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*28 DECEMBER 2014* –>
(‘NATO’ formally ended ‘combat operations’ in ‘afghanistan’ and transferred full security responsibility to the ‘afghan government’)
(a “not quite” war?)
(our ‘war’ is only with a few individuals in your otherwise peaceful / presentable country)
(and when EYE SAY ‘OUR’…)
(the war between the united states and ‘afghanistan’ began in 2001)
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(the war in afghanistan (or the american war in afghanistan) followed the 2001 american invasion of ‘afghanistan’)
(supported initially by the ‘united kingdom’, the ‘united states’ was later joined by the rest of ‘NATO’, beginning in ‘2003’)
(its public aims were to dismantle ‘al-qaeda’ and to deny it a ‘safe base of operations’ in ‘afghanistan’ by removing the ‘taliban’ from power)
(‘key allies’ (including the ‘united kingdom’) supported the ‘united states’ from the ‘start’ to the ‘end’ of the ‘phase’)
*this phase of the war is the longest war in american history*
(in 2001, american president ‘george w bush’ demanded that the ‘taliban’ hand over ‘osama bin laden’ + expel ‘al-qaeda’)
(‘bin laden’ had already been wanted by the ‘united nations’ since ‘1999’)
(the ‘taliban’ declined to extradite him unless given evidence of his involvement in the ‘9/11 attacks ‘and also declined demands to extradite others on the same grounds)
(the ‘request for evidence’ was dismissed by the ‘united states’ as a ‘delaying tactic’, and on ‘7 october 2001’ it launched ‘operation enduring freedom’ with the ‘united kingdom’)
(the 2 were later joined by other forces, including the ‘northern alliance’ which had been fighting the ‘taliban’ in the ongoing civil war since ‘1996’)
(in ‘december 2001’, the ‘united nations security council’ established the ‘international security assistance force’ (ISAF), to assist the ‘afghan interim authorities’ with securing ‘kabul’)
(at the ‘bonn conference’ the same month, ‘hamid karzai’ was selected to head the ‘afghan interim administration’, which after a 2002 ‘loya jirga’ (aka “grand assembly”) in ‘kabul’ became the ‘afghan transitional administration’)
(in the popular elections of ‘2004’, ‘karzai’ was elected ‘president’ of the country, now named the ‘islamic republic of afghanistan’)
(‘NATO’ became involved in ‘ISAF’ in ‘august 2003′, and later that year assumed leadership of it, with troops from ’43 countries’ by this stage)
(‘NATO members’ provided the core of the force)
(one portion of american forces in ‘afghanistan’ operated under ‘NATO command’)
(the rest remained under ‘direct american command’)
(the ‘taliban’ was re-organized by its leader ‘mullah omar’, and in 2003, launched an ‘insurgency’ against the ‘government’ + ‘ISAF’)
(though ‘outgunned’ + ‘outnumbered’, insurgents from the ‘taliban’, ‘haqqani network’, ‘hezb-e-islami gulbuddin’, and other groups have waged ‘asymmetric warfare’ with ‘guerilla raids’ + ‘ambushes’ in the countryside, ‘suicide attacks’ against ‘urban targets’, and ‘turncoat killings’ against ‘coalition forces’)
(in other words,’we’ (being the ‘united nations’ (or ‘de facto’ ‘united states’)))
*STAGE DIRECTIONS*
*pause*
*clear throat*
*take it from the top*
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*GENERAL CONSENSUS* —>
“in other words, WE were fighting on the side of “one of the most corrupt governments in the world”)
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*DEVIL’S ADVOCATE* —>
*then again, who is defining ‘corrupt’?*
(a ‘wiki editor’ with a (left-leaning) ‘agenda’ perhaps?)
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(in the ‘initial years’ there was little fighting…)
(…but beginning in ‘2006’, the ‘taliban’ made significant gains and showed an increased willingness to commit atrocities against civilians)
*in order to…?*
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(‘ISAF’ responded in ‘2006’ by increasing troops for…)
*’counter-insurgency operations’*
(to ‘clear + hold’ ‘villages)
*‘nation-building’ projects*
(to “win ‘hearts’ + ‘minds’)
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*violence sharply escalated from ‘2007’ – ‘2009’*
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(while ‘ISAF’ continued to battle the ‘taliban insurgency’, fighting crossed into neighboring ‘northwest pakistan’)
(on ‘2 may 2011’, ‘american navy SEALs’ killed ‘osama bin laden’ in ‘abbotabad’ (/ ‘pakistan’))
(in ‘may 2012’, NATO leaders endorsed an ‘exit strategy’ for withdrawing their forces)
(‘UN-backed peace talks’ have since taken place between the ‘afghan government’ + the ‘taliban’)
(in ‘may 2014’, the ‘united states’ announced that “[its] combat operations [would] end in ‘2014’, [leaving] just a ‘small residual force’ in the country until the end of ’2016’)
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(as of ‘2015’, tens of thousands of people have been killed in the ‘war’)
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*note to everyone else* —>
(“tens of thousands” is not a good phrase to use for ‘numerical estimations’)
(could mean ‘20,000’)
(cold mean ‘99,000’)
(mkaing the possible ‘range’ for the ‘actual #’ to be ’77,000 in size)
(over 3 times the size of the ‘lowest estimate’)
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(‘4,000+ ISAF soldiers’ (+ ‘civilian contractors’) as well as ’15,000+ afghan national security force members’ have been killed)
(as well as nearly ’20,000 civilians’)
(by which side?)
(and who was most responsible?)
(and WHY were the civilians killled?)
(just thousands of ‘honest mistakes?)
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(in ‘october 2014’, ‘british forces’ handed over the last bases in ‘helmand’ to the ‘afghan military’, officially ending their ‘combat operations’ in the ‘war’)
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👈👈👈 ☜ *“THE BOSNIAN WARS”*
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥