Page 159 - NS-2 Textbook

152 MARITIME HISTORY

the World Trade Center towers in New York City were hit with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. When the
and set afire by hijacked airliners. A short time later a Taliban would not give up bin Laden, the United States
third hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in Wasillilgton, D.C. deployed military assets to the region in preparation for a
A fourth plane, presumably headed toward targets in large militalY confrontation there. These deployments in-
Washington, D.C., crashed into the counhyside in west- cluded the aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt, Carl Vinson,
ern Pennsylvania, most likely as the result of a scuffle be- alld other carriers and support ships in the Arabian Sea,
tween its hijackers and the passengers and crew. over 100 Air Force fighter-bombers, and a large contin-
Both Trade Center towers collapsed later that morn- gent of u.s. special operations forces. Many other nations
ing, causing a loss of life of nearly 3,000 people. As a re- pledged to support the American effort.
sult of the attack on the Pentagon, 189 people were On 8 October 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom
killed. President George W. Bush immediately called the began with air strikes by Navy and Air Force planes
terrorist attacks an act of ·war. He vmved to retaliate on strategic targets throughout Afgharustan. These were
against the terrorist organizations responsible for them accompanied by hmnanitarian airdrops of food to relieve
(later determined to be Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida the suffering of the Afghan population. Much of the
terrorist organization). The Navy inunediately deployed grotmd fighting was left to the Northern Alliance, a loose
ships of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets off the East and coalition of rebel Afghans in northeastern provinces who
West Coasts to help guard against further terrorist at- had long been fighting Taliban control of the country.
tacks. Air National Guard planes flew combat air patrols By late November the Northern Alliance, supported
over Ne'\v York, Washington, D.C., and other large cities by relentless alr attacks by U.S. Navy and Air Force
throughout the country. Within a few weeks, some 50,000 plal1es, al1d by American special forces personnel on the
reservists of all services V\Tere given mobilization orders grotmd, had gained control of most of the country from
to augment Air National Guard units, help guard U.S. the Talibal1. Several key al-Qaeda officials had been killed,
airports, and provide other support. This homeland de- but bin Laden himself eluded capture, which he has con-
fense effort was designated Operation Noble Eagle. tinued to do as of this writing. In late 2001 al1d early 2002
international peacekeeping forces composed mainly of
Americal1 armed service personnel along with those of
OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM
several other nations arrived in Afghanistan and have
In the days following the 11 September attack, plans were continued to keep peace al1d provide training for Afghan
made to retaliate against bin Laden's al-Qaeda organiza- militaty forces al1d civilian police. Occasional forays have
tion and any counh'ies that supported him, beginning continued to be conducted by these coalition forces in the

UZBEKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN

Map of Afghanistan, showing major cities and surrounding countries.