Afghanistan was bracing for possible US retaliation after the September 11 attacks, as attention focused on Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida network operating under Taliban protection.
The country had already been devastated by more than two decades of war, leaving its infrastructure shattered and millions of people dependent on humanitarian assistance. Fears of an American military response threatened to deepen an existing crisis driven by conflict, poverty and drought.
International aid agencies began withdrawing foreign staff from Afghanistan, amid concerns that they could be caught in air strikes or targeted by angry crowds if the United States attacked.
Vicky and Mark Timlin, who worked for the charity Hope Worldwide, were among those ordered to leave. Their organisation’s head office instructed them to get out of the country after terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Their departure reflected a wider evacuation. The United Nations removed its international personnel, while other relief organisations also pulled workers across the border into Pakistan. The move put vital programmes at risk in a country where humanitarian needs were already acute.
US officials identified bin Laden as the leading suspect in the attacks and turned their attention to Afghanistan, where the Saudi-born militant had established al-Qaida’s operational base. The Taliban regime had repeatedly resisted international demands to hand him over.
The 9/11 Commission later concluded that bin Laden had forged a close alliance with the Taliban, which provided sanctuary for al-Qaida. It also found that years of diplomatic pressure by Washington to secure his expulsion had failed before the attacks.
For ordinary Afghans, the prospect of retaliation brought the risk of a new conflict to a population already exhausted by years of fighting. Reports at the time indicated that large numbers were moving away from major cities and towards the country’s borders, fearing that the next phase of the crisis would begin in Afghanistan.
