A Brief Overview of the War in Afghanistan
After the September 11th attack on the United States, President George W. Bush issued an ultimatum to the rulers of Afghanistan. He demanded they hand over to the terrorists responsible for the attack. Afghanistan’s Taliban – Islamic fundamentalists ruling the area – refused to surrender terrorist leader Osama bin-Laden. As a result, within a month of the assault on the US, air-strikes commenced.
The goal of the United States was to extricate the Taliban from power, locate Osama bin-Laden and destroy his organization known as Al-Qaeda. The US received additional support from British forces, other soldiers and Afghans who opposed the Taliban.
The Taliban Fleas Kabul
In November of 2001, Taliban forces left the capital city of Kabul and fled to the mountainous area on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a result, the United States was able to assist Afghanistan in installing a new government with Hamid Karzai as President.
The Taliban slowly gained strength and forces found it difficult to fight them given the remote caves and mountainous regions they inhabited. Many felt their efforts were futile. As a result, in December of 2009 President Obama unveiled a new strategy – rapidly deploy 30,000 additional troops in an effort to break the momentum of the Taliban.
Progress was slow and additional obstacles remained. The support of the Afghan government was being slowly eroded by fraudulent accusations against the followers of the re-elected President Karzai. In addition, efforts to uproot the Taliban appeared futile. However, in May of 2011, after the assassination of Osama bin-Laden by US Navy SEAL Team 6, President Obama announced his intentions to hasten the withdrawal of American troops.
Pressure Mounts to Withdraw US Troops
Pressure to pull US troops out of Afghanistan mounted as the result of three separate incidents in early 2012. The Afghans first became enraged with the discovery of a video tape showing four US Marines urinating on Taliban insurgent corpses. Next, it was discovered that copies of the Koran, the central religious text of Islam, had been burned in a trash incinerator on a US base. Despite a spokesperson declaring it an accident, the incident sparked violent riots, leaving 30 people dead. Among the dead were two American officers.
The third incident involved a US soldier who reportedly went from house to house murdering 16 Afghans and burning some of the bodies – many of whom were women and children. As a result, President Karzai ordered the US troops to withdraw from Afghan villages and return to military bases.
Final Plans for Withdrawal
A number of Americans are in favor of the President hastening the withdrawal of US troops. Currently, military and political leaders are against any changes being made to the schedule, which targets December, 2014 for the last of the current 90,000 US troops to leave Afghanistan, a date which will mark the end of the US involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
ties to the militaries of the US and China. Pakistan’s budget of over $5 billion is smaller than all the other top ten militaries, but it does exceed the overall defense budget of a number of other countries around the world. While Pakistan has about the same number of naval craft as the United Kingdom (see below), they have more aircraft and helicopters and an incredible total of 9,000 tanks and armored vehicles. They have assisted the United States in their War on Terrorism by fighting the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and along their own borders.
Active Military (including army, navy and air force) – 197,700
Iran has one of the best small forces in the world. Half of this countries government’s income goes towards defense. Their modern day military was first founded in 1923 and currently boasts over 500,000 active members. In addition, its defense budget of $10 billion has allowed more aircraft than the US and UK combined and almost the same amount of aircraft and helicopters as China, a country with a much larger force and budget.
Turkey’s Army dates back over 2,000 years. Their modern day militaries were not established though until 1920. Turkey has over 600,000 members in its military forces and its budget is close to $19 billion. This country comes in fourth for the total number of tanks and armored vehicles – 11,000 plus. All Turkish males – once they reach 20 years of age – are required to serve in the military. There are very few exceptions to this requirement.
Much of Germany’s notable military history began with the rise of Hitler. They were responsible for the start of WWII when they invaded Poland. When the war was over, the country divided and the West German Army was formed. It wasn’t until the 1990s the country reunited. Currently, Germany has more than 200,000 active military members who are well-trained and well-equipped. Germany boasts of one of the best tanks in the world – the Leopard II.
France’s military does not have the reputation as a super power, but its numbers would say differently. Their military totals over 360,000 members spread throughout their navy, air force and paramilitary branches. All three branches are very well rounded, but many feel their navy is bar far their strongest branch. France’s defense budget comes in just over $58 billion. Despite this impressive budget, it still has the smallest number of aircraft and helicopters than any other country on this list.
has more than 1.3 million members. India has an additional 2.1 million in reserves and their paramilitary has 1.3 million members. In all, India has more than 4.7 million total members.
the reserve. Their paramilitary total comes in at around 5,000. The total military budget for Russia is in excess of $64 billion. Only two countries have a higher military budget than Russia – the United States and China.
active service members in its military making it the largest active force in the world. With a reserve of 800,00 and a paramilitary of 1.5 million, in all, China has more than 4.5 million military members. China’s defense budget of $129 billion is continually increasing each year by an average of 12 to 15%. This total makes it the second largest defense budget in the world – second only to the United States. China is believed to house as many as 240 nuclear warheads.
The defense budget for the United States is more than the combined totals of the previous nine countries coming in at over $689 billion. The US has just over 1.4 million active military members, another 1.4 million reserve members and 11,000 in its paramilitary. The US ranks second behind Russia in the total number of warheads, but it does have the largest number of active warheads. The United States leads in the overall aircraft and helicopters – 21,000 – but is just barely ahead of China with its total of tanks and armored vehicles. The United States also has an impressive 12 aircraft carriers in its fleet.
The M113 is an amphibious armored personnel carrier that was put into service in 1960. It was first used in the Vietnam War in 1962 and became the most extensively used armored vehicle in the US military in that war. Though mainly referred to by the allies as an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) or ACAV (armored cavalry assault vehicle), the M113 was often referenced by its nickname ‘Green Dragon’. This carrier was capable of breaking through heavy jungle thicket, allowing troops to attack even the most remote enemy positions.
The M113, unlike its predecessor the M59, was made out of aluminum armor, which still provided protection against small arms fire, but made it lighter in comparison. The lighter weight of the M113 made it easier to transport. The US Army mainly uses the M113 today as an armored ambulance, mortar carrier or an engineer or command vehicle. Front-line combat missions were taken over by the M2 and M3 Bradley.