By Scott Dykstra & Katherine Werdan

After the fall of the Soviet Union the southern border of it was divided into two groups Transcaucasian Republics- Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia Central Asian Republics- Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzsatn

After heavily relying on the Soviets these new countries became very poor The Soviets used the countries to farm cotton but when they gained independence cotton did not help with the problems at hand The benefit of these countries is their oil fields and reserves

These new countries are diverse and have some ethnicities that have a history of fighting with each other The Soviets kept them under control but the break up of it gave the races a chance to fight For example in Azerbaijan Armenian Christians and Muslims fought each other

This undeveloped small country has been through two wars One war against the Soviets One against the USA

Afghanistan has had a history of fighting In 1800s Russia and Britain competed for the land The British fought three separate times before they left Afghanistan then declared independence and had a monarchy

In the Cold War Afghanistan chose neutrality Soon they fell victim to a communist group and the people thought that it interfered with Islam Mujahideen- a group of people who did not want to become Soviet, also known as the holy warriors that fought against the Soviets

After the fall of the USSR many groups fought for control Including the Taliban- a conservative Islamic group Another group was the Northern Alliance Origenally the Taliban was a good force it tried to end corruption and brought order to the nation But they took the Islamic law to the extreme restricting woman’s rights and banning modern day luxuries.

The Taliban also allowed terrorist groups to train They gave refuge for Osama Bin Ladin and refused to turn him over to the U.S. After that the U.S removed them from power by military force

Hamid Karzai was elected President for five years The Taliban returned and NATO troops came to fight.

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