The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War

Content Warning: This section contains accounts of terrorism and war-related violence, including torture and the killing of civilians.

Meaning “the base” or “the foundation,” Al Qaeda was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden, the scion of a wealthy Saudi family, and other Arabs who had traveled to Afghanistan to repel Soviet invaders. After the Soviets withdrew, the group pledged to carry on the struggle in their own home countries, seeking to overthrow rulers they considered oppressive and insufficiently Islamic. Their focus eventually shifted to the United States, which they saw as the ultimate supporter of those regimes, and began launching terrorist attacks to compel the United States to leave the Persian Gulf. After orchestrating the 9/11 attacks, Al Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary but continued to direct or encourage terrorist attacks around the world. The killing of bin Laden by US special forces in 2011 began a significant decline in their capabilities, although they still lend their name to many insurgent movements in the Islamic world.

This refers to a military strategy whereby an occupying force seeks to establish civil order and put down resistance among the local population. In Afghanistan (as well as in Iraq), this entailed building up local infrastructure, including police and public services, that could win the support of the population and turn them against the insurgents so that US forces could leave without the country relapsing into instability.