconstruction, and disarming independent militias. To help foster development, the UN and the Bush Administration have lifted most sanctions imposed on Afghanistan since the Soviet occupation. The United States gave Afghanistan over $815 million in aid during FY2002, but aid will rise for FY2004 to about $1.8 billion after factoring in a new additional ($1.2 billion) aid package requested in Sep 2003. On Dec 5, 2001, major Afghan factions signed an agreement to form an interim government that ran Afghanistan until a traditional national assembly ("loya jirga") was held June 11-19, 2002. The loya jirga delegates selected a new government to run Afghanistan for the next 2 years and approved Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, to continue as leader for that time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 07, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA472897
Entities
People
- Kenneth Katzman
Organizations
- Library of Congress