War in Afghanistan

The War in Afghanistan refers to the conflict that began on 7 October 2001, when the United States and the United Kingdom launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the September 11 attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the Taliban government of Mullah Mohammed Omar. The initial campaign, fought alongside the Northern Alliance, toppled the Taliban regime within weeks and led to the Bonn Agreement of December 2001, which established an interim administration under Hamid Karzai.

The UN Security Council authorized the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) through Resolution 1386 (2001). NATO assumed command of ISAF in August 2003, marking its first operational deployment outside the Euro-Atlantic area. Over two decades, troops from more than 40 countries participated, with US forces peaking at roughly 100,000 in 2010–2011 during the Obama-era surge.

Key phases included the hunt for Osama bin Laden (killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011), counterinsurgency against a resurgent Taliban, and the training of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). ISAF concluded its combat mission on 31 December 2014, transitioning to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission.

In February 2020, the Trump administration signed the Doha Agreement with the Taliban, committing to a phased US withdrawal in exchange for Taliban counterterrorism assurances and intra-Afghan negotiations. The Biden administration completed the withdrawal in August 2021. The Taliban captured Kabul on 15 August 2021 as President Ashraf Ghani fled, and the US airlift from Hamid Karzai International Airport ended on 30 August 2021.

The war is the longest in US history. Estimates of total deaths exceed 170,000, including Afghan civilians, combatants, and foreign military personnel. It reshaped debates on counterinsurgency doctrine, nation-building, and the limits of liberal interventionism, and produced a humanitarian and governance crisis that persists under renewed Taliban rule.