Britain and the War on Terror

How far is B shaped by the events of September 11th 2001?

Aftermath of September 11th

Almost 3,000 civilians died and became the worst foreign attack on US and the most deadly terrorist attack in history

Iraq and Afghanistan’s comment on the event?

Leaders in Afghanistan would condemn US aggression against Muslim countries. And the Iraqi dictator issued a statement declaring that the US deserved the attack

Who were Al Queda?

The synchronised nature of the attack was the hall mark of the Islamic extremist group - Al Queda, led by Bin Laden

The nature of Al Queda Terror attacks

Attacks had become more audacious and ambitious in scale by mid 90s:

* 1996: plans to assassinate Bill Clinton were intercepted
* 2000: launched a suicide attack against the US destroyer, killing 17 US servicement

The impact of 9/11

Blair believed strongly in the Special Relationship and had a close relationship with the President Bush - in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Blair declared Britain would ‘stand full square alongside the USA’ in the fight against terrorism

2001 invasion of Afghanistan

Plans were made for a NATO led invasion of Afghanistan, where British and US forces launched a military campaign to remove the Taliban and destroy Al Qaeda

Did the War in Afghanistan achieve its aim by 2007?

Was the initial invasion successful?

Although the initial invasion was a success, very few Taliban leaders were captured. The hunt for leading members of Al Qaeda were futile, as many had escaped across the border into Pakistan

Hamid Karzai

Put in charge of an interim government and would be elected as the head of a transitional government

Nationwide elections in Afghanistan

Both men and women were allowed to vote, as Karzai was elected the new leader. However, elections were overshadowed by voter fraud, incidents of intimidation and growing violence in some areas

Cross border raids

Al Qaeda fighters began resorting to cross border raids against UK and US forces. They would use missile attacks and roadside bombs which inflicted a steady loss of life on troops in the region

Operation Jacana

Launched to try and bring Taliban soldiers who had gone into hiding in the open, however, this had limited success

Rise in Western attacks

Pamphlets were appearing across Afghan towns calling for locals to rise against the Western forces. Large scale Taliban attacks began to take place across the country

Increase in Taliban resistance

International forces led by Britain took over the main operations in dealing with the Taliban as US forces were drawn into the ongoing Iraq conflict. Taliban resistance grew over the coming weeks inflicting greater casualties against the British

Operation Mountain Thrust

One of the largest operations against the Taliban. Over 11,000 Allied forces took on around 2000 Taliban members - resulted in high losses for the Taliban but did not destroy them

Failed capture of Al Qaeda

The initial hope of capturing Al Qaeda leaders such as Bin Laden had failed. Very few senior Al Qaeda figures were captured or killed with many escaping into Pakistan - this meant operations were able to continue

The Impact of the war on Afghanistan

The Taliban regime applied strict laws that subjugated women, restricted civil liberties for all and used harsh methods of torture (eg. stoning) that were all condemned by international bodies

Civil and human rights introduced by the Taliban

* Voting rights given to all men and women
* Freedom of speech and media
* Women’s rights were vastly improved - but not equal status
* Torture was outlawed

Limitations to the new civil rights

Afghan government and security services were accused of violating many of the new laws and were accused of corruption - the country also remains one of the poorest in the world