In Afghanistan: 30 Years of Conflict and Chaos

Former Kabul correspondent Alan Johnston reflects on decades of turmoil in Afghanistan, from the Soviet occupation in 1979 to the intervention by the West in 2001. While America looked away, Al-Qaeda took root in the wreckage of Taliban-held Afghanistan. But after the attacks of 11 September 2001, confrontation became inevitable and British and American soldiers found themselves fighting in same dust where the Russians had failed years before. Hopes that Afghanistan could easily shed its traumatic past are now in ruins and there is a fear that the conflict may last for decades to come.