Page 1
In 1973, the king of Afghanistanwas deposed and the new rulerrelied on the support of communists.
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But when the ruler purged thecommunists from power, acommunist takeover of thenation occurred in 1978. Ofcourse, not everyone was happy.
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To help the communist regime,the Soviets invaded in 1979 andoccupied the land until 1989.
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The Mujahidin quickly formed.It was a coalition of groupsopposed to the Soviet occupation.
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One group within this rebelcoalition was the Taliban,a fundamentalist Islamicgroup.
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By the time the Soviets wereforced to leave Afghanistan,the Taliban had gained control of 90% of the nation.
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The Taliban established afundamentalist, Islamicsociety. Women had to be covered and segregatedfrom men.
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But after the September 11th
attacks in the United States,the Taliban was overthrownby U.S. forces.
Page 9
The Taliban had aided
and abetted
Osama bin Laden, the“mastermin
d”behind the
attacks.
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However, fighting still persistsin Afghanistan. The Taliban
are determined to regain their power.
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Iraq, too, has experienced greatconflict.
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From 1979 until 2003, adictator ruled Iraq.
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But in 1990, Sadaam Hussein,the Iraqi dictator, invadedneighboring Kuwait.
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The United States and othernations defeated Iraq in thePersian Gulf War.
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But Sadaam Hussein continued
to defy the international community. He refused to
stopa nuclear weapons
program.
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Once again, Iraq’s dictator wasin trouble. After 9/11, the U.S. attacked Iraq again.
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By 2003, Sadaam was captured,brought to trial, and executed.
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But like Afghanistan, peacehas not come to Iraq. Thereis still conflict between thedifferent groups of the nation.