After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban had been giving al-Qaeda a safe base from which to operate. The U.S. government said that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda members did the attacks in New York and Washington, but the Taliban asked the U.S. for proof of this before it would arrest them. The aim of the invasion was to remove the Taliban government from power, destroy al-Qaeda and capture bin Laden. The Taliban is still fighting the Afghan and Pakistani governments in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.