ABSTRACT
Before US. operations began in Afghanistan as a response to the 9/11 attacks, and long before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an active theater in the global war on terrorism had been established for years in Chechnya. Running from the lowlands of the Nogay Steppe high into the northern slope of the greater Caucasus Mountains, Chechnya has been a conflict flashpoint since the mid-1990s. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Chechnya declared its independence in 1991. To bring Chechnya back under Moscow’s control, President Boris Yeltsin authorized a military intervention in the mountainous republic. Two years later, after nearly 50,000 deaths, 1 the Russian forces withdrew, only to return again three years later in September 1999. Combat has continued ever since.
