Thanks leadpenny. I will ping you regarding "A-Stan".
Thanks for the ping. Great pictures.
Associated Press
Key events in the past 25 years in Afghanistan:
_1979: The Soviet Union sends troops into Afghanistan to support a pro-Moscow regime, sparking a decade-long war with anti-communist forces supplied and trained by the United States.
_1989: The Soviets withdraw after about 15,000 of their soldiers are killed, leaving in place a pro-Moscow government. Fighting persists between Muslim rebels and government forces.
_1992: The puppet government collapses as insurgents advance on the capital, Kabul, ending 14 years of Soviet-backed regimes during which an estimated 2 million Afghans were killed and 6 million fled their homeland. Tension between rival rebels, moderates and Islamic fundamentalist forces quickly leads to further fighting.
_1994: A hard-line Islamic group, the Taliban, is formed.
_1996: With the support of foreign sponsors, the Taliban takes control of Kabul and most of the country, imposing a strict version of Islam.
_1998: The United States fires missiles at suspected bases of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who is accused of bombing U.S. embassies in East Africa.
_1999: The United Nations imposes sanctions on Afghanistan to try to force the Taliban to hand over bin Laden.
_March 2001: The Taliban blows up two giant 1,500-year-old Buddha statues carved into gray sandstone cliffs, deeming them offensive to Islam.
_Sept. 9, 2001: Two days before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, two suspected al-Qaida assassins kill the Taliban's No. 1 enemy, Ahmed Shah Masood, head of the rival Northern Alliance.
_Oct. 7, 2001: U.S. and British forces begin airstrikes against Afghanistan after the Taliban refuse to surrender bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.
_Nov. 13, 2001: After weeks of air assaults, Taliban fighters abandon Kabul.
_Dec. 7, 2001: Taliban stronghold Kandahar falls. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and bin Laden escape.
_Dec. 22, 2002: Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who leads one of the largest tribes in southern Afghanistan, is sworn in as head of a six-month interim government.
_June 13, 2002: Karzai is elected head of state of a new interim government by the loya jirga, or grand council.
_July 6, 2002: Vice President Abdul Qadir is assassinated.
_Sept. 5, 2002: Gunman fails in assassination attempt of Karzai. Car bombing in Kabul kills about 30 people.
_August 2003: NATO deploys troops to Kabul for a peacekeeping mission. The force later expands to other areas and numbers 9,000.
_Jan. 4, 2004: After three weeks of wrangling, the loya jirga ratifies a constitution, making Afghanistan an Islamic state with a strong president. The meeting paves the way for Oct. 9 elections.
_ Aug. 20, 2004: A nearly yearlong process of registering Afghan voters in the country ends with about 10.6 million of its estimated 25 million people signed up. Twelve election workers were killed in shootings and bombings.
_Sept. 16, 2004: Karzai escapes another assassination attempt when a rocket is fired at his helicopter.