Afghanistan War Begins
US-led coalition launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan after September 11
October 07, 2001
The Response to September 11
The war in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, less than four weeks after the September 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States. The attacks had been planned and directed by al-Qaeda, an Islamist terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden, which was operating from Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban government. When the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden or dismantle al-Qaeda's training camps, the United States and its NATO allies launched a military campaign code-named Operation Enduring Freedom. The initial phase combined U.S. and British air strikes with ground support for Afghan opposition forces known as the Northern Alliance.
The Taliban Fall and Rebuild
The Taliban government collapsed quickly. Mazar-i-Sharif fell on November 9, 2001, and Kabul on November 13. The Taliban's last stronghold, Kandahar, fell in December 2001. Osama bin Laden escaped into the mountainous border region with Pakistan during the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, evading capture until U.S. Navy SEALs killed him in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011. With the Taliban removed from power, an international effort began to build a new Afghan government and security forces. But the Taliban regrouped in Pakistan's tribal areas and gradually returned to wage an insurgency that grew more intense through the late 2000s and 2010s.
America's Longest War
The war in Afghanistan became America's longest military conflict. At its peak, over 100,000 U.S. troops were deployed there. A U.S.-Taliban peace agreement was signed in February 2020, and President Biden announced a full withdrawal of U.S. forces in April 2021. The withdrawal was completed on August 30, 2021, and the Taliban retook control of the country with stunning speed, capturing Kabul on August 15, 2021, as the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed. Over 2,400 U.S. military personnel died in Afghanistan, along with thousands of allied troops and tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and civilians. The country returned to Taliban rule twenty years after the original invasion had removed them.