The neocons prompted President George W Bush to attack Afghanistan on the basis of a suspicion that it had helped Al-Qaeda in the 9/11 tragic venture. Although the Taliban regime had asked for a proof, yet as a coalition of Russia and Central Asian allies and northern warlords had been organised, the US went ahead with massive attacks using the most atrocious technologies. A certain source believes that the US lobbed bunker busters and daisy-cutters on an enemy which had no air force. True to their history, the Pashtuns fought valiantly but hellish asymmetry of power between the parties, proved the decisive factor governing the final outcome. Finding it difficult to wage a long war, they went to the hills. The discomfiture of the Taliban was also helped by the fact that many Afghans felt oppressed by their extremist version of Islam. So to start with many people felt considerably relieved at the change. But some were even duped by the long-winded promises made by Bush about rebuilding the conquered country with development and democracy. In the same vein, the Bonn Conference made fantastic commitments to the Afghans that later ended up as star gazing from a gutter, as Oscar Wilde would have said. The US and its abettors committed many atrocities on the prisoners of war. The Afghans believed that the northern warlords took revenge for their sufferings at the hands of the Pashtuns, during the Soviet occupation war, while the others avenged wrongs done to them by the Taliban post-1996. In addition, the Afghans were indiscriminately seized and transferred to Gitmo as 'enemy combatants, which remains a conundrum for the US courts till this day. However, as fear haunted the Americans, they were prepared to believe whatever was fed to them. No wonder, Bush himself claimed to be a war president after launching a war on terror. Indeed, it was this mindset that made the citizens accept the bogey of weapons of mass destruction a la Iraq, which was worked out by Silvio Berlusconi, the corrupt Italian prime minister, and Tony Blair to please Bush. Even an honourable man like Colin Powell became a party to such fraud which he regrets now. As 9/11 was never properly investigated, it remains a conundrum at home and the world over. The 9/11 commission only tried a cover up and it proved to be an exercise in futility. Many intellectuals, as well as affected groups, in the US started to enquire into the 'why and 'wherefore of the tragedy. While Noam Chomsky defined it as being a manifestation of USAs empire complex, an adaptation of the neocons wild dreams of world domination by indiscriminate use of power, others like Cindy Sheehan sprang into action after personal suffering. In the latter category, are others whose relations perished in the collapse of Twin Towers. Groups representing pilots and engineers, who directly or indirectly became bereaved, as a consequence thereof, also have raked up issues which the administration had no clues about. Many websites have been developed to project that 9/11 was a smoke screen for a dangerous ulterior motive of the neocons, who were all closely associated with the oil lobby including Bush and Dick Cheney. One great US marine and now chief editor of Veter-ans.org, Gordon Duff, considers it to be the outcome of a conspiracy planned and executed with Israels complicity with Bush, Cheney and the oil lobby. As the Americans wake up to the serious reverses in Afghanistan, while even Iraq is becoming a trouble spot, despite the mounting US forces deployed therein, the situation is becoming still more intriguing. In Eurasia, it is believed that 9/11 was staged by the last administration to conquer Afghanistan and to be able to control the vast energy resources of the Central Asian Republics and the Caspian Sea. Besides attacking Afghanistan, the US also established multiple military bases in the area in the aftermath of 9/11. The Taliban also see the attack in October 2001 as having been funded by the oil lobby after the UNOCAL failed to get a contract from their regime in Kabul. It is now established that the administration, and even Bush himself, kept on trying to persuade the Taliban to oblige the oil giant. In August 2001, Bush is believed to have threatened the Taliban with total destruction, if his request was disregarded. Hence, the 9/11 and its aftermath in Afghanistan. Disgust with the neocons destroyed Republican goodwill at home. The people were fed up with the spiral of fear being exploited on all important occasions; more so during Bushs contest for a second-term. Though he won again, yet that degraded his countrys credibility all over the world. While he maintained an uneasy occupation of Iraq after, allegedly, pilfering oil from the country amounting to billions of dollars in cahoots with the Israeli government, the Taliban re-emerged in a very threatening style in 2006. This was due to the disillusionment of the Afghans with the status quo, which tended to be corrupt, insecure and incapable of providing some governance. The UN has protested that a lot of corruption is patronised by the foreign forces. The warlords, whom the US and Karzai are obliged to keep in good humour, defy all attempts at law enforcement across the board. Moreover, the northern warlords started to massively cultivate opium to make a quick buck through heroine trade whose main markets remain the US, Europe and Russia. Once the ball was set rolling, the Pashtuns also chipped in under the protection of the Taliban for such operations. President Obama has been generally following the discredited policies of his bizarre predecessor. No wonder he is digging more holes, which would multiply threats to the US forces. While his top general in Kabul has been trying to manipulate matters diligently, he was let down by the mistakes or friendly-fire syndrome of his troops. This may be due to the fear inspired by the ground realities. As a final word, in nine years the Americans have not understood the colossal enmities that get provoked by the killing of innocent civilians. Kandhar saw a crowd chant death to America, death to Karzai, death to this government, on Monday after the NATO troops killed many civilians. The Afghans believe in revenge and they can wait for their chance. After Kyrgyzstan, the US better wake up The writer is a former interior secretary.