The majority of Afghans do not even know what 9/11 is, a disturbing poll has revealed. Some 92%, or 25 million people, said they were unaware that terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center on September 11 2001, sparking the invasion of their country. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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They called it ‘this event which foreigners call 9/11’ and had no idea what it meant.
The remaining eight per cent who did know often blamed conspiracy theories and said that America was responsible to justify its foreign policy.
The troubling survey raises grave questions over the failure of British and American troops to win ‘hearts and minds’ during the occupation of Afghanistan.
Some 379 British soldiers have lost their lives in the conflict which has gone on longer than Vietnam and which critics claim is a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda.
The study of 1,000 Afghan men was carried out by think tank the International Council on Security and Development in the Southern districts of Kandahar and Helmand
After being read a three paragraph summary of what happened on 9/11 the overwhelming majority of respondents had no clue what it was.
Among those who were questioned was 16-year-old Abdul Ghattar who was from the Southern Helmand province but was living in a refugee camp on the edge of Kabul, the capital.
‘Never heard of it,’ he said. ‘I have no idea why the Americans are in my country.’
When the researchers found somebody who did know about 9/11, their response was arguably more chilling.
Maulvi Abdulaziz Mujahed, an imam in Kabul who served as chairman of the Kabul provincial council in 2008 to 2009, said: ‘I saw the photos of all those who have been killed in the attacks, and I saw people bring flowers for their loved ones.
‘But I couldn’t find a single Jew among them.
‘The superpowers wanted a good pretext to invade Afghanistan, and these attacks provided it.’
Norine MacDonald, president of the International Council on Security and Development, said the survey showed that nobody has bothered to actually explain to Afghans why British and U.S. soldiers are there.
She said: ‘There is a vacuum – and it’s being filled by Al Qaeda and Taliban propaganda claiming that we are here to destroy Islam.’
