9781422275719

1997.TheUnitedNations (UN) imposed air embargoes and financial sanctions in an effort to press the Taliban to turn over Osama bin Laden for trial, to no avail. Bin Laden, a native of Saudi Arabia, had been part of theAfghan resistance during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s. By 1993, he establishedal-Qaeda,amilitant groupofMuslimextremists operating out of Afghanistan. Bin Laden orchestrated a number of terrorist attacks onWestern targets, including the use of truck bombs against American forces in Saudi Arabia and the bombing of U.S. embas- sies in Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. From his stronghold in the mountains of Afghanistan and under the protection of the Taliban, bin Laden issued fatwas , or religious statements and declarations of holywar, against theUnited States.Hemasterminded the attacks on theWorldTrade Center in NewYork City and the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. The current ongoing conflict in Afghanistan began in October 2001, when the United States invaded the country following the September 11th attacks.TheTaliban’s government fell byDecember

OnMay 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed by a teamof U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan. The next morning, news publications around the nation featured similar headlines to tell the public that the end of bin Laden’s terror was over.

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