By Scott Dykstra & Katherine Werdan. After the fall of the Soviet Union the southern border of it was divided into two groups Transcaucasian Republics-

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 SovietsOne against the USA

Afghanistan has had a history of fightingIn 1800s Russia and Britain competed for the

landThe British fought three separate times

before they leftAfghanistan then declared independence and

had a monarchy

In the Cold War Afghanistan chose neutralitySoon 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 AllianceOrigenally 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.

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/12/collapse-of-ussr-between-triumph-and.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7297455/Hamid-Karzai-seizes-control-of-Afghan-election-watchdog.html

http://www.lituanus.org/2006/06_3_05%20Dovydenas.htm http://www.tower.com/details/review.cfm?wapi=101440487 http://www.euratlas.net/geography/world/countries/

afghanistan.html http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/

danger-falling-tyrants/8493/ http://www.sairamtourism.com/map_ca http://nmedia.blogfa.com/post-7.aspx