Changes

In immediate response to the 9/11 attacks, the United States invaded [[Afghanistan]] to overthrow the [[Taliban]] and deny [[al-Qaeda]] a base of operations.

In immediate response to the 9/11 attacks, the United States invaded [[Afghanistan]] to overthrow the [[Taliban]] and deny [[al-Qaeda]] a base of operations.

Three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, on October 3, 2001, Sen. [[Joseph Biden]] of Delaware proposed on the Senate floor a billion dollars in aid to a yet-to-be-formed Afghan interim government. The amount was almost twice as much as U.N. General Secretary [[Kofi Annan]] proposed,<ref>Sen. Biden: "U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan has issued an appeal for $584 million to meet the needs of the Afghan refugees and displaced people, within Afghanistan and in neighboring countries. This is the amount deemed necessary to stave off disaster for the winter, which will start in Afghanistan in just a few weeks. We must back up our rhetoric with action, with something big and bold and meaningful. We can offer to foot the entire bill for keeping the Afghan people safely fed, clothed, and sheltered this winter, and that should be the beginning....We can kick the effort off in a way that would silence our critics in the rest of the world: a check for $1 billion, and a promise for more to come as long as the rest of the world joins us. This initial amount would be more than enough to meet all the refugees’ short-term needs, and would be a credible downpayment for the long-term effort. Eventually the world community will have to pony up more billions, but there is no avoiding that now, not if we expect our words ever to carry any weight.<br>If anyone thinks this amount of money is too high, let me note one stark, simple and very sad statistic. The damage inflicted by the September 11 attack in economic terms alone was a minimum of several hundred billion dollars and a maximum of over $1 trillion. The cost in human life, of course, as the Presiding Officer knows, is far beyond any calculation." [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2001-pt13/pdf/CRECB-2001-pt13-issue-2001-10-03.pdf CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE—Wednesday, October 3, 2001], Pg. 18464.</ref> and more than triple what the Bush administration asked for.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/biden-iraq-invasion-america-afghanistan/618640/ The Original Sin of the War in Afghanistan], By Jonah Blank, ''The Atlantic'', APRIL 20, 2021.</ref>  Sen. Biden, who spoke for the Democrats in Congress, wanted more than just removal of the Taliban and degrading al Qaeda. Biden wanted [[nation building]].  Biden wanted to flood the new government with cash, which ultimately corrupted the new Karzai regime, and created an anti-[[Western]], anti-corruption, pro-Taliban resurgence and backlash.

Three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, on October 3, 2001, Sen. [[Joseph Biden]] of Delaware proposed on the Senate floor a billion dollars in aid to a yet-to-be-formed Afghan interim government. The amount was almost twice as much as U.N. General Secretary [[Kofi Annan]] proposed,<ref>Sen. Biden: "U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan has issued an appeal for $584 million to meet the needs of the Afghan refugees and displaced people, within Afghanistan and in neighboring countries. This is the amount deemed necessary to stave off disaster for the winter, which will start in Afghanistan in just a few weeks. We must back up our rhetoric with action, with something big and bold and meaningful. We can offer to foot the entire bill for keeping the Afghan people safely fed, clothed, and sheltered this winter, and that should be the beginning....We can kick the effort off in a way that would silence our critics in the rest of the world: a check for $1 billion, and a promise for more to come as long as the rest of the world joins us. This initial amount would be more than enough to meet all the refugees’ short-term needs, and would be a credible downpayment for the long-term effort. Eventually the world community will have to pony up more billions, but there is no avoiding that now, not if we expect our words ever to carry any weight.<br>If anyone thinks this amount of money is too high, let me note one stark, simple and very sad statistic. The damage inflicted by the September 11 attack in economic terms alone was a minimum of several hundred billion dollars and a maximum of over $1 trillion. The cost in human life, of course, as the Presiding Officer knows, is far beyond any calculation." [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2001-pt13/pdf/CRECB-2001-pt13-issue-2001-10-03.pdf CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE—Wednesday, October 3, 2001], Pg. 18464.</ref> and more than triple what the Bush administration asked for.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/biden-iraq-invasion-america-afghanistan/618640/ The Original Sin of the War in Afghanistan], By Jonah Blank, ''The Atlantic'', APRIL 20, 2021.</ref>  Sen. Biden, who spoke for the Democrats in Congress, wanted more than just removal of the Taliban and degrading al Qaeda. Biden wanted [[nation building]].  Biden wanted to flood the new government with cash, which ultimately corrupted the new Karzai regime, and created an anti-[[Western]], anti-corruption, pro-Taliban resurgence and backlash.

[[File:Biden CFR October 22 2001.PNG|right|350px|thumb|Sen. Joe Biden advocating for boots on the ground and nation building at the Council on Foreign Relations, October 22, 2001.]]

[[File:Biden CFR October 22 2001.PNG|right|350px|thumb|Sen. Joe Biden advocating for boots on the ground and nation building at the Council on Foreign Relations, October 22, 2001.]]