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104-590: The relief was likely carved around the 3rd Century AD. By 325 AD the Sassanid Empire had expanded from Persia to control much of modern-day Afghanistan including Bactria, leading to a dissemination of Sasanian art and culture. Its geographic isolation among the mountains of Afghanistan meant the Rag-i-Bibi relief was not widely known until after the United States invasion of Afghanistan , which began in 2001. In 2002

208-748: A financial rescue plan to buy back a large portion of the U.S. mortgage market. Vince Reinhardt, a former Federal Reserve economist now at the American Enterprise Institute , said "it would have helped for the Bush administration to empower the folks at Treasury and the Federal Reserve and the comptroller of the currency and the FDIC to look at these issues more closely", and additionally, that it would have helped "for Congress to have held hearings". Bush undertook many educational agendas, such as increasing

312-539: A Bachelor of Arts degree in history. During this time, he was a cheerleader and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon , serving as the president of the fraternity during his senior year. Bush became a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior. Bush was a rugby union player and was on Yale's 1st XV. He characterized himself as an average student. His grade point average during his first three years at Yale

416-458: A Sassanian king hunting an Indian rhinoceros . The king reins in a galloping horse. His figure would be about 2.4 m high if it were standing upright. Three figures stand around the king. Behind the ruler's horse, another two can be made out, which are poorly preserved. The upper portion of the relief shows a band of poorly preserved architectural features. The king's head is particularly severely damaged. The crown might enable an identification with

520-526: A brief suspension of his Maine driver's license. Bush said that his wife has had a stabilizing effect on his life, and he attributes his decision to give up alcohol in 1986, to her influence. While governor of Texas, Bush said of his wife, "I saw an elegant, beautiful woman who turned out not only to be elegant and beautiful, but very smart and willing to put up with my rough edges, and I must confess has smoothed them off over time." Bush also says that his faith in God

624-622: A budget surplus to push through Texas's largest tax cut , $ 2   billion. He extended government funding for organizations providing education on the dangers of alcohol and drug use and abuse , and helping to reduce domestic violence . His administration lowered the age at which juveniles can be sent to adult court for serious crimes to 14. Bush presided over 152 executions, more than any previous governor in modern American history; critics such as Helen Prejean argue that he failed to give serious consideration to clemency requests. Critics also contended that during his tenure, Texas ranked near

728-540: A campaign advisor. The previous month, his father had asked him to tell White House chief of staff John H. Sununu to resign. Bush declared his candidacy for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election at the same time his brother Jeb sought the governorship in Florida . His campaign focused on four themes: welfare reform, tort reform , crime reduction, and education improvement. Bush's campaign advisers were Karen Hughes , Joe Allbaugh , and Karl Rove . After easily winning

832-563: A close relationship with the Taliban. However some key Taliban members, such as the foreign minister Wakil Muttawakil , disapproved of the alliance with al-Qaeda because bin Laden's terrorist activities were complicating the Taliban's quest for international recognition of their government. In 2000, Muhammad Umar visited bin Laden and forbade him from attacking the United States while he was a guest of

936-517: A group of investors to purchase a controlling interest of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers for $ 89   million and invested $ 500,000 himself to start. He then was managing general partner for five years. He actively led the team's projects and regularly attended its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans. Bush's sale of his shares in the Rangers in 1998 brought him over $ 15   million from his initial $ 800,000 investment. In

1040-657: A historical king; some stylistic details suggest that Shapur I is depicted. Stylistically, the relief contains Sassanian features, but also local Gandhara ones. 35°53′10″N 68°44′54″E  /  35.8861°N 68.7483°E  / 35.8861; 68.7483 United States invasion of Afghanistan American-led coalition victory Non-State allies : Timeline Major operations Airstrikes Major insurgent attacks 2002 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Massacres Other Shortly after

1144-511: A large multinational force , including Afghanistan's local Northern Alliance. The invasion effort made rapid progress for the next two months as the coalition captured Kabul on 13 November and toppled the Taliban by 17 December, after which international military bases were set up near major cities across the country. However, most members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban were not captured: during the Battle of Tora Bora , several fighters including bin Laden,

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1248-601: A local journalist, Najibullah Razaq, who was concerned for its survival informed Jonathan Lee about the relief at an 'Afghanistan Day' held at the British Museum in December 2002. Lee visited the site for the first time in December 2003, and an archaeological survey was first conducted by Lee, Frantz Grenet and François Ory in May 2004. Specialist equipment was brought to the site and a 3D model created by Philippe Martinez. The claim that

1352-651: A major tax-cut program and an education-reform bill, the No Child Left Behind Act . He pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based initiatives . He also initiated the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief , in 2003, to address the AIDS epidemic . The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 decisively reshaped his administration, resulting in

1456-540: A period of economic recession in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble . The September 11 terrorist attacks also impacted the economy . His administration increased federal government spending from $ 1.789   trillion to $ 2.983   trillion (66 percent), while revenues increased from $ 2.025   trillion to $ 2.524   trillion (from 2000 to 2008). Individual income tax revenues increased by 14 percent, corporate tax revenues by 50 percent, and customs and duties by 40 percent. Discretionary defense spending

1560-495: A record 68 percent of the vote. He became the first governor in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms. During his second term, Bush promoted faith-based organizations and enjoyed high approval ratings , which ranged between 62 and 81 percent. He proclaimed June 10, 2000, to be Jesus Day in Texas, a day on which he urged all Texans to "answer the call to serve those in need". Throughout Bush's first term, he

1664-496: A scheduled physical exam. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve on November 21, 1974. Bush remains the most recent president to have served in the military. In 1977, Bush established Arbusto Energy , a small oil exploration company, which began operations in 1978. He later changed the name to Bush Exploration. In 1984, his company merged with the larger Spectrum 7 , and Bush became chairman. The company

1768-570: A staunch liberal who would raise taxes and increase the size of government. The Bush campaign continuously criticized Kerry's seemingly contradictory statements on the war in Iraq, and argued that Kerry lacked the decisiveness and vision necessary for success in the War on Terror. Following the resignation of CIA director George Tenet in 2004, Bush nominated Porter Goss to head the agency. The White House ordered Goss to purge agency officers who were disloyal to

1872-438: A tactic's making it into the public record – when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be quoted criticizing Richards for 'appointing avowed homosexual activists ' to state jobs". The Atlantic , and others, connected the lesbian rumor to Karl Rove, but Rove denied being involved. Bush won the general election with 53.5 percent of the vote against Richards' 45.9 percent. Bush used

1976-542: A third count, and stopped an ordered statewide hand recount based on the argument that the use of different standards among Florida's counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . The machine recount showed that Bush had won the Florida vote by a margin of 537 votes out of six million casts. Although he had received 543,895 fewer individual nationwide votes than Gore, Bush won

2080-506: Is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's money." Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned of a recession and Bush stated that a tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill , opposed some of the tax cuts on the basis that they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social Security . O'Neill disputes the claim, made in Bush's book Decision Points , that he never openly disagreed with him on planned tax cuts. By 2003,

2184-701: Is running out." In 2001, the Defense Department did not have a pre-existing plan for an invasion of Afghanistan. Therefore, the plan approved by Bush was devised by the CIA, reusing elements of the agency's previous contingency plans for collaboration with the Northern Alliance against the Taliban. Bush met with his cabinet at Camp David on 15 September for a war planning session. The military presented three options for military action in Afghanistan: The first

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2288-746: The Bush family and Republican Party , he was the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. The eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush , he flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard in his twenties. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers , of Major League Baseball , before being elected governor of Texas in 1994 . As governor , Bush successfully sponsored legislation for tort reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, and reformed

2392-609: The Medicare Modernization Act , which created Medicare Part D . In 2004, Bush was re-elected president in a close race, beating Democratic opponent John Kerry and winning the popular vote. During his second term, Bush made free trade agreements . He appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed in Congress. Bush

2496-523: The September 11 attacks , the United States declared the war on terror and subsequently led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan . The stated goal was to dismantle al-Qaeda , which had executed the attacks under the leadership of Osama bin Laden , and to deny Islamist militants a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by toppling the Taliban government. The United Kingdom

2600-462: The September 11 attacks . Wars were begun in Afghanistan and Iraq, and there were significant domestic debates regarding immigration, healthcare, Social Security, economic policy, and treatment of terrorist detainees. Over an eight-year period, Bush's once-high approval ratings steadily declined, while his disapproval numbers increased significantly. In 2007, the United States entered the longest post- World War II recession. Bush took office during

2704-700: The Shomali Plain . The Takhar front extended from the Tajikistan border in the north to Parwan in the south, near Kabul. Dostum's forces were located south of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Hazaras under Muhammad Mohaqiq were in the central Hazarajat region, and Ismail Khan was near Herat . The Taliban's military commander in the north was Mohammad Fazl . The Taliban military comprised approximately 45,000 Afghans and 2,700 foreign fighters, which included al-Qaeda's 055 Brigade . According to military analyst Ali Jalali ,

2808-458: The South Carolina primary , which according to The Boston Globe made history for his campaign's negativity. The New York Times described it as a smear campaign . On July 25, 2000, Bush surprised some observers when he selected Dick Cheney  – a former White House chief of staff , U.S. representative, and secretary of defense – to be his running mate. At

2912-617: The Soviet–Afghan War and was already wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings . The Taliban declined to extradite bin Laden and further ignored demands to shut down terrorist bases or extradite other suspected terrorists. In response, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom on 7 October 2001, alongside the United Kingdom. The two countries were later joined by

3016-428: The national debt had risen to $ 11.3   trillion, more than doubling it since 2000. Most debt was accumulated as a result of what became known as the " Bush tax cuts " and increased national security spending. In March 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama said when he voted against raising the debt ceiling : "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." By

3120-889: The 055 Brigade was only 400–600 strong, but its ties to bin Laden made it politically important. The foreign fighters included Arabs as well as Kashmiris , Chechens , Uzbeks, and Uyghurs . Several hundred officers from Pakistan's ISI were stationed in Afghanistan advising the Taliban. By mid-October, approximately 10,000 Pakistani volunteers crossed the border to augment the Taliban's forces. The volunteers were mostly madrasa students, some as young as 14. Both sides primarily used Russian military equipment. The Northern Alliance had 14.5mm heavy machine guns, Russian artillery, T-72 tanks, and BMP-1 armored vehicles retrofitted with rocket pods from Soviet combat helicopters. Dostum's Uzbeks used horses for transportation. The Northern Alliance had 18 helicopters and three fixed-wing planes, used mostly for logistical purposes. The Taliban's equipment

3224-508: The Afghan food supply and raiding a fertilizer factory that JSOC believed could be used to make chemical weapons. The military completed its war plan by 21 September and called it Operation Infinite Justice. This name was deemed culturally insensitive because Islamic theology only deems God's justice to be infinite, so Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld changed the name to Operation Enduring Freedom. The US aimed to destroy al-Qaeda and remove

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3328-454: The Bush administration. US pressure on Pakistan reportedly included an ultimatum that Pakistan declares itself either a friend or a foe and the threat to "turn Pakistan back to the stone age". Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf agreed and sent the ISI director-general to negotiate with the Taliban. Muhammad Umar told Pakistan that he would be willing to turn bin Laden over to a third country, but

3432-715: The Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF), Combined Joint Task Force Mountain (CJTF-Mountain), the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counterterrorism (JIATF-CT), and the Coalition Joint Civil-Military Operations Task Force (CJCMOTF). George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of

3536-491: The Democrats onto a war funding bill and passed by Congress. The SCHIP legislation would have significantly expanded federally funded healthcare benefits and plans to children of some low-income families. It was to be funded by an increase in the cigarette tax. Bush viewed the legislation as a move toward socialized health care , and asserted that the program could benefit families making as much as $ 83,000 per year who did not need

3640-549: The Department of Defense released all the records of Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, which remain in its official archives. In late 1972 and early 1973, he drilled with the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard . He had moved to Montgomery, Alabama , to work on the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Winton M. Blount . In 1972, Bush was suspended from flying for failure to take

3744-528: The Homeland Security Council in May 2006. After being re-elected, Bush signed into law a Medicare drug benefit program that, according to Jan Crawford , resulted in "the greatest expansion in America's welfare state in forty years" – the bill's costs approached $ 7   trillion. In 2007, Bush opposed and vetoed State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation, which was added by

3848-742: The Republican Party and did not encounter a primary challenge. He appointed Ken Mehlman as campaign manager, and Karl Rove devised a political strategy. Bush and the Republican platform emphasized a strong commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for the USA PATRIOT Act , a renewed shift in policy for constitutional amendments banning abortion and same-sex marriage , reforming Social Security to create private investment accounts, creation of an ownership society , and opposing mandatory carbon emissions controls. Bush also called for

3952-415: The Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent Governor Ann Richards . In the course of the campaign, Bush pledged to sign a bill allowing Texans to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons . Richards had vetoed the bill, but Bush signed it into law after he became governor. According to The Atlantic , the race "featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such

4056-458: The Taliban deliver bin Laden and al-Qaeda or face war. On the same day, a grand council of 300 or 700 Muslim clerics across Afghanistan, who had convened to decide bin Laden's fate, issued a fatwa recommending that the Islamic Emirate ask bin Laden to leave their country. The fatwa went on to warn that should the United States invade Afghanistan, jihad would become obligatory until

4160-554: The Taliban regime from power, but also sought to prevent the Northern Alliance from taking control of Afghanistan, believing the Alliance's rule would alienate the country's Pashtun majority. CIA director George Tenet argued that the US should target al-Qaeda but "hold off on the Taliban," since the Taliban were popular in Pakistan and attacking them could jeopardize relations with Pakistan . At

4264-550: The Taliban takeover of Kabul, Massoud retreated north to his native Panjshir Valley and formed a resistance movement against the Taliban, called the United Front or the Northern Alliance . In addition to Massoud's Tajik force, the United Front included Uzbeks under the former PDPA general Abdul Rashid Dostum and Hazara factions. The Northern Alliance received varying degrees of support from Russia, Iran, and India. Like

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4368-590: The Taliban, Massoud also raised money by trafficking drugs. By 2001, the Taliban controlled 80% of the country, with the Northern Alliance confined to the country's northeast corner. After nearly five years of shelter, bin Laden was expelled from Sudan in 1996 and arrived in Jalalabad , Afghanistan. He had founded al-Qaeda in the late 1980s to continue jihad after the end of the Soviet–Afghan War. He moved al-Qaeda's operations to eastern Afghanistan and developed

4472-435: The Taliban. A change in US policy was effected in early September 2001. The Bush administration agreed on a plan to start supporting Massoud. On 10 September, a meeting of top national security officials agreed that the Taliban would be presented with an ultimatum to hand over bin Laden and other al-Qaeda operatives. If the Taliban refused, the US would provide covert military aid to anti-Taliban groups to attempt to overthrow

4576-466: The Taliban. On 9 September 2001, two al-Qaeda members posing as journalists killed Massoud by detonating a bomb hidden in their video camera battery belt during an interview. Mohammed Fahim became the new leader of the Northern Alliance. The Alliance had 15,000–20,000 fighters distributed across five locations. On the Kabul front, Taliban and Northern Alliance forces faced each other from trenches across

4680-507: The Taliban. During the 1990s, the CIA and Delta Force planned several operations to kill or capture bin Laden, but President Bill Clinton never ordered them to proceed. During the early years of the Clinton administration , the US had no clear policy toward Afghanistan. The 1998 US embassy bombings , however, masterminded by al-Qaeda, provoked President Clinton to order missile strikes on militant training camps in Afghanistan; bin Laden

4784-527: The US refused, demanding a direct handover. Meanwhile, Umar authorized his deputy Akhtar Mohammad Osmani to negotiate with Robert Grenier , the CIA's chief of station in Pakistan, to discuss giving up bin Laden. The two met in Quetta on 15 September and 2 October. During the latter meeting, Grenier, aware that Osmani belonged to the moderate faction of the Taliban and disliked bin Laden, proposed that Osmani seize power in Afghanistan. He offered CIA assistance in

4888-584: The United States in 34 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the last four months of 2008, 1.9 million jobs were lost. By the end of 2008, the U.S. had lost 2.6 million jobs. To aid with the situation, Bush signed a $ 170   billion economic stimulus package which was intended to improve the economic situation by sending tax rebate checks to many Americans and providing tax breaks for struggling businesses. The Bush administration pushed for significantly increased regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003, and after two years,

4992-504: The United States, employing four hijacked jet airliners. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others. By the early afternoon of 11 September, the CIA had confirmed that al-Qaeda was responsible for the attack. The Taliban condemned the attacks, but Umar issued a statement denying bin Laden's involvement. Although bin Laden eventually took responsibility for the 9/11 attacks in 2004 , he initially denied having any involvement. One of bin Laden's strategic goals

5096-566: The White House, increasing the size of the military, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities. By early 2000, the race had centered on Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain . Bush won the Iowa caucuses and, although heavily favored to win the New Hampshire primary , trailed McCain by 19 percent and lost. Despite this, he regained momentum and effectively became the front runner after

5200-488: The administration. After Goss' appointment, many of the CIA's senior agents were fired or quit. The CIA has been accused of deliberately leaking classified information to undermine the 2004 election. In the election, Bush carried 31 of 50 states, receiving 286 electoral votes. He won an absolute majority of the popular vote (50.7 percent to Kerry's 48.3 percent). Bush had originally outlined an ambitious domestic agenda, but his priorities were significantly altered following

5304-422: The bottom in environmental evaluations. Supporters pointed to his efforts to raise the salaries of teachers and improve educational test scores. In 1999, Bush signed a law that required electric retailers to buy a certain amount of energy from renewable sources (RPS), which helped Texas eventually become the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the U.S. In 1998 , Bush won re-election with

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5408-561: The capital city of Kabul , effectively confining the Northern Alliance to Badakhshan Province and smaller surrounding areas. The American-led invasion on 7 October 2001, marked the first phase of what would become the 20-year-long War in Afghanistan . After the September 11 attacks, American president George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban government extradite Osama bin Laden to the United States and also expel al-Qaeda militants from Afghanistan; bin Laden had been active in Afghanistan since

5512-476: The collapse of Lehman Brothers and a federal bailout of American International Group for $ 85   billion. Many economists and world governments determined that the situation had become the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression . Additional regulation over the housing market would have been beneficial, according to former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan . Bush, meanwhile, proposed

5616-413: The country after the attacks. Barry Bearak in a New York Times article described Afghanistan as a "post-apocalyptic place of felled cities, parched land and downtrodden people." Seventy percent of the population was undernourished in 2001, and the life expectancy was ranked two places from bottom in the world. Fox News suggested on 27 September that "millions" of Afghans would possibly starve, amid

5720-470: The country amidst a nationwide Taliban offensive . In August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul and toppled the Afghan government , re-establishing their rule in the form of a second Islamic emirate . In 2001, Afghanistan had been at war for over 20 years. The communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in 1978, and its policies sparked a popular uprising. The Soviet Union , sensing PDPA weakness, intervened in 1979 to support

5824-470: The country's financial system, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program . After his second term, Bush returned to Texas, where he has maintained a low public profile. At various points in his presidency, he was among both the most popular and the most unpopular presidents in U.S. history. He received the highest recorded approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and one of

5928-613: The coup on the condition that Osmani would hand over bin Laden afterwards. Although Osmani initially showed some interest in the proposal, they ultimately failed to reach an agreement. On 4 October, the British government released a document summarizing the evidence linking bin Laden to the attacks. That same day, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invoked Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty for

6032-418: The criminal justice system. He also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind-generated electricity in the United States. In the 2000 presidential election , he won over Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore , while losing the popular vote after a narrow and contested Electoral College win, which involved a Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in Florida . In his first term, Bush signed

6136-551: The early or mid 1990s, before his gubernatorial campaign, Bush briefly considered a candidacy to become the Commissioner of Baseball . In 1978 , Bush ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 19th congressional district . The retiring member, George H. Mahon , had held the district for the Democratic Party since 1935. Bush's opponent, Kent Hance , portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans, and Bush lost

6240-537: The economy showed signs of improvement, though job growth remained stagnant. Another tax cut was passed that year. Between 2001 and 2008, GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.125 percent, less than for past business cycles. Bush entered office with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 10,587, and the average peaked in October 2007 at over 14,000. When Bush left office, the average was at 7,949, one of

6344-478: The election returns were tallied on November 7, Bush had won 29 states, including Florida. The closeness of the Florida outcome led to a recount . The initial recount also went to Bush, but the outcome was tied up in lower courts for a month until eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court . On December 9, in the controversial Bush v. Gore ruling, the Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court decision that had ordered

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6448-511: The election, receiving 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (Gore had actually been awarded 267 votes by the states pledged to him plus the District of Columbia, but one D.C. elector abstained). Bush was the first person to win a U.S. presidential election with fewer popular votes than another candidate since Benjamin Harrison in 1888. In his 2004 bid for re-election, Bush commanded broad support in

6552-436: The election, receiving 46.8 percent of the vote to Hance's 53.2 percent. Bush and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1988 to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency . He was a campaign advisor and liaison to the media, and assisted his father by campaigning across the country. In December 1991, Bush was one of seven people named by his father to run his father's 1992 presidential re-election campaign as

6656-533: The end of 1994, the Taliban had captured all of Kandahar Province. In 1996, with military support from Pakistan and financial support from Saudi Arabia, the Taliban seized Kabul and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan . They imposed their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam in areas under their control, issuing edicts forbidding women to work outside the home or attend school and requiring them to abide by harsh rules on veiling and seclusion. After

6760-471: The end of Bush's presidency, unemployment climbed to 7.2 percent. In December 2007, the United States entered the longest post– World War II recession, caused by a housing market correction , a subprime mortgage crisis , soaring oil prices , and other factors. In February 2008, 63,000 jobs were lost, a five-year record, and in November, over 500,000 jobs were lost, which marked the largest loss of jobs in

6864-432: The fact that students in the U.S. have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since Bush signed "No Child Left Behind" into law. Critics argue that it is underfunded and that NCLBA's focus on "high-stakes testing" and quantitative outcomes is counterproductive. On November 1, 2005, Bush launched a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza , which culminated in an implementation plan published by

6968-523: The family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School , a college-preparatory school in Piney Point Village, Texas . Bush later attended Phillips Academy , a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts , where he played baseball and was the head cheerleader during his senior year. He attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with

7072-501: The first time in its history; According to one senior British MoD official, the invoking of Article V seemed to have caught the Americans by surprise, and the Bush administration appeared annoyed at NATO's declaration. Article V states that an attack on one member of the alliance is to be considered an attack on all members. On 7 October, as the US aerial bombing campaign began, President Bush stated, "Full warning has been given, and time

7176-678: The founder of al-Qaeda escaped into neighboring Pakistan or otherwise retreated to remote regions deep within the Hindu Kush . In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to oversee military operations in Afghanistan and also train the new Afghan National Security Forces . At the Bonn Conference that same month, Hamid Karzai

7280-569: The funding for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in his first years of office and creating education programs to strengthen the grounding in science and mathematics for American high school students. Funding for the NIH was cut in 2006, the first such cut in 36 years, due to rising inflation. One of the administration's early major initiatives was the No Child Left Behind Act , which aimed to measure and close

7384-418: The gap between rich and poor student performance, provide options to parents with students in low-performing schools, and target more federal funding to low-income schools. This landmark education initiative passed with broad bipartisan support, including that of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. It was signed into law by Bush in early 2002. Many contend that the initiative has been successful, as cited by

7488-467: The implementation of a guest worker program for immigrants, which was criticized by conservatives. The Bush campaign advertised across the U.S. against Democratic candidates, including Bush's emerging opponent, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry . Kerry and other Democrats attacked Bush on the Iraq War , and accused him of failing to stimulate the economy and job growth. The Bush campaign portrayed Kerry as

7592-416: The invaders were expelled. On 21 September, Muhammad Umar rejected both Bush's demands and the advice of the council, again denying that bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. Simultaneously, the US urged Pakistan to end its support for the Taliban regime and to pressure Muhammad Umar to hand over bin Laden. On 12 September, the US demanded Pakistan close its border with the Taliban and share intelligence with

7696-811: The lowest levels of his presidency. Only four other U.S. presidents have left office with the stock market lower than when they began. Unemployment originally rose from 4.2 percent in January 2001 to 6.3 percent in June 2003, but subsequently dropped to 4.5 percent in July 2007. Adjusted for inflation, median household income dropped by $ 1,175 between 2000 and 2007, while Professor Ken Homa of Georgetown University noted that "Median real after-tax household income went up two percent". The poverty rate increased from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 12.3 percent in 2006 after peaking at 12.7 percent in 2004. By October 2008, due to increases in spending,

7800-492: The lowest ratings during the 2007–2008 financial crisis . Bush initially left office as one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents, but public opinion of him has improved since then. Scholars and historians rank Bush in the lower half of presidents. George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut . He was the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce . He

7904-495: The north and around Kabul", and the Taliban killed 5,000–8,000 civilians after they captured Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998. Afghanistan also faced a serious humanitarian crisis in 2001 due to drought; according to the United Nations, 5 million Afghans were in need of humanitarian aid that year and 3.8 million could not survive without UN food aid. On the morning of 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda carried out four coordinated attacks on

8008-524: The paralyzed relief network, closed border crossings, and the cold winter approaching. The U.N. refugee agency feared that the scale of the crisis could reach the peaks of that in Bosnia and Rwanda . The invasion consisted of American, British, Canadian, and Australian forces, with other countries providing logistical support. General Tommy Franks of US Central Command (CENTCOM) was the overall commander for Operation Enduring Freedom. He led four task forces:

8112-468: The regime. The Soviet entry into Afghanistan prompted its Cold War rivals, especially the United States and Saudi Arabia , to support rebels fighting against the Soviet-backed PDPA. While the secular and socialist government controlled the cities, religiously motivated mujahidin held sway in much of the countryside. The most important mujahidin commander was Ahmad Shah Massoud , who led

8216-559: The regulations passed the House but died in the Senate. Many Republican senators, as well as influential members of the Bush Administration, feared that the agency created by these regulations would merely be mimicking the private sector's risky practices. In September 2008, the crisis became much more serious beginning with the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed by

8320-571: The relief was Sasanid was made by Lee, Grenet and Ory. A 2020 paper claimed that this has been accepted too readily, and suggested that the relief was possibly carved during the Kushan Empire , which was present in the region before the Sasanids. The relief is 4.9 m high and 6.5 m wide. It is carved into a natural sandstone cliff, facing east. It has been largely destroyed, partially by weathering and partially by Taliban iconoclasm. The relief shows

8424-522: The resulting power vacuum, the mujahidin leaders vied for dominance in a civil war from 1992 to 1996 . By then, bin Laden had left the country. The United States' interest in Afghanistan also diminished. In 1994, a Pashtun mujahid named Muhammad Umar founded the Taliban movement in Kandahar . His followers were religious students and sought to end warlord rule through strict adherence to Islamic law. By

8528-516: The risen Lord", how he began to read the Bible daily, "surrendering" to the "Almighty", that "faith is a walk" and that he was "moved by God 's love". Before his marriage, Bush repeatedly abused alcohol . On September 4, 1976, he was pulled over near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine , for driving under the influence of alcohol . He was arrested for DUI , was fined $ 150, and received

8632-611: The start of the war on terror and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security . Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to overthrow the Taliban , destroy al-Qaeda , and capture Osama bin Laden . He signed the Patriot Act to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. He also ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein 's regime on the false belief that they possessed weapons of mass destruction and had ties with al-Qaeda . Bush later signed

8736-414: The time of the invasion, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was dire, and the attacks in the United States caused thousands of Afghans to attempt to flee fearing potential U.S. military action - this on top of millions that were already refugees in regional countries due to the continuous conflict already in place for 22 years. Food stock was running critically low and almost all aid workers had left

8840-439: The time, Cheney was serving as head of Bush's vice presidential search committee. Soon after at the 2000 Republican National Convention , Bush and Cheney were officially nominated by the Republican Party. Bush continued to campaign across the country and touted his record as Governor of Texas. During his campaign, Bush criticized his Democratic opponent, incumbent Vice President Al Gore , over gun control and taxation. When

8944-529: The use of American ground forces, to avoid provoking the Afghan population as the British and Russians had done. On 17 September Bush approved the CIA's plan and directed the military to develop a detailed war plan based on the third option from Camp David. Planning efforts were hindered because the Taliban had little physical infrastructure for the military to target. Early plans by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) included poisoning

9048-567: The well-organized Tajik forces. The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked closely with Pakistan 's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to funnel foreign support for the mujahidin . The war also attracted Arab volunteers, known as " Afghan Arabs ", including Osama bin Laden . After the withdrawal of the Soviet military from Afghanistan in February 1989, the PDPA regime collapsed in 1992. In

9152-550: Was indicted for his involvement in the bombings. In 1999 both the US and the United Nations enacted sanctions against the Taliban in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 , which demanded the Taliban surrender bin Laden for trial in the US and close all terrorist bases in Afghanistan. At the time, the only collaboration between Massoud and the US was an effort with the CIA to trace bin Laden. The US provided no support for Massoud's fight against

9256-523: Was $ 237   billion – the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever. In 2001, Bush's budget estimated that there would be a $ 5.6   trillion surplus over the next ten years. Facing congressional opposition, Bush held town hall-style meetings across the U.S. to increase public support for his plan for a $ 1.35   trillion tax cut program , one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history. Bush argued that unspent government funds should be returned to taxpayers, saying "the surplus

9360-421: Was 77, and he had a similar average under a nonnumerical rating system in his final year. In the fall of 1973, Bush entered Harvard Business School . He graduated in 1975 with an MBA degree, and is the only U.S. president to have earned an MBA. Bush was engaged to Cathryn Lee Wolfman in 1967, but the engagement did not last. Bush and Wolfman remained on good terms after the end of the relationship. While Bush

9464-499: Was a Texas oilman. Other activities include cigar smoking and golf. Bush has also painted many paintings. One of his best-known projects is a collection of 43 paintings of immigrants, titled Out of Many, One . Another painting project was Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warrior . In May 1968, Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard . After two years of training in active-duty service, he

9568-421: Was a cruise missile strike, the second was a combined cruise missile and bombing campaign lasting 3–10 days, and the third called for cruise missile and bomber strikes as well as ground forces operating inside Afghanistan. The CIA also presented its war plan, which involved inserting paramilitary teams to work with the Northern Alliance and, eventually, American Special Forces units. The planners wanted to minimize

9672-482: Was a key ally of the United States, offering support for military action from the start of the invasion preparations. The American military presence in Afghanistan greatly bolstered the Northern Alliance , which had been locked in a losing fight with the Taliban during the Afghan Civil War . Prior to the beginning of the United States' war effort, the Taliban had seized around 85% of Afghanistan's territory as well as

9776-471: Was assigned to Houston , flying Convair F-102s with the 147th Reconnaissance Wing out of Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base . Critics, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe , have alleged that Bush was favorably treated due to his father's political standing as a member of the House of Representatives , citing his selection as a pilot despite his low pilot aptitude test scores and his irregular attendance. In June 2005,

9880-635: Was at a backyard barbecue in 1977, friends introduced him to Laura Welch , a schoolteacher and librarian. After a three-month courtship, she accepted his marriage proposal and they wed on November   5 of that year. The couple settled in Midland, Texas . Bush left his family's Episcopal Church to join his wife's United Methodist Church . On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna . Bush describes being challenged by Billy Graham to consider faith in Jesus "Christ as

9984-601: Was critical in abstaining. "I believe that God helped open my eyes, which were closing because of booze". Bush has been an avid reader throughout his adult life, preferring biographies and histories. During his presidency, Bush read the Bible daily, though at the end of his second term he said on television that he is "not a literalist" about Bible interpretation. Walt Harrington , a journalist, recalled seeing "books by John Fowles , F. Scott Fitzgerald , James Joyce , and Gore Vidal lying about, as well as biographies of Willa Cather and Queen Victoria " in his home when Bush

10088-419: Was hurt by decreased oil prices, and it folded into Harken Energy Corporation , with Bush becoming a member of Harken's board of directors. Questions of possible insider trading involving Harken arose, but a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation concluded that the information Bush had at the time of his stock sale was not sufficient to constitute insider trading. In April 1989, Bush arranged for

10192-466: Was increased by 107 percent, discretionary domestic spending by 62 percent, Medicare spending by 131 percent, social security by 51 percent, and income security spending by 130 percent. Cyclically adjusted, revenues rose by 35 percent and spending by 65 percent. The increase in spending was more than under any predecessor since Lyndon B. Johnson . The number of economic regulation governmental workers increased by 91,196. The surplus in fiscal year 2000

10296-616: Was raised in Midland and Houston , Texas with four siblings: Jeb , Neil , Marvin and Dorothy . Another younger sister, Robin , died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His paternal grandfather, Prescott Bush , was a U.S. senator from Connecticut . His father was Ronald Reagan 's vice president from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch , Welsh , Irish , French , and Scottish roots. Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until

10400-559: Was selected to lead the Afghan Interim Administration . Simultaneously, the Taliban's founding leader Muhammad Umar reorganized the movement to wage asymmetric warfare against the coalition, and by 2002, the group had launched an insurgency against the American-led war effort . Protracted fighting continued for the next two decades, and by mid-2021, the international coalition and the United States had begun to withdraw from

10504-458: Was similar to that of the Northern Alliance, and they also had Stinger missiles donated by the United States to the mujahidin during the Soviet–Afghan War. They relied on pickup trucks for mobility and operated as a "motorized light force." They had about 40 combat aircraft, operated by ex-PDPA pilots. Both sides had a history of human rights abuses: Uzbeks and Hazaras had "massacred hundreds of Taliban prisoners and killed Pashtun villagers in

10608-404: Was the focus of national attention as a potential future presidential candidate. Following his re-election, speculation soared, and within a year he decided to seek the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative , implying he was more centrist than other Republicans. He campaigned on a platform that included bringing integrity and honor back to

10712-587: Was to draw the US into a costly war in Afghanistan, so it could be defeated just as the USSR had been. On the evening of 11 September, President Bush stated the US would respond to the attacks and would "make no distinction between those who planned these acts and those who harbor them." On 14 September 2001, Congress passed legislation titled Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists , authorizing military force against al-Qaeda and its supporters. President Bush addressed Congress on 20 September and demanded

10816-549: Was widely criticized for his administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina and revelations of torture against detainees at Abu Ghraib . Amid his unpopularity, the Democrats regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections . The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued; in January 2007, Bush launched a surge of troops in Iraq . By December, the U.S. entered the Great Recession , prompting the Bush administration to get congressional approval for economic programs intended to preserve

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