Afghanistan

As a country, Afghanistan is a new idea. Drawn by British colonialists, many in Afghanistan identify themselves tribally rather than nationally. A monarchy with minimal but effective central control was toppled by the Soviets during the cold war. The U.S. armed, trained, and funded the Mujaheddin which defeated the Soviets in 1989. Following the power struggle after the Soviet pullout, the Taliban, one of the rebel groups supported by the US, took control of the country and many years of strict, fratricidal control ensued. The Taliban hosted al-Qaeda who used Afghanistan to recruit and train its Army. The Taliban, with Saudi funding, built hundreds of madrasas and began educating the country in a strict, wahabist version of Islam. After 9/11, the Taliban government refused to hand over al-Qaeda leadership and the US invaded, toppling the regime and forcing much of al-Qaeda in Pakistan

The US's purpose was to prevent al-Qaeda from having the time, space, and funding through the drug trade to carry out attacks. Additionally, the goal is to established the conditions to prevent an organization like al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan to operate from in the future. Local Afghanis continue to be wary of a centralized government because they do not feel they are receiving any more security from it, are constantly frustrated by corruption, and are simply not familiar with the concept. Those that support insurgent forces do so mostly for the practical reasons as they don't have a job and insurgents will pay them to fight.