In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, leading to a brutal war over the next decade. The US, Pakistan and others provided the resistance with logistical and financial support, forcing the Soviet Union to withdraw by early 1989.
After the Soviet withdrawal, the puppet regime was expected to collapse. But Russian financial support saw it cling on until 1992. The opposition, never united, fractured further. By the early 1990s, swathes of the country were run by warlords and bandits.
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In 1991 a group of students in religious schools joined refugees from camps on the Pakistan border to form the Taliban under Mullah Mohammed Omar. By 1994 they had taken Kandahar, Afghanistan's second city. By 25 September 1996 they reached the suburbs of Kabul, the capital. The main anti-Taliban opposition retreated, and they took power.
Over the next five years, the Taliban imposed Islamic rule, banning education for women and imposing draconian punishments for minor crimes. They allowed the terrorist group al-Qaeda to establish bases that were used to organise the September 11th attacks.
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Redundancy on the rise – how to manage a sudden drop in incomeUnemployment and redundancies are higher than a year ago, new figures show. We look at how to protect your finances if you face a sudden loss of income.
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What is the ideal time to spend on the property market? How you could risk losing thousandsTime on the housing market matters – get an offer too quickly or too slowly and you’ll often find you have to settle for less than the asking price. What is the ideal time for a property to spend on the market?
