The United States is withdrawing from Afghanistan, almost two decades after President George W Bush sent the U.S. military into the Asian country in pursuit of Osama bin Laden in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Here’s a brief reminder of why the U.S. got into Afghanistan, the costs and why it’s leaving.
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This story is an English language news item from CGTN. CGTN is a Chinese state-funded broadcaster.
9/11 is the abbreviated moniker for the civilian airliner attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, USA, on 11th September 2001. The Pentagon was also targeted and a fourth airliner crashed when passengers overpowered hijackers. Around 3000 people died as a result of the airliner hijackings which took place on 9/11.
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south; Iran to the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north; and China to the northeast.
Occupying 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi), it is a mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest. Kabul is the capital and largest city. The population is around 32 million, composed mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks.
The United States is a country also known as the United States of America, USA, US or just America. There are fifty states in the union, which is a federal republic ruled by a representative democracy. Nearly ten million square kilometres are inhabited by over 300 million people. The majority of Americans speak English.