Some may recall when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan (Dec. 27, 1979), the goal was to establish a modern socialist state. After years of war and destruction, on February 15, 1989, the Soviets had to abandon their efforts when faced with a popular uprising. Then in 1992, the Mujahedeen forces, (supported surreptitiously by the U.S.), took power away from Mohammad Najibullah who was the Soviet backed Afghan leader. Continued turmoil followed until in 1996, Kabul fell to the Taliban, and Najibullah, who had stayed on in a UN compound, was killed and hung in the main square.
The U.S. involvement began after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack when President George Bush pursued Osama bin Laden who was reported to have terrorist training facilities in Afghanistan. The U.S. and NATO ousted the Taliban from control of Afghanistan and Hamid Karzai assumed the role of President. He has been re-elected to office twice.
The goal was to transform Afghanistan into a modern nation. Even though the rebuilding is an international effort, the U.S. alone had committed $51 billion during the years 2001 to 2010 with the prospects of billions more to come. The first order of business was to provide electricity to the more than 500,000 residents of Kabul, the country's largest city. Costs for the $100 million diesel-fueled power plant ballooned to $305 million as construction lagged a year behind schedule and now it often sits idle because the Afghans were able to import cheaper power from a neighboring country. Even so, the number of Afghans with access to electricity has only inched up from 6 percent in 2001 to an estimated 10 percent in 2010.