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Summary:
Afghanistan is a fragile state attempting, with U.S. help, to stabilize after more than 22 years of warfare, including a U.S.-led war that brought the current government to power. Before the U.S. military campaign against the Taliban began on October 7, 2001, Afghanistan had been mired in conflict since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until its collapse in December 2001 at the hands of the U.S.-led military campaign. The defeat of the Taliban has enabled the United States and its coalition partners to send forces throughout Afghanistan to search for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and leaders that remain at large, including Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghan citizens are enjoying new personal freedoms that were forbidden under the Taliban, about 2 million Afghan refugees have returned, and women have returned to schools, the workforce, and participation in politics. At the same time, there is a lack of security in many parts of Afghanistan, particularly the southeast, which was the power base of the Taliban. Security concerns are widely reported to be slowing, though not halting, reconstruction. On May 1, 2003, the United States and the Afghan government declared major U.S.-led combat ended and asserted that U.S.-led forces would henceforth concentrate on stabilization. U.S. stabilization measures include extending the writ of the central government, which has been widely viewed as weak and unable to control the many regional leaders. The United States and other countries are trying to strengthen Kabul by building a new Afghan national army, supporting an international security force (ISAF), setting up regional enclaves to create secure conditions for reconstruction, and disarming independent militias. To help foster development, the United Nations and the Bush Administration have lifted most sanctions imposed on Afghanistan since the Soviet occupation. The United States gave Afghanistan a total of over $815 million in aid during FY2002, but aid will rise for FY2004 to about $1.8 billion after factoring in a new additional ($1.2 billion) aid package requested in September 2003. Although with some difficulty, political reconstruction is following the route laid out by major Afghan factions and the international community during the U.S.led war. On December 5, 2001, major Afghan factions, meeting under U.N. auspices in Bonn, signed an agreement to form an interim government that ran Afghanistan until a traditional national assembly ("loya jirga") was held June 11-19, 2002. The loya jirga delegates selected a new government to run Afghanistan for the next two years and approved Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, to continue as leader for that time. Preparations are proceeding for a loya jirga to approve a new constitution (December 2003) and then national elections for the leadership and a parliament some time in 2004. This paper will be updated as warranted by major developments.
