Air Force troops in the Afghan mountains
Credit: U.S. Air Force

President Joe Biden stuck to a deadline of Aug. 31, 2021, for the withdrawal of the remaining United States troops from Afghanistan. The withdrawal brought the 20-year Afghanistan War to a close and completed a rapid retaking of the country by the Taliban, a militant Sunni Islamic political group.

As U.S. and NATO troops began their withdrawal earlier in the year, Taliban attacks aimed at expanding the group’s control over additional territory increased. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans fled. The Afghan National Security Forces eventually collapsed before the advance, despite years of support and training by NATO and U.S. forces. In August, Taliban forces took over additional territory, including several major cities. On August 15, they entered and took control of the capital, Kabul. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

The United States quickly sent additional troops to Kabul. They were to secure and oversee the operation of the city’s airport during the evacuation of U.S. and NATO personnel, along with Afghan allies and their families. On August 26, a suicide bombing and gunfire attack killed at least 170 people in the large crowd waiting to enter the airport. The victims also included 13 U.S. troops. The militant group ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorason—a branch of the Islamic State terrorist organization) claimed responsibility for the attack. Nevertheless, the evacuations continued. About 123,000 civilians were evacuated on U.S. and coalition flights before the United States completed the withdrawal of its last military troops on August 30.

The Afghanistan War began in 2001. It started as a short but intense war in which the United States and its allies battled the Taliban. International forces overthrew the Taliban regime and helped establish a new government in Afghanistan.

The conflict persisted in the years that followed, however, as the United States and its allies struggled to establish stability in the country. The war eventually became the longest deployment of American combat troops in U.S. history. Since the beginning of the Afghanistan War, more than 3,500 coalition soldiers, mostly Americans, have died in Afghanistan.

In 2013, international troops shifted into a supporting role. Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops remained in such noncombat roles as training Afghan soldiers, advising Afghan army units, and helping maintain equipment. In 2014, NATO and the United States formally ended their combat missions in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban increased their presence in the following years, and security forces continued to battle the insurgents. An additional 3,000 U.S. troops were sent in 2017 on combat duty.

In 2018, U.S. and Taliban representatives began negotiating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. They signed an agreement in 2020. The Taliban agreed not to allow such terrorist organizations as al-Qa`ida and the Islamic State (ISIS) to operate from bases in Afghanistan, and the United States agreed to a gradual withdrawal of the approximately 13,000 troops it had in the country at that time. Several thousand NATO troops also remained in the country, providing noncombat assistance to Afghan security forces. Nevertheless, fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban continued, leading up to the U.S. withdrawal and the government’s collapse.

December 29, 2014

NATO commanders yesterday formally ended the Afghanistan War during a brief ceremony in the Afghan capital, Kabul. At NATO mission headquarters in the city, the green-and-white flag of the United States-led coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force, was ceremonially rolled up and sheathed. Then the flag of the new international mission, called Resolute Support, was raised. The ceremony marked the official end of a 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2015, U.S.-led forces in the country will offer only training and support for the Afghan army.

A NATO coalition invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The intention behind the invasion was to crush the terrorist organization behind the attacks–al-Qa’ida–and to capture its leader–Osama bin Laden. NATO forces quickly brought down Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled government, which had sheltered al-Qa’ida. However, much of the al-Qa’ida organization escaped into other countries, particularly across the border into Pakistan. (American military forces finally tracked down and killed bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.)

American troops patrol a village along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. After the U.S. military overthrew the Taliban, some members of the Taliban and al-Qa`ida fled to the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. (Department of Defense)

In a prepared statement, President Barack Obama said, “Today’s ceremony in Kabul marks a milestone for our country. For more than 13 years, ever since nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken from us on 9/11, our nation has been at war in Afghanistan. Now, thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending, and the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion.” The president also paid tribute to the more-than 2,200 Americans killed in the war.

Despite the war, the Taliban continues to launch offensives and carry out terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan remains a dangerous place,” the president said in his statement, “and the Afghan people and their security forces continue to make tremendous sacrifices in defense of their country.

Additional World Book articles:

• Terrorism: America’s New Enemy (a special report)

December 8, 2014

In a ceremony in Kabul, United States-led NATO forces closed its combat command in Afghanistan. The NATO flag was lowered and put away, marking the withdrawal of most foreign troop in Afghanistan more than 13 years after the country was invaded in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The intention behind the invasion was to crush the terrorist organization behind the attacks–al-Qa’ida–and to capture its leader–Osama bin Laden.

NATO forces quickly brought down Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled government, which had sheltered al-Qa’ida. However, much of the al-Qa’ida organization escaped into other countries, particularly across the border into Pakistan. (American military forces finally tracked down and killed bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.)

A United States Marine works with an Afghan soldier on marksmanship. Training will be the primary mission of remaining U.S. forces in Afghanistan. (Department of Defense)

After 13 years of intermittent combat, the Taliban remains an active force in Afghanistan, regularly launching offensives and carrying out terrorist attacks. The United States currently plans to maintain 13,000 troops there. The remaining U.S. forces are to continue the training of the Afghan army.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Terrorism: America’s New Enemy (a special report)

June 18, 2013

NATO forces in Afghanistan today handed over responsibility for security for the whole country to Afghan troops for the first time since NATO forces invaded the country in 2001. At a ceremony in Kabul, the capital, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that “our own security and military forces will lead all the security activities.” There are currently 350,000 Afghans in uniform. NATO troops will remain in Afghanistan through 2014, providing military back-up when needed.

In Doha, capital of Qatar, a Taliban spokesperson, Mohammed Naim, declared today in a televised speech that the Taliban is prepared to take the first step toward peace negotiations with the Afghan government. The Taliban, a militant Islamic group that was once aligned with Al-Qa`ida, has tried for decades to establish a united Islamic state in Afghanistan.  Naim noted that their political and military goals “are limited to Afghanistan” and that they did not wish to “harm other countries.”

The Taliban has spent much of the past 12 years hiding in the rugged terrain along the Afghan-Pakistan border, from which they organized military raids into Afghanistan. © Piers Benatar, Panos Pictures

The Taliban announcement is the first indication that the chief antagonists in the Afghanistan War are interested in ending the 12-year conflict. NATO forces, led by the United States military, entered Afghanistan to rout Al-Qa`ida, the terrorist organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. NATO ended up fighting the Taliban. The Taliban, which had gained control of most of Afghanistan in the mid-1990′s, had allowed Osama Bin Laden to establish his Al-Qa`ida headquarters and terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Driven from power in 2001, the Taliban has been battling NATO forces ever since.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Terrorism: America’s New Enemy (a special report)

September 21, 2012

The last of the approximately 33,000 United States troops sent to Afghanistan in a “troop surge” by President Barack Obama in early 2010 have left that war-torn country about one week ahead of schedule, the Department of Defense has announced. The additional troops were posted to Afghanistan to improve the training and performance of Afghan soldiers and to push back resistant Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. The deployment of the surge troops increased U.S. forces in the international coalition fighting in Afghanistan to more than 101,000. When he deployed the additional troops, President Obama vowed to withdraw them by September 30, 2012.

With the departure of the surge forces, some 68,000 U.S. troops and about 39,000 troops from coalition countries remain in Afghanistan. The United States planned to keep about 70,000 soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014, when the Afghan government was to take over security operations. As of September 21, 1,656 U.S. military personnel had been killed in action in the Afghanistan War, according to the Department of Defense. The number of wounded was 17,619.

Troops from the 101st Airborne Division arrive in Afghanistan in 2002. (Warren Zinn, Getty Images)

A United States-led alliance invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the worst acts of terrorism ever carried out against the United States. The U.S. government linked the attacks to al-Qa`ida (also spelled al-Qaeda), an Islamic extremist group that the Taliban, which controlled Afghanistan, had hosted since 1996. Although the Taliban regime was soon overthrown, allied forces struggled to establish security in the country. In 2006, NATO took over peacekeeping and security duties for Afghanistan from the U.S.-led alliance.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan (2001) (a Back in Time article)
• Armed forces (2001) (a Back in Time article)
• Terrorism: America’s New Enemy (a Special Report)

May 22, 2012

An historic plan for winding down NATO combat operations in Afghanistan was approved on May 21 by leaders of the 28-member military bloc meeting in Chicago. The plan, advanced by United States President Barack Obama, maps out an “irreversible” transition under which Afghan forces are to take control of all security operations in their country during 2013 and most NATO forces are to withdraw by the end of 2014. After 2014, any remaining NATO personnel will serve only in  training, advisory, or assistance roles. The pact marks a major milestone in the Afghanistan War, which began in 2001 in response to attacks on the United States by al-Qa`ida. At that time, al-Qa`ida was based in Afghanistan, which was controlled by the Taliban, a militant Islamic group.

Questions about long-term funding for Afghan security forces remain unresolved. The United States is pressing its allies to contribute at least $1.3 billion of the $4 billion needed annually to support a replacement army of 230,000 Afghans. However, the current European Union economic crisis is constraining Europe’s ability–and willingness–to contribute funds to sustain both the Afghan military and NATO security backup. Newly elected French President Francois Hollande said France would not contribute additional funds to compensate for the early withdrawal of its troops by the end of 2012, two years earlier than originally planned.

Afghans cheered the arrival of Northern Alliance rebel troops in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, on Nov. 13, 2001. Northern Alliance and United States military forces drove the oppressive Taliban regime out of the city. (Koji Harada, Kyodo News International)

Military and political leaders at the summit expressed concerns about the ability of an independent Afghan military to resist the Taliban, which President Obama admitted remains a “robust enemy.” An advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron also commented on the risk that al-Qa`ida could replace NATO troops in regions where the Afghan government has little control.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)

May 18, 2012

Leaders of the 28 member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other officials from around the world are gathering in Chicago for three days of talks. NATO is a military alliance that seeks to protect the freedom and security of its member countries through political and military efforts.

The primary topic of discussion at the Chicago summit will likely be the alliance’s long-term role in Afghanistan. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, NATO announced that it considered the attacks against the United States as attacks against all NATO members. A number of NATO member nations subsequently provided assistance in a U.S.-led military campaign against terrorist targets in Afghanistan. In 2006, NATO assumed command from the United States of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. U.S. President Barack Obama has stated that he intends to withdraw most NATO-led American forces from Afghanistan by 2014.

The flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 

At the end of the Chicago summit, an official communique–or statement endorsed by each of the member states–will define what alliance members agreed to during the meetings. International affairs experts suggest that the communique will outline in broad term the role the United States and Western power will play in Afghanistan over the next two years and beyond. Afghan forces are expected to assume the lead in all combat missions in 2013, with U.S. and NATO forces serving as backup only. It remains unclear how the United States and its European allies will fund the Afghan initiative over the next decade. Experts predict that the current European Union economic crisis will limit Europe’s ability–and willingness–to annually contribute billions of euros to sustain both the Afghan military and NATO backup forces.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Al-Qa`ida
• Taliban
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)

May 2, 2012

President Barack Obama, addressing the American public from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on May 1, pledged to “finish the job” and end the Afghan War. He noted, however, that the United States would not “cut and run” from Afghanistan and would meet long-term Afghan financial and security needs. He stated that at the forthcoming NATO summit in Chicago the alliance would “set a goal for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country next year. . . . I will not keep Americans in harm’s way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security. But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly.”

Earlier in the day, President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed an agreement broadly outlining the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends, currently scheduled for 2014. The United States went to war in Afghanistan nearly 11 years ago, following the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The aim was to root out al-Qa`ida militants based in Afghanistan and track down the terrorist organization’s leaders who had planned the attacks.

President Barack Obama of the United States (The White House)

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan (AP/Wide World)

There are currently more than 130,000 troops from 50 countries serving in Afghanistan under NATO command: 90,000 from the United States; 9,500 from the United Kingdom; 4,800 from Germany; and 3,600 from France. At least 2,700 troops from the United States and its partners have died in the war, the majority of them Americans.

Additional World Book articles:

• Osama bin Laden
• Taliban
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2011 (a Back in Time article)

March 2, 2012

Two more United States soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan have been fatally shot in the continuing violence triggered by the desecration of copies of the Qur’an, the sacred book of Muslims, by U.S. soldiers in February. The deaths, which occurred on March 1 at a base in Kandahar province, brought to eight the total number of NATO personnel killed in attacks related to the desecration. On February 25, an Afghan policeman killed two NATO officers in the Afghan Interior Ministry. Two days earlier, two other American soldiers were among eight people killed in the turmoil. At least 30 people, including the soldiers, have died in the violence.

The protests began on February 20 when Afghan laborers at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul, the capital, discovered the discarded holy books amid piles of rubbish reportedly sent to an incinerator. The books had allegedly been confiscated from terrorism suspects because NATO officials suspected the books were being used to send secret messages. Theologians note that Muslims consider the Qur’an the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. NATO and U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have since apologized, but anger over the incident has continued to escalate.

A Muslim reads the Qur'an. Muslims believe the angel Gabriel revealed the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad a little at a time. Elkoussy, Sygma

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Islam
• Taliban