Related Research Articles
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's capital and largest city. Afghanistan's population is estimated to be between 36–50 million.
The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Royal Navy formed special forces with several name changes—Special Boat Company was adopted in 1951 and re-designated as the Special Boat Squadron in 1974—until on 28 July 1987 when the unit was renamed as the Special Boat Service after assuming responsibility for maritime counter-terrorism. Most of the operations conducted by the SBS are highly classified, and are rarely commented on by the British government or the Ministry of Defence, owing to their sensitive nature.
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internationally, he is recognised for his role as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006, following his vigorous lobbying for military action against Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003.
Nigel Paul Farage is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 2024, having previously been its leader from 2019 to 2021. He was the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016. Farage served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2020.
The AgustaWestland Apache is a licence-built version of the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter for the British Army Air Corps. The first eight helicopters were built by Boeing; the remaining 59 were assembled by Westland Helicopters at Yeovil, Somerset in England from Boeing-supplied kits. Changes from the AH-64D include Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines, a new electronic defensive aids suite and a folding blade mechanism allowing the British version to operate from ships. The helicopter was initially designated WAH-64 by Westland Helicopters and was later given the designation Apache AH Mk 1 by the Ministry of Defence.
East Midlands was a constituency of the European Parliament in the United Kingdom, established in 1999 with six members to replace single-member constituencies. Between 2009 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020 it returned five MEPs, elected using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
Sir Robert Ben Lobban Wallace is a British politician and former British Army Officer who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wyre and Preston North, formerly Lancaster and Wyre, from 2005 to 2024.
Declan James Ganley is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the eurosceptic Libertas Party.
The War in Afghanistan was a prolonged conflict lasting from 2001 to 2021. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition under the name Operation Enduring Freedom as a direct response to the September 11 attacks, toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate and establishing the Islamic Republic three years later. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centers by US-led forces supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance; Osama bin Laden, meanwhile, relocated to neighboring Pakistan. The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic, and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in the military history of the United States, surpassing the length of the Vietnam War (1955–1975) by approximately six months.
Events from the year 2009 in the United Kingdom.
Bridget Rowe was a British newspaper editor.
Libertas was a European political party founded by Declan Ganley that took part in the 2009 European Parliament election in several member states of the European Union. It won one seat in France.
Libertas UK may refer to three political parties in the United Kingdom: two are regional affiliates of Declan Ganley's Libertas Party Limited, one of which, Pro-Democracy: Libertas.eu, contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas Party Limited. The third was formed by an associate of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).
Left Ecology Freedom was a democratic socialist political party in Italy whose bulk was formed by former members of the Communist Refoundation Party.
Libertas Ireland was a minor, Eurosceptic political party in Ireland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections in Ireland under a common banner with Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu. It shared a headquarters with Libertas.eu but was a national party in its own right for the purposes of Irish electoral law.
Robin Charles William Tilbrook is a solicitor and English nationalist politician who has been chairman of the English Democrats since its foundation in 2002. The party is a right-wing to far-right, English nationalist political party, that advocates a devolved English Parliament, having previously advocated English independence from the United Kingdom.
Events from the year 2008 in Afghanistan.
Thomas Georg John Tugendhat is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tonbridge, previously Tonbridge and Malling, since 2015. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously served in the Cabinet as Minister of State for Security from September 2022 to July 2024.
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has served as the party's leader since June 2024 and Richard Tice has served as the party's deputy leader since July 2024. The party currently has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one member of the London Assembly. The party also holds representation at the local government level, with most of its local councillors having defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK. Following Farage's resumption of the leadership during the 2024 general election, there was a sharp increase in support for the party. Following the election, it was the third largest party by popular vote, with 4,117,610 votes achieving 14.3 per cent of the vote in total.
References
- ↑ "Army officer's new EU battle". www.thisisbath.co.uk. 17 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
- ↑ Woodcock, Andrew; Brennan, Michael (11 March 2009). "Ex-soldier to lead Libertas battle in UK". Independent.ie. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
- ↑ Robin Matthews is the UK Libertas Party Leader. Libertas Insider 10 March 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
 | This article about a British politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |