Content Warning: This section contains accounts of terrorism and war-related violence.

On September 11, 2001, few Americans knew the name Osama bin Laden or very much about the country where he lived, Afghanistan. Yet the deadliest terrorist attacks in world history were the culmination of over two decades of history between the United States and the landlocked nation in central Asia. In December 1979, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan to support an allied government that faced fierce internal resistance. Before long, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was helping to funnel arms, money, and logistical support to a variety of rebel groups known by the Arab term mujahideen (those engaged in jihad or, colloquially, holy warriors); the CIA hoped to turn the Soviet campaign into a quagmire, just as the Soviets had supported anti-American forces in Vietnam. The effort was ultimately successful, and Soviet forces withdrew in 1987. However, the war had profound effects on both the country and the wider world.

When the mujahideen ultimately overthrew the Soviet-backed government in 1992, they turned on each other. The resulting civil war left the country devastated, awash in weapons, and ignored by the international community, until a new hardline faction known as the

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