Final evaluation Netherlands participation in ISAF 2006 - 2010

2 The international presence in Afghanistan2.1 Afghanistan after 11 September 2001On 11 September 2001, the terror network Al-Qaeda carried out attacks inthe United States. The government of the United States then demanded theextradition of Al-Qaeda's leader Osama Bin Laden, who was thought to beoperating from an area in Afghanistan which was under the control of theTaliban. Since 1996, the Taliban had controlled large sections ofAfghanistan and established a strict regime based on religious laws. Whenthe Taliban refused to extradite Bin Laden, the United States, together witha number of allies and assisted by the Northern Alliance (a coalition ofTaliban opponents) invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and ousted theTaliban. This operation was named Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). TheUS justified this operation by calling upon the right of self-defence as laiddown in Article 51, Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.The occupation by the Soviet Union, a civil war and the Taliban regime hadleft deep scars in Afghanistan. In 2001, Afghanistan was one of the poorestcountries in the world, with extremely high child and maternal mortalityrates. Access to education and health care was almost non-existent. Theposition of women and girls in Afghanistan was poor and millions of Afghanshad fled to neighbouring countries.The lack of administrative capacity in Afghanistan made it difficult for theAfghan government to address these problems. Ministries were largely orcompletely ineffectual. In 2001, Afghanistan was still led by a fragmentedarray of militia groups that had largely developed along tribal lines. Therewere hardly any Afghan soldiers or policemen under the central authority.Large-scale reconstruction with prolonged support from the internationalcommunity was therefore necessary. Part of the reconstruction effort wasfilling the power vacuum that had emerged in Afghanistan. After the fall ofthe Taliban, the international community gathered in Bonn, Germany, inNovember 2001 to make agreements with Afghan leaders about the future.It was agreed to deploy an international peace force to Kabul. Furthermore,the United Nations (UN) were given responsibility for coordinating thereconstruction effort. To this end, the UN Security Council (UNSC)established the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).The international donor community made financial aid available for thereconstruction of Afghanistan, totalling approximately USD 4.5 billion for aperiod of five years.In addition to the decisions about the international presence in Afghanistan,the Bonn conference also resulted in agreements about the country’sinternal political situation. During the conference, the Afghan interimgovernment was established with Hamid Karzai as its head. He continued tohead the transitional government in the years that followed. In the firstdemocratic elections of 2004, he was elected President, and he was reelectedin 2009. In 2004, Afghanistan adopted its own Constitution andvoted in an elected parliament.In the following years, the international community's focus of attention didnot shift away from the country. International conferences were held almostevery year to discuss the developments in Afghanistan: in Berlin in 2004, inPage 15 of 133