Almost no one denied the connection between the Afghanistan's Taliban government and al-Qaida. However, various leftists opposed the Afghanistan invasion and the subsequent invasion of Iraq on the following grounds: pacifism; belief that the war was illegal under international law; opposition to perceived U.S. imperialism; disbelief (especially in the case of Iraq) in the sincerity of the U.S.'s stated war aims of counter-terrorism and the spread of political freedom; belief that the wars were motivated by neocolonialism and petroleum politics; and, in a few cases, denial of al-Qaida's responsibility for the September 11 attacks.
