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On September 11, 2001, the US was rocked by the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

Within less than a month, it struck back at the people it believed were responsible for those attacks and the Taliban government that was hosting them in Afghanistan.

Soon, the US-backed Northern Alliance pushed back the Taliban and took over Kabul.

However, winning the peace in Afghanistan has proved to be a far more lengthy and difficult process. 

In the alliances put together to achieve this end, there was the promise of a better future for the country. But within three years, the Taliban were back as a major force.

So, eight years on, what has been achieved?

Afghanistan appears to be a narco-state where corrupt politicians and commanders rule the country from their heavily fortified "poppy palaces" in the capital and civilians face the daily threat of Taliban bombs and US air strikes.

Operation Enduring Freedom, the US response to 9/11, promised a better future for the country, but eight years on it appears that Afghanistan's freedom has anything but endured.

Afghanistan: How the East was lost aired from Monday, August 17, 2009.