Why is there a war in Afghanistan?
The invasion of Afghanistan by NATO had the primary aim of removing al Quaeda and destroying its training facilities there. Secondary to that was removing the Taliban government and replacing them with a democratically elected one. That in itself is not a bad goal because the Taliban were pretty nasty ultra-strict Muslim fundamentalists who held frequent public executions and banned such western “evils” as education for girls and flying kites. Both the aims of the invasion were acheved pretty quickly. The reason we are still there is the Taliban insurgency. They are trying to regain control of the country with the help of what is left of al Quaeda who now seem to be mostly operating out of Pakistan. The plan is that we get the Afghan army and police trained to a level where they can cope with the insurgency themselves, then we leave. Whether that is actually possible is another matter. It is not helped by the fact that Afghans are fiercely opposed to any foreign interference in their c
