The United States of America and Britain launched a series of air strikes against specific targets in Afghanistan on Sunday, October 7 2001, almost a month after terrorist suicide attacks brought down the World Trade Centre Towers in New York City and hit the Pentagon in Washington DC.

Shortly after the first air strikes were launched, U.S. President George W. Bush said that these were targeting terrorist installations in Afghanistan as well as the military forces of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime.

Some feared the war would degenerate in another Vietnam-style debacle for the United States, but the relentless air bombing campaign and the renewed vigour with which the anti-Taliban forces pursued their land war, led to the toppling of the Taliban regime and the destruction of Bin Laden’s al Qaeda Afghan power bases in a matter of a few weeks. This led to the swearing in of an interim Afghan government led by Hamid Karzai, hopeful that rich countries would help in the reconstruction of the war-torn country. However, until today, the American-led coalition has failed in its primary objective: to capture Osama Bin Laden, accused of masterminding the September 11th attacks.

In this special feature, MaltaMedia looks at the effect of these air strikes from a Maltese perspective, providing a unique insight on the developments that led to this retaliation.