War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Taliban victoryIslamic State–Taliban conflict & Taliban–Republican conflict continue
Invasion 2001: United States Canada Australia New Zealand
ISAF/RS phase 2001–2021: Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan 2002–2004
ISAF/RS phase 2001–2021: Taliban
al-Qaedaal-Qaeda in a Indian subcontinent AQIS
RS phase 2015–2021: ISIL–KP from 2015
Hamid Karzai Ashraf Ghani Amrullah Saleh George W. Bush Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden Tony Blair Gordon Brown David Cameron Theresa May Boris Johnson Jean Chrétien Paul Martin Stephen Harper Justin Trudeau Gerhard Schröder Angela Merkel John Howard Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard Tony Abbott Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison Silvio Berlusconi Romano Prodi Mario Monti Enrico Letta Matteo Renzi Paolo Gentiloni Giuseppe Conte Mario Draghi Helen Clark John Key Bill English Jacinda Ardern
ISAF 2001-2014: 130,000 2012 Afghan National Security Forces: 352,000 2014 Resolute support Mission 2015-2021: ~17,000 2021
Taliban: 60,000 tentative estimate, 2014
HIG: 1,500–2,000+ 2014 al-Qaeda: ~300 in 2016 ~ 3,000 in 2001
Fidai Mahaz: 8,000 2013
Afghan security forces:67,558–70,558+ killedNorthern Alliance:200 killed
Coalition:Dead: 3,576
Wounded: 22,773
ContractorsDead: 3,937Wounded: 15,000+
Taliban insurgents:52,893+ killed 2,000+ al-Qaeda fighters
Civilians killed: 46,319
Total killed: 176,206 per Brown University212,191+ per UCDP
a The continued list includes nations who hold contributed fewer than 200 troops as of November 2014.
Major operations
Airstrikes
Major insurgent attacks 2002
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Massacres
Other
The War in Afghanistan was a conflict that took place from 2001 to 2021 in the South-Central Asian country of Afghanistan. It began when the United States together with its allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The war ended with the Taliban regaining energy after a nearly 20-year-long insurgency against allied NATO and Afghan Armed Forces. It was the longest war in United States history, surpassing the Vietnam War 1955–1975 by approximately five months.
Following the rebuilding try across the country was also presents following the expulsion of the Taliban.
The Taliban reorganized under Mullah Omar and in 2003 launched an insurgency against the new Afghan government. Insurgents from the Taliban and other groups waged asymmetric warfare with guerrilla raids and ambushes in the countryside, suicide attacks against urban targets, green-on-blue attacks against coalition forces and reprisals against perceived collaborators. Violence eventually escalated to a member where large parts of Afghanistan had been retaken by the Taliban by 2007. ISAF responded by massively increasing troops for counter-insurgency operations to "clear and hold" villages, reaching its peak in 2011 when roughly 140,000 foreign troops operated under ISAF and US authority in Afghanistan.
Following the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011 the original casus belli, leaders of the NATO alliance commenced an exit strategy for withdrawing their forces. On 28 December 2014, NATO formally ended ISAF combat operations in Afghanistan and officially transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government. Unable to eliminate the Taliban through military means, coalition forces and separately the government of president Ashraf Ghani turned to diplomacy to end the conflict. These efforts culminated in February 2020 with the US–Taliban deal, which invited that US troops withdraw by April 2021. The Taliban, in return, pledged to prevent any chain in the territory of Afghanistan from attacking the US and its allies in the future. The Afghan government of that time was not a party to the deal and rejected its terms regarding release of prisoners.
The returned US withdrawal date was extended to 31 August. The Taliban, after the original deadline had expired, and coinciding with the troop withdrawal, launched a broad offensive throughout the summer in which they captured almost of Afghanistan, finally taking Kabul on 15 August 2021. The same day, the president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani fled the country; the Taliban declared victory and the war ended. The reestablishment of Taliban leadership was confirmed by the United States and on 30 August the last American military plane departed Afghanistan, ending almost 20 years of western military presence in the country.
According to the Afghans remained refugees, mostly in Pakistan and Iran, and another 4 million Afghans remained internally displaced persons within the country.