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Kabul (AFP) Nov 17, 2010 The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, due to hold its annual summit in Portugal on Friday and Saturday, has been playing a prominent role in Afghanistan since the start of the current US-led war. Key dates: - September 11, 2001: Islamic extremists fly passenger planes into buildings in New York and Washington, killing over 3,000 people. It quickly emerges that the Al-Qaeda organisation of Osama bin Laden, who has been given shelter by the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan, is responsible. NATO states that its founding treaty, under which an attack on any member state is seen as an attack on all, gives it a duty to assist the United States. - October 7, 2001: A US-led military campaign begins with air strikes against Afghanistan, followed by a full-scale invasion. - December 2001: The Taliban regime is forced from power, and Hamid Karzai is appointed to head a new government. An International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), mandated by the United Nations, begins deploying. - January 2002: The United States begins removing people captured in Afghanistan and taking them to its military base at Guantanamo, on Cuba. The policy quickly becomes a major human rights scandal. - March 2003: The United States takes on a second front by leading a massive invasion of Iraq, in which NATO is not directly involved. This reduces the resources that the United States and its main allies can devote to Afghanistan. - August 11, 2003: NATO engages in its first-ever mission outside its traditional zone of Europe by formally taking charge of ISAF. - October 9, 2004: Afghanistan's first presidential election passes off with little bloodshed; Karzai is proclaimed the winner. - February 2007: The high level of Taliban guerrilla activity is brought home when guerrillas mount a daring attack on a US base just as vice president Dick Cheney is visiting. US president George W. Bush vows to further boost his country's forces. - November 2008: The Democrat Barack Obama, who has promised to end the war in Iraq but continue the one in Afghanistan, is elected to the US presidency. - May 2010: The number of US troops in Afghanistan for the first time exceeds the number in Iraq; at just over 90,000 it has tripled since Obama came to power.
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Canada to send 950 military trainers to AfghanistanOttawa (AFP) Nov 16, 2010 Canada will send up to 950 military trainers to Afghanistan to help Afghan soldiers take over security after Canadian combat troops exit next year, ministers said Tuesday. "Since the mission began, Canada, along with our international partners, has helped to train and mentor about 50,000 Afghan troops," Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay told a press conference flanked by Foreign Ministe ... read more |
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