The idea of independence and the republic did not immediately come in the minds of American colonists. Revolution was preceded by several decades of intense ideological work and as a result the principles underlying the modern American state were born. These principles define the attitude of American people to their country, its political system and its role in the world. They had a significant influence on the world, particularly in the French Revolution. Until now, any democratic movement is turning to the great thoughts, once formulated by the founding fathers.
American policy affects the lives of people in all parts of the world, even in the matters of life and death. Therefore, hardly surprising that 40% of people, who polled around the world, say that they want to be able to vote in the presidential election in the United States of America.
After a decade of relatively successful approval of U.S. as a leading country in global policies, the international situation had deteriorated. The optimism of forecasts about the favorable impact of a democratic superpower on the world development was not justified. The contradictions between the United States and the world are becoming more visible. Political and military crisis, faced by the U.S. in Iraq, and a noticeable worsening of the internal U.S. policy against Iraq, provides grounds to think about the limited capacity of the power regulation in America.
After World War I, the U.S. tried to enter the global political arena in the role of a leading country. In 1914-1917, the U.S. pursued a policy of neutrality, which had a positive impact on the economy.
In the 1920s, the United States fought for political expansion in Latin America, buying land and lending credits. In some countries, it was directly controlled by the U.S. finance and customs offices, sometimes reinforcing its presence with the army.
It should be noted that before the World War II in the U.S. the doctrine of isolationism was very popular among the ruling elite.
Victorious conclusion of World War II and the atomic bombings of Japan, held in August 1945, quickly changed the role and importance of the U.S. in European and world politics. A very successful implementation of the plan of economic assistance to the countries of Western Europe, known as the Marshall Plan (1947-1952) allowed the U.S. to finally become a dominant country in economic and political influence in Western Europe, and later in other regions.
Since the 1940s, the United States took part in a number of armed conflicts and military coups in the world, including the revolution in Iran in 1953, the Bay of Pigs in 1961, the war in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since 1996, the capital and much of the territory of Afghanistan was controlled by the Taliban movement. Even then, Osama bin Laden (number one terrorist, wanted in the U.S.) took refuge in Afghanistan. The Taliban refused to extradite bin Laden after the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush made an ultimatum to the Taliban movement: “As soon as possible to give bin Laden and all the leaders of al Qaeda to American justice.” (Joseph, 2011) On September 21, the Taliban refused, saying that the Americans did not provide sufficient proof of the involvement of the organization in the attacks in New York and Washington.
On September 11, 2001 from 8 AM to 10 AM, the U.S. has been attacked by an unknown enemy.
Pre-news agency reported about the capture of 11 airplanes; then their number was reduced to four. Two planes at intervals of 40 minutes crashed into two towers of the World Trade Center. Other plane hit the Pentagon and a fourth plane crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their goal was obviously to hit the White House or the U.S. Congress. Since the U.S. special services began to classify information almost the next day, it remained unclear whether the fourth plane was shot down by the U.S. anti-aircraft missile, or the passengers rushed on the terrorists and sent the plane down on the field. At the cost of their lives, Washington was saved from the tragedy.
According to the U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, 18 people, who participated in the kidnapping of airplanes, were identified. All in all, the attack on the U.S. involved about 50 people.
According to FBI Director - Robert Mueller, the terrorists were on the board of the aircraft completely legally, as ordinary passengers with tickets. The kidnappers were armed with primitive weapons - plastic knives and razors.
As a result of the attack on the U.S., about 5,000 people died and the losses were more than a hundred billion dollars.
After a bit of thought, the U.S. came to the conclusion that the attack could only be held by Osama bin Laden, although he denied the allegations.
Osama bin Laden was born in 1957, 17th baby in a row. In all, the family had 52 children. Family assets are estimated at 5 - $ 6 billion dollars. Osama bin Laden controls from 200 to 500 million, and owns through firms in Western Europe (Christopher & Charles, 2008). Osama bin Laden began his martial way in 1980 in the Afghan resistance, during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. He passed special training from the inspectors of CIA, received money from the Americans for his holy war. He was wounded several times and lost an eye. Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, he returned to Saudi Arabia and a year later, spoke out against his American sponsors. As U.S. troops remained in Saudi Arabia, Islamic extremists have accused the U.S. of desecration of Mecca and Medina. He was the sponsor of suicide bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the explosion at a U.S. base in Al-Khobar in 1996, which killed 24 Americans (David, 2000).
The events of September 11, 2001 immediately had and continued to have a major impact on the development and implementation of the U.S. policy in Central Asia. The strategic objective of the United States is economic, military, cultural and ideological consolidation in the region under the banner of complementarity, mutual need, the spread of democratic values and others, under the pretext of the fight against international terrorism, the remnants of the Russian colonialism and backwardness. In its second coming in Central Asia (the first took place in the early 1990's.) the U.S. and its allies will be more patient with distinctive features of psychology of the local population and elite, they will try to do their best and deploy a new generation of advanced training experts and specialists in the region as the number of its citizens. They should expect a sharp increase in military programs, management training and retraining, basic instruction of Asian youth in American universities and the creation of new schools under the American financial and institutional patronage.
The further the U.S. policy is developing in Afghanistan, the more questions it arises. There are different opinions formed on this matter in Afghanistan. Some talk that the Americans have done a great contribution to the stabilization of the situation and how much they do for the people of Afghanistan. Others say that the U.S. policy in Afghanistan is selfish and does not aim at the reconstruction of Afghanistan as an independent country.
The U.S. economic assistance to Afghanistan began on 5 December, 2002. President George Bush signed the law of the allocation of economic assistance to the government of Hamid Karzai.
In Tokyo, in April 2002, an international conference took place, where the participating countries expressed their willingness to provide $ 4.5 billion for Afghanistan. The World Bank provided the government of Karzai with first loan of 108 million dollars for 40 years.
It should be noted that the U.S. government and the World Bank have shown surprising unanimity in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The World Bank has given a loan for the restoration of the Kabul-Kunduz on highly concessional terms, including a tunnel under the Salang pass. The U.S. government, with the approval of the U.S. Congress, has allocated 80 million dollars for the reconstruction of the Kabul-Kandahar. Later Japan and Saudi Arabia joined the project, and the total amount of money reached 180 million dollars (Joseph, 2011).
Washington’s official position is that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is explained by the need to ensure the safety of the Government and the people of this country. This policy is carried out in a real life. As we know, the protection of President Hamid Karzai is carried out by the American marines.
This situation is extremely strange, when the head of the state is guarded by foreign soldiers. Foreign soldiers guarded the capital Kabul, main roads and strategic points, actively fighting the Karzai government opponents, and create the Afghan army and police, which, in fact, are complementary parts of American troops in the country.
Reconstruction in Afghanistan is a good business for Americans. One should note the generosity of the U.S. government which allocates funds. In general, the U.S. government was not suspected by anyone of excessive partiality for charity. Instead, it clings for their interests. What makes the U.S. government spend billions of dollars on Afghanistan? Again, this is a good business. It is the usual practice of America to give aid and loans on the terms of purchase of necessary goods and materials. So, it was everywhere: in Europe, particularly in Germany and France and in Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan, and the Middle East, particularly Israel. In this approach, the government does not lose anything. Generously doing their best to provide assistance, it sells the products of American manufacturers, and then collects the profits of manufacturer’s taxes.
In September 22, two States which accepted the Taliban regime (the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the third country, which accepted the regime, was Pakistan), broke diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. The huge flow of refugees poured out of Afghanistan into Iran and Pakistan.
The U.S. officially declared goals:
The military operation against the Taliban began in the evening of 7 October, 2001. Forty combat aircrafts took part in the first attack. The first year after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was peaceful. The only notable event was the military battle in Shahi-Kot Valley (Gardez district), where Taliban forces retreated from Kabul and Tora Bora. In March 2002, the international coalition forces conducted an operation called “Anaconda”. Taliban resistance was much stronger than it was expected, and the operation has developed into the biggest battle since the beginning of the war.
After the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and entering of the international forces led by the U.S., the situation in the country continued to be unstable. Despite the initial military success, the Americans and their allies have failed to eliminate the small but fairly numerous Taliban militias that have fallen to the tactics of guerrilla warfare. Almost every week there were reports of armed attacks on coalition soldiers, as well as the representatives of local authorities. The country has deployed about 20,000 U.S. troops and military forces from some other NATO countries. Since the introduction of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to official data, they lost at least 92 soldiers and several hundred were wounded (Joseph, 2011).
Another reason for pessimism regarding the situation in the country was the fact that for the past few years, active drug production continued in Afghan territory. According to the UN experts, the Afghan drug mafia successfully restored its position, which was undermined by a formal ban on opium cultivation, introduced by the Taliban regime in 2001. As a result of this ban in Afghanistan, the production of drugs decreased from 75% to 10%. The production of opium immediately picked up steam after the overthrow of the Taliban regime in the country.
On such a gloomy background, the country prepared for the presidential elections, which were scheduled for October 9, 2003. Total number of people which claimed the presidency was 23. However, among them there were virtually no known figures.
The growing intensity of the fighting’s has led to circumstances in which the international force attacked the civilian targets, resulting on the deaths of civilians. Large incident has occurred in March 4, 2007 in the district of Shinwari (Nangarhar), where a special unit of the U.S. Marines was attacked by a suicide bomber and opened fire, which killed up to 20 Afghan civilians.
Now one can safely say that America firmly established in Central Asia. Several military bases were organized in Kyrgyzstan; several airfields have been leased in Tajikistan. Well, in accordance with the signed agreements, the Pentagon has the right to bring an unlimited number of troops that are not subjected to inspection into the territory of these countries.
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The events of 11 September 2001 and the start of the military campaign of the anti-terrorist coalition, led by the U.S., had a major influence on the development of U.S. policy in Central Asia.
According to the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, President Bush and Secretary Powell at the time announced a program to rebuild Afghanistan a priority. It was planned to give maximum strength, since the U.S. did not plan to leave the country for a long time.
It is still too early to write off the Taliban. Many Afghans still see them as the true fighters for faith and sympathize with them. In some provinces, especially in the south, in the area of the Pashtun tribes, they control large territories, and feel completely free at night.
During the six years of the Taliban rule, they almost destroyed Afghanistan. They paralyzed the economy, destroyed the education system and culture. Almost all the intellectuals, the elite, educated people, the guardians of tradition have left the country. Coups, revolutions, wars completely mixed the set of national, tribal, religious and class characteristics of Afghan society and made it even more confusing and unpredictable. It seems that in recent years the state has been thrown back, almost in the Middle Ages.
Given the above, one can say that there are no major trends in the improvement of the situation in Afghanistan. This is the fourth attempt in the last two centuries to break the Afghan state by force from the outside. Two attempts previously were made by the British, and one by the Soviet Union. As one knows, they had no positive result.
Very faint hopes are laid on a fourth attempt. Many people think that it will not be more successful than the previous attempts. This can only happen if the specificity of Afghanistan people will be taken fully into account: a historical, ethno-national, religious, tribal and ethno-territorial.
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