ABSTRACT
Kabul and Monrovia are two very different cities with little in common apart from being the capitals of their respective countries, Afghanistan and Liberia. Yet they share a tragic similarity: both have suffered, almost simultaneously, from years of conflict. The parallels are remarkable:
In 1992, mujahideen fighters entered Kabul after the withdrawal of the Soviet army. Almost immediately, a four-year power struggle between rival factions began that left 20,000 people dead and large portions of the city destroyed (Johnson 2004). In the same year, Monrovia came under attack by rebel forces led by Charles Taylor, causing destruction and generating mayhem among the thousands of displaced people who had fled conflict in the provinces.
In 1996, the Taliban (a Sunni Islamist, predominately Pashtun movement) 1 took Kabul, and Taylor’s forces again attacked Monrovia. In the following months, peace returned to both countries, at least to the capitals. In Liberia, a presidential election resulted in a landslide victory for Taylor.
In 2001, Kabul was bombed again, this time by the United States. The city fell in only a few days, and the Taliban regime collapsed. In 2003, Taylor’s opponents took over Monrovia, forcing the president into exile.
