The International Security Assistance Force was a NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan, established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001 by Resolution 1386, as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement. Its main purpose was to train the Afghan National Security Forces and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions, but was engaged in the War in Afghanistan against the Taliban insurgency. ISAF was charged with securing Kabul and the surrounding areas from the Taliban, al Qaeda and factional warlords, to allow for the establishment of the Afghan Transitional Administration headed by Hamid Karzai. In October 2003, the UN Security Council authorized the expansion of the ISAF mission throughout Afghanistan, ISAF subsequently expanded the mission in four main stages over the whole of the country. From 2006 to 2011, ISAF became involved in more intensive combat operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Troop contributors included the United States, United Kingdom and other NATO member states as well as a number of other countries.

The intensity of the combat faced by contributing nations varied with the United States sustaining the most casualties overall. In early 2010, there were at least 700 military bases inside Afghanistan. About 400 of these were used by American‑led NATO forces and 300 by the ANSF. ISAF ceased combat operations and was disbanded in December 2014, with some troops remaining behind in an advisory role as part of ISAF's successor organization, the Resolute Support Mission. For two years, the ISAF mandate did not go beyond the boundaries of Kabul. According to General Norbert Van Heyst, such a deployment would require at least ten thousand additional soldiers; the responsibility for security throughout the whole of Afghanistan was to be given to the newly reconstituted Afghan National Army. However, on 13 October 2003, the Security Council voted unanimously to expand the ISAF mission beyond Kabul with Resolution 1510. Shortly thereafter, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said that Canadian soldiers would not deploy outside Kabul.

On 24 October 2003, the German Bundestag voted to send German troops to the region of Kunduz. 230 additional soldiers were deployed to that region, marking the first time that ISAF soldiers operated outside of Kabul. After the 2005 Afghan parliamentary election, the Canadian base Camp Julien in Kabul closed, the remaining Canadian assets were moved to Kandahar as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in preparation for a significant deployment in January, 2006. On 31 July 2006, the NATO‑led International Security Assistance Force assumed command of the south of the country, ISAF Stage 3, by 5 October of the east of Afghanistan, ISAF Stage 4. ISAF was mandated by UN Security Council Resolutions 1386, 1413, 1444, 1510, 1563, 1623, 1659, 1707, 1776, 1917; the last of these extended the mandate of ISAF to 23 March 2011. The mandates given by the different governments to their forces varied from country to country; some governments wished to take a full part in counter-insurgency operations. This meant.

The initial ISAF headquarters was based on 3rd UK Mechanised Division, led at the time by Major General John McColl. This force arrived in December, 2001; until ISAF expanded beyond Kabul, the force consisted of a division-level headquarters and one brigade covering the capital, the Kabul Multinational Brigade. The brigade was composed of three battle groups, was in charge of the tactical command of deployed troops. ISAF headquarters served as the operational control center of the mission. Eighteen countries were contributors to the force in February, 2002, it was expected to grow to 5,000 soldiers. Turkey assumed command of ISAF in June, 2002. During this period, the number of Turkish troops increased from about 100 to 1,300. In November, 2002, ISAF consisted of 4,650 troops from over 20 countries. Around 1,200 German troops served in the force alongside 250 Dutch soldiers operating as part of a German-led battalion. Turkey relinquished command in February, 2003, assumed command for a second time in February, 2005.

Turkey's area of operations expanded into the rugged west of Afghanistan. The expansion of its zone of activities saw ISAF troops operating in 50 percent of Afghanistan, double its previous responsibility. On 10 February 2003, Lieutenant General Norbert van Heyst, on behalf of Germany and the Netherlands, took command of ISAF, his Deputy was Brigadier General Bertholee of the Netherlands. The mission HQ was formed from HQ I. German/Dutch Corps, including staff from the UK, Turkey and others. In March, 2003, ISAF was composed of 4,700 troops from 28 countries. Service in ISAF by NATO personnel from 1 June 2003. Onward earns the right to wear the NATO Medal if a service-member met a defined set of tour length requirements. In Kabul on 7 June 2003, a taxi packed with explosives rammed a bus carrying German ISAF personnel, killing four soldiers and wounding 29 others; the 33 German soldiers, after months on duty in Kabul, were en route to the Kabul International Airport for their flight home to Germany.

At the time, Germans soldiers made up more than 40 percent of ISAF troops. ISAF command rotated among different nations every six months. However, there was tremendous difficulty securing new lead nations. To solve the problem, c

The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence is one of the most respected and studied of all chess openings. Modern Chess Openings calls it the "Cadillac" or "Rolls Royce" of chess openings; the opening is named after the Polish-Argentine grandmaster Miguel Najdorf. Many players have lived by the Najdorf; the Najdorf begins: 1. E4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. D4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6Black's 5...a6 aims to deny the b5-square to White's knights and light-square bishop while maintaining flexible development. If Black plays 5...e5?! then after 6. Bb5+! Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8. Nf5 and the knight on f5 is difficult to dislodge without concessions. Black plans a queenside minority attack to pressure White's e4-pawn; this is carried out by means of...b5... Bb7, placing a knight on c5, or c4 via b6; the main move. In the early days of the Najdorf 7. Qf3 was popular. Nowadays, White players universally respond with the move: 7. F4. White threatens 8.e5, but Black has several options: 7... Be7 8. Qf3 and now: 8... Qc7 9. 0-0-0 Nbd7, this is called the old main line.

At this point White responds with 10.g4 or 10. Bd3. After each of these moves there is a huge body of opening theory. 8... h6 9. Bh4 g5; this is known as the Argentine/Goteborg Variation. It was first played in round 14 of 1955 Goteborg Interzonal by Argentine players Panno and Najdorf who were facing the Soviet grandmasters Geller and Keres; the games in question proceeded as follows: 10.fxg5 Nfd7 11. Nxe6!? 11...fxe6 12. Qh5+ Kf8 13. Bb5. Here Panno played 13... Ne5, while Pilnik and Najdorf chose 13... Kg7. In 1958 Bobby Fischer played 13... Rh7!, versus Svetozar Gligorić at the Portorož Interzonal, in a critical last-round game. According to modern opening theory, this position is a draw at best for White. 7... Qb6 one of the most popular choices at master level. 8. Qd2 the complicated Poisoned Pawn Variation: 8... Qxb2 9. Rb1 9... Qa3 and here White has played both 10.f5 and 10.e5. Both lead to sharp play where slightest inaccuracy is fatal for either side. Since 2006, when it was played in several high level games, 10.e5 has become popular.

From the standpoint of the theory it is regarded as White's only attempt to play for a win against the Poisoned Pawn Variation since all other variations have been analysed to a draw with best play. An example is the game Vallejo Pons–Kasparov, Moscow 2004, called "a model modern grandmaster draw!" by Kasparov himself in Revolution in the 70s. 8. Nb3 White opts for a quiet game, but Black has nothing to worry about: 8... Be7 9. Qf3 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Qc7 where we have reached a setup similar to that of the old main line mentioned above. However, without the d4-knight White will find it hard to organise an attack. 8. A3 is a more challenging reply for White, it protects the pawn indirectly as 8... Qxb2?? is met by 9. Na4! Winning the queen. Black plays 8... Nc6, although 8... Nbd7 is playable; the 8.a3 line has been seen several times at the grandmaster level recently. 7... b5 the ultra-sharp Polugaevsky Variation. Black expands on the queenside. 8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 Qc7 here White either plays 10.exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 or 10.

Qe2 Nfd7 11.0-0-0 Bb7. 7... Qc7 championed by Garry Kasparov before he switched to playing 7... Qb6 exclusively. 7... Nbd7 popularised by Boris Gelfand. 7... Nc6?! is risky and of a dubious theoretical reputation due to the response: 8.e5! 7... h6!? the Poisoned Pawn Deferred. This variation is popular at the moment; the line 8. Bh4 Qb6 9.a3 was played twice in the 2016 London Chess Classic, though White won both games. Speaking, this was the usual reply until the mid-1960s, when the rejoinder 7. Bc4 put the move "out of business". However, ideas have been found by some Dutch players who call this variation De Verbeterde List; the idea for Black is to postpone...e6 in order to retain more dynamic options. The idea was tested by Petrosian and others, but received popular attention and developed after use by Dutch player Lody Kuling in 2007; the most important developments include: 7. F4 Qc7 8. Qf3: 8... h6 9. Bh4 e5. A setup discovered by Lody Kuling; the idea is to gain time over...e6 by playing...e7–e5 in one move.

On it turned out that 9...g5! is better. 8... b5 is the Neo Verbeterde List. This is a new way to play the Verbeterde List, it includes fianchetting the bishop to b7. 7. Bc4 Qb6 This is a move introduced by Lenier Dominguez; the idea is to win a tempo by attacking b2, after which Black can finish his development beginning 8...e6. The last word on the line has not yet been given; the whole variation with 6... Nbd7 is covered in the book by Ľubomír Ftáčnik in the chapter "Blood Diamond". 7. F4/Qe2 g6 is Grischuk's Verbeterde List, another modern way to meet both 7.f4 and 7. Qe2; the idea is to castle kingside and start to attack with...b5–b4, while wasting no time with the e-pawn. This has become the modern main line. Since the early 1990s, the English Attack, 6. Be3 followed by f3

Fan Kang was a Chinese economic historian. Considered a founder of world economic history in China, she was elected an honorary member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Fan Kang was born in Weihui, Republic of China in May 1924, she graduated from the Department of English of Northwest University in 1946, joined the Communist Party of China in August 1948. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the new Communist government established Renmin University of China in 1950, Fan became a founding faculty member of the university. From 1957 to 1959, Fan studied in the Department of Economics of Moscow State University in the Soviet Union, returned to teach economic history at Renmin University afterwards. In 1980, Fan transferred to the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was one of the only three scholars studying economic history at the institute at the time, she spent the remainder of her career at the institute. In 1991, she was awarded a special pension for distinguished scholars by the State Council of China.

After her retirement, she was elected an honorary member of the CASS. On 23 September 2019, Fan died at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, aged 95. Fan is considered a founder of the field of world economic history in China, her main works include: Foreign Economic History 外国经济史, People's Publishing House, 1965 and 1990. A Brief Economic History of Major Capitalist Countries 主要资本主义国家经济简史, People's Publishing House, 1973 and 1997; the Rise and Decline of Capitalism 资本主义兴衰史, Beijing Publishing House, 1984 and 1992. World Economic History 世界经济史, Economic Science Press, 1991 and 1993