Page 378 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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radical Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, who had helped Karzai was sworn in as chairman of a U.S.-backed
recruit foreign fighters for the mujahideen during interim government created to replace the Taliban.
the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, returned to
See also AL QAEDA; OSAMA BIN LADEN; EAST AFRICAN
Afghanistan in 1996 after the United States forced
EMBASSY BOMBINGS; MILITANT ISLAM; MUJAHIDEEN;
Sudan to expel him following attacks on U.S. military RIYADH,SAUDI ARABIA,BOMBING; SEPTEMBER 11
personnel in Saudi Arabia by his Al Qaeda terrorist ATTACKS; UNITED STATES V. USAMA BIN LADEN ET AL.
network. INDICTMENT; WAR ON TERRORISM
While bin Laden originally entered Afghanistan at
the invitation of a mujahideen warlord, he soon made Further Reading
common cause with the Taliban, reportedly helping
Ellis, Deborah. Women of the Afghan War. Westport, CT:
finance the final takeover of Kabul. Bin Laden’s
Praeger, 2000.
acceptance by the Taliban seriously strained Afghan
Maley, William, ed. Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan
relations with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but the and the Taliban. New York: New York University Press,
wealth bin Laden commanded meant that the Taliban 1998.
still had access to considerable funds, making support Marsden, Peter. The Taliban: War, Religion and the New
from other nations less crucial. Order in Afghanistan. London: Zed, 1998.
The drawbacks of such an arrangement became Rohde, David, with Dexter Filkins. “Taliban Withdrawing
clear in August 1998, when terrorists linked to Al From Kabul as Rebels Move Toward Capital.” New York
Qaeda bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Times, November 13, 2001, A1.
Tanzania. In response, the United States bombed an Rohde, David, with Eric Schmitt. “Taliban Give Way in
Final Province Where They Ruled.” New York Times,
Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. At the end of 1999,
December 10, 2001, A1.
the United States discovered an Al Qaeda plot to
attack the country on New Year’s Eve; the U.S. gov-
ernment warned the Taliban that it would pay the
price for any Al Qaeda attacks. TERRORISM, DEFINITION
But the Taliban continued to support Al Qaeda and AND HISTORY OF
other radical Muslim groups. Military training camps
in Taliban-controlled territory were used by a variety
of terrorists and separatist groups, and bases in Terrorism, in various forms, has been practiced
Afghanistan were even used to help launch an Islamic throughout history and across a wide variety of polit-
military movement in Tajikistan in early 2001. ical ideologies. There are as many definitions for the
The beginning of the end came for the Taliban on word terrorism as there are methods of executing it;
September 11, 2001, when 19 Al Qaeda operatives the term means different things to different people,
hijacked four planes in the United States, crashing and trying to define or classify terrorism to everyone’s
two of them into the Twin Towers of New York City’s satisfaction proves impossible. However, most defini-
World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon outside tions of terrorism hinge on three factors: the method
Washington, D.C., and one in rural Pennsylvania. (violence), the target (civilian or government), and the
The attacks killed approximately 3,000 people. purpose (to instill fear and force political or social
Demands by the United States that the Taliban turn change).
over bin Laden and the leadership of Al Qaeda were The adoption of terrorist techniques by insurgent
denied, with the Taliban insisting that bin Laden was groups, especially in the developing world, has led to
their guest and that he was not responsible for the a perception of terrorism as a natural outgrowth of the
attacks. After a period of fruitless negotiations, the anticolonial struggle, merely another weapon of revo-
United States and Great Britain began bombing lutionary guerrillas in their campaigns for indepen-
Afghanistan in early October, and the United States dence. This understanding—or, in the eyes of many
put a bounty of $25 million on Omar’s head as well as terrorism experts, misunderstanding—of the term ter-
on bin Laden’s. Using Northern Alliance troops on rorism is also expressed in the old cliché, “One man’s
the ground, the U.S.-led assault quickly overwhelmed terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
Taliban forces, taking Kabul in November and From another viewpoint, terrorism can also be
Kandahar in December. On December 22, 2001, Hamad something a government does to its citizens for a