Last Updated: Friday, 25 May 2012, 13:06 GMT

Title	Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001 - Afghanistan
Publisher	United States Department of State
Country	Afghanistan
Publication Date	21 May 2002
Cite as	United States Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001 - Afghanistan, 21 May 2002, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4681077423.html [accessed 27 May 2012]
Disclaimer	This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001 - Afghanistan

After years of ignoring calls from the international community to put an end to terrorist activities within its borders, the Taliban, which controlled most Afghan territory, became the first military target of the US-led coalition against terrorism. During the first three quarters of 2001, Islamic extremists from around the world – including North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central, South, and Southeast Asia – used Afghanistan as a training ground and base of operations for their worldwide terrorist activities. Senior al-Qaida leaders were based in Afghanistan, including Usama Bin Ladin, wanted for his role in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania as well as for his role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Qaida leadership took advantage of its safehaven in Afghanistan to recruit and train terrorists, to manage worldwide fundraising for its terrorist activity, to plan terrorist operations, and to conduct violent anti-American and antidemocratic agitation to provoke extremists in other countries to attack US interests and those of other countries. This was punctuated by the horrendous attacks on the United States in September. The attacks brought a forceful military response from the US and the international Coalition. Our war against the Taliban and al-Qaida has been very successful, and Afghans now serve side-by-side with US and other Coalition forces in military operations to eliminate the remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in the country.

In a UN-sponsored process in Bonn, Germany, Afghans representing various factions agreed to a framework that would help Afghanistan end its tragic conflict and promote national reconciliation, lasting peace, and stability. Included in the text of the Bonn agreement that established Afghanistan's Interim Authority was a promise by the international community to help rebuild Afghanistan as part of the fight against terrorism. In turn, in January 2002 the international community pledged $4.5 billion in assistance to the people of Afghanistan to help them recover from the ravages of Taliban rule.

The Taliban

After taking power in 1996, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan operated one of the most repressive and abusive regimes in the world. By 2001 the regime controlled approximately 90 percent of the country and was engaged in a war for the remaining territory with the Northern Alliance, which had previously governed the country and was still recognized by most nations and the United Nations as the legitimate government.

Taliban-controlled Afghanistan became a major terrorist hub, a training ground and transit point for a network of informally linked individuals and groups that have engaged in international militant and terrorist acts throughout the world. Usama Bin Ladin and al-Qaida terrorists provided the Taliban with training, weapons, soldiers, and money to use in its war to defeat the Northern Alliance. The Taliban in turn provided safehaven and logistical facilities to al-Qaida.

The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the Taliban in December 2000 for its failure to stop providing training and support to international terrorists, to turn over Usama Bin Ladin to face justice, and to close terrorist camps in Afghanistan.

The sanctions obliged member states to:

Freeze assets of Usama Bin Ladin;

Observe an arms embargo against the Taliban;

Close all Taliban offices overseas;

Reduce the staff at Taliban missions abroad;

Restrict the travel of senior Taliban officials (except for purposes of participation in peace negotiations, or humanitarian reasons, including religious obligations);

Ban the export of a chemical used in the production of heroin; and

Close Ariana Afghan Airlines, and ban non-humanitarian flights.

The United States repeatedly warned Taliban officials that they would be held responsible for any terrorist attacks undertaken by Bin Ladin as long as he remained in Taliban-controlled territory. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, President Bush warned: either hand over Bin Ladin and his associates or share their fate. The Taliban chose the latter. They were driven from power in the first few weeks of Operation Enduring Freedom.

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