Tactical overview The war contained two main factions: the Coalition, which included the US and its allies (eventually supporting the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan), fighting against the Taliban, its allies, and its militias. Complicating the fight were Taliban splinter groups and other, more radical religious groups such as al-Qaeda, and later, the
Islamic State. These radical groups sometimes fought for the Taliban, sometimes fought for their own goals, and sometimes fought against both the Taliban and the government. Afghanistan is a rural country; in 2020, some 80% of its 33 million people lived in the countryside. Afghanistan is 99.7%
Muslim, which affected the ideology of both the Taliban and the Afghan government. Centuries of foreign invasion by non-Muslims cemented the religious nature of resisting outsiders and the Afghan identity.
Pashtunwali, the traditional way of life for the Pashtuns, guided most tribal decision making. Tribal unity was often weak as well due to Pashtunwali's method of dealing with feuds. Traditionally, Afghan leaders have depended on tribes to keep order in rural areas because without their cooperation the state was often ineffective and weak. Afghans were more loyal to their own community and tribe, not the state, which meant that tribes would align with either the Taliban or the Government as was most beneficial. By 2009, IEDs had become the Taliban's weapon of choice. The Taliban also used insider attacks as the war drew on, by planting personnel in the Afghan military and police forces.
2001: Invasion and early operations and
US Air Force Combat Controllers with Northern Alliance troops on horseback in
Samangan Province, 2001 Though the US officially invaded on 7 October 2001 by launching Operation Enduring Freedom, covert operations had begun several weeks earlier. Fifteen days after 9/11, the US covertly inserted members of the CIA's Special Activities Division into Afghanistan, forming the Northern Afghanistan Liaison Team. They linked up with the Northern Alliance in the
Panjshir Valley north of Kabul. In October, twelve-man Special Forces teams began arriving in Afghanistan to work with the CIA and Northern Alliance. The Taliban retreated throughout the country, holding steady only in
Kunduz Province, outmatched by US air support. By November, the Taliban had lost control of most of the country. The US and its allies
drove the Taliban from power and built military bases near major cities across the country. Most al-Qaeda and Taliban were not captured, escaping to neighboring Pakistan or retreating to rural or remote mountainous regions. On 20 December 2001, the UN authorized an
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), with a mandate to help the Afghans maintain security in Kabul and surrounding areas. Its mandate did not extend beyond the Kabul area for the first few years. 18 countries contributed to the force in February 2002. The CIA created Counter-terrorism Pursuit Teams staffed by Afghans at the war's beginning. This force grew to over 3,000 by 2010 and was considered one of the "best Afghan fighting forces." Shortly after the elevation of Karzai to the president on 5 December, the Taliban may have tried to seek a conditional surrender to Karzai. There are two conflicting accounts. The first is that an agreement, possibly signed by Mullah Omar, was reached wherein the Taliban would surrender in exchange for immunity. The second is that the agreement was more narrowly focused on surrendering
Kandahar. Taliban sources, on the other hand, said Omar was not part of the deal, and would not surrender Kandahar. Whatever the case, the US vetoed any sort of negotiation. Omar disappeared, leaving for Pakistan or elsewhere in Afghanistan. The Taliban went into hiding, or fled to Pakistan, though many gave up arms as well. Most leaders and thousands of fighters went to Pakistan. Whether the Taliban had decided on an insurgency at this time is unknown. By late November, bin Laden was at a fortified training camp in Tora Bora. The
Battle of Tora Bora began on 30 November. CIA teams working with tribal militias followed bin Laden there and began to call in airstrikes to clear out the mountainous camp, with special forces soon arriving in support. While the tribal militia numbered 1,000, it was not fighting eagerly during
Ramadan. While the CIA requested that US Army Rangers be sent and Marines were ready to deploy, they were declined. Bin Laden was eventually able to escape at some point in December to Pakistan. American attention was diverted from Afghanistan when US forces
invaded Iraq in March 2003. In May 2003, the Taliban Supreme Court's chief justice, Abdul Salam, proclaimed that the Taliban were back, regrouped, rearmed, and ready for guerrilla war to expel US forces from Afghanistan. As the summer of 2003 continued, Taliban attacks gradually increased in frequency. Dozens of Afghan government soldiers,
NGO humanitarian workers, and several US soldiers died in the raids, ambushes, and rocket attacks. Besides guerrilla attacks, Taliban fighters began building up forces in the district of
Dey Chopan District in Zabul Province. The Taliban decided to make a stand there. Over the summer, up to 1,000 guerrillas moved there. Over 220 people, including several dozen Afghan police, were killed in August 2003. On 11 August, NATO assumed control of ISAF. Omar reorganized the movement, and in 2003, launched
an insurgency against the government and ISAF. From the second half of 2003 and through 2004, operations intensified, with
night letters followed by kidnappings and assassinations of government officials and collaborating village elders by 2005, with the former leaving villages in fear. Government schools and clinics were burned down. In late 2004, the then-hidden Omar announced an insurgency against America and the
transitional Afghan government forces to "regain the sovereignty of our country." The
2004 Afghan presidential election was a major target of the Taliban, though only 20 districts and 200 villages elsewhere were claimed to have been successfully prevented from voting. Karzai was elected president of the country, now named the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The US started using
drone strikes in Pakistan in 2004, starting along the
Federal Tribal Areas against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. In June and July 2005, US
Navy Seals carried out
Operation Red Wings as a joint military operation in
Kunar Province. The mission intended to disrupt local Taliban led by
Ahmad Shah, hopefully bringing stability and facilitating the
Afghan Parliament elections
scheduled for September 2005. The operation had one survivor, and left 19 dead.
Operation Whalers would finish the job several weeks later. Taliban activity dropped significantly and Shah was seriously wounded. Shah was not able to undertake any significant operations subsequent to Operation Whalers in Kunar or neighboring provinces. The Taliban regained control over several villages in the south by the end of 2005, as villages were frustrated with the lack of government help, and hoped life would be better under the Taliban. Years of planning were coming to fruition for the Taliban. By comparison, the Government was in a very weak position. The police were deeply underfunded, and the average district had only 50 officers. Some districts had no Government presence at all. Most of the country's militias (with a strength of ~100,000) had been demobilized due to international pressure to create an army, but it was still weak. Combined with an increase in tribal feuding, the conditions were perfect for a Taliban comeback. by late 2007 Afghanistan was said to be in "serious danger" of falling into Taliban control despite the presence of 40,000 ISAF troops. helicopter provides protection from the air, Lwar Kowndalan in Kandahar, 2005 From January 2006, a multinational ISAF contingent started to replace US troops in southern Afghanistan. The UK formed the core of the force, along with Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Estonia. In January 2006, NATO's focus in southern Afghanistan was to form
Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Local Taliban figures pledged to resist. Since Canada wanted to deploy in Kandahar, the UK got Helmand province. Helmand was a center of poppy production, so it seemed a good region for the anti-narcotic focused UK. However, Pashtun Helmandis had never forgotten the 1880
Battle of Maiwand with the British, and it proved a source of significant resistance from them. UK actions in early 2007 included
Operation Volcano,
Operation Achilles, and
Operation Lastay Kulang. The UK Ministry of Defence also announced its intention to bring British troop levels in the country up to 7,700. In March 2007, the US deployed some 3,500 more troops, though deployment was slow due to American priorities in Iraq. In the first five months of 2008, US troops in Afghanistan increased by over 80%, with a surge of 21,643 more troops—26,607 in January to 48,250 in June. On 4 March 2007, US Marines allegedly
killed at least 12 civilians and injured 33 in Nangarhar, in a response to a bomb ambush. The 120 member Marine unit responsible for the attack were ordered to leave the country because the incident damaged the unit's relations with the local population.During the summer, NATO forces achieved tactical victories at the
Battle of Chora in Orūzgān, where Dutch and
Australian ISAF forces were deployed. The
Battle of Musa Qala took place in December. Afghan units were the principal fighting force, supported by British forces. Taliban forces were forced out of the town. In 2007, Western analysts estimated the strength of Taliban forces at about 10,000 fighters fielded at any given time. Of that number, only 2,000 to 3,000 were highly motivated, full-time insurgents. The rest were volunteer units, made up of young Afghans, angered by deaths of Afghan civilians in military airstrikes and American detention of Muslim prisoners who had been held for years without being charged. In 2007, more foreign fighters came into Afghanistan than ever before, according to officials. Approximately 100 to 300 full-time combatants were foreigners, many from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and
Chechnya. They were reportedly more violent, and uncontrollable, often bringing superior video-production or bomb making expertise. By 2010, the Taliban had as many as 25,000 dedicated soldiers, almost as many as before 9/11. General McChrystal, newly appointed as US commander in Afghanistan, said that the Taliban had gained the upper hand. In a continuation of the Taliban's usual strategy of summer offensives, the militants aggressively spread their influence into north and west Afghanistan and stepped up their attack in an attempt to disrupt presidential polls. He added that the US strategy was to stop their momentum, and focus on protecting and safeguarding Afghan civilians, calling it "hard work."
2008–2009: NATO build-up, Pakistan skirmishes, and Karzai re-election On 13 June 2008, Taliban fighters demonstrated their ongoing strength, freeing all prisoners in Kandahar jail. The operation freed 1200 prisoners, 400 of whom were Taliban, causing a major embarrassment for NATO. By the end of 2008, the Taliban apparently had severed remaining ties with al-Qaeda. According to US officials, perhaps fewer than 100 members of al-Qaeda remained in Afghanistan. In summer 2008, Bush authorized raids against militants in Pakistan. Pakistan said it would not allow foreign forces onto its territory, and would protect its sovereignty. In September, it stated that it had issued orders to fire upon US soldiers who crossed the border. Also in September, Bush announced 8,000 troops would withdraw from Iraq, and an increase of up to 4,500 troops in Afghanistan. The same month, the UK lost its 100th serviceperson. On 3 September, US commandos landed by helicopter and attacked three houses close to a known enemy stronghold in Pakistan. Pakistan condemned the attack as "a gross violation of Pakistan's territory." On 6 September, in an apparent reaction, Pakistan announced an indefinite disconnection of supply lines to NATO forces. A further split occurred when Pakistani soldiers fired on NATO aircraft which had crossed the border on 25 September. However, despite tensions, the US increased its
drone attacks in Pakistan's border regions, in particular the Federal Tribal Areas and
Balochistan; by 2009, drone attacks were up 183% since 2006. Soldiers medically evacuating in Nuristan, Province, 2009 By 2009 there was broad agreement in Afghanistan that the war should end, but how it should happen was a major issue for the candidates of the
2009 Afghan presidential election that re-elected Karzai. In a televised speech after being elected, Karzai called on "our Taliban brothers to come home and embrace their land" and laid plans to launch a
loya jirga. Efforts were undermined by the
Obama administration's increase of American troops in the country. Karzai reiterated in January 2010 that he wanted to reach out to the Taliban to lay down arms. US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton cautiously supported the proposal. January 2009 brought a change in American leadership, with the inauguration of President
Barack Obama. That month, US soldiers, alongside Afghan Federal Guards, moved into the provinces of
Logar,
Wardak, and Kunar. The troops were the first wave of an expected surge of reinforcements originally ordered by Bush and increased by Obama. In mid-February 2009, it was announced that 17,000 additional troops would be deployed in two
brigades and support troops; the
2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade of about 3,500 and the
5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a
Stryker brigade with about 4,000. ISAF commander General
David McKiernan had called for as many as 30,000 additional troops, effectively doubling the number of troops. On 23 September, a classified assessment by McChrystal included his conclusion that a successful
counterinsurgency strategy would require 500,000 troops and five years. Pakistani drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants increased substantially under Obama. Some in the media referred to the attacks as a "drone war." In August 2009,
Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan was killed in a drone strike. June 2009 brought
Operation Strike of the Sword in Helmand. It followed a British-led operation named
Operation Panther's Claw in the same region, which was aimed to secure various canal and river crossings to establish a long-term ISAF presence. On 4 September 2009, during the
Kunduz Province Campaign a
devastating NATO air raid was conducted southwest of Kunduz, where Taliban fighters had hijacked civilian supply trucks, killing up to 179 people, including over 100 civilians. chopper landing at Forward Operating Base Airborne to deliver mail and supplies, 2009 After Karzai's alleged
win of 54% in 2009, which would prevent a runoff, over 400,000 Karzai votes had to be disallowed after accusations of fraud. Some nations criticized the elections as "free but not fair." The Taliban's claim that the over 135 violent incidents disrupted elections was largely disputed. However, the media was asked to not report any violent incidents. In southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban held the most power, voter turnout was low and sporadic violence was directed at voters and security personnel. The Taliban released a video days after the elections, filming on the road between Kabul and Kandahar, stopping vehicles and asking to see their fingers (voters were marked by dipping their fingers in ink so they could not double vote). The video went showed ten men who had voted, listening to a Taliban militant. The Taliban pardoned the voters because of
Ramadan. The Taliban attacked towns with rockets and other indirect fire. Amid claims of widespread fraud, both top contenders, Karzai and
Abdullah Abdullah, claimed victory. Reports suggested that turnout was lower than in the prior election. In December 2009, an
attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman, used by the CIA to gather information and to coordinate
drone attacks against Taliban leaders, killed eight working for the CIA. On 1 December 2009, Obama announced that the US would send 30,000 more troops. Antiwar organizations in the US responded quickly, and American cities saw protests on 2 December. Many protesters compared the decision to the expansion of the Vietnam War under
Lyndon B. Johnson.
2010–2011: Strategic agreements and death of Bin Laden Deployment of additional US troops continued in early 2010, with 9,000 of the planned 30,000 in place before the end of March and another 18,000 expected by June. The surge in troops supported a sixfold increase in Special Forces operations. The surge of American personnel that began in late 2009 ended by September 2012. 700 airstrikes occurred in September 2010 alone versus 257 in all of 2009. Regiment stop on a road while conducting a combat mission near Kandahar Airfield, 2010 Due to increased use of IEDs by insurgents, the number of injured Coalition soldiers, mainly Americans, significantly increased. Beginning in May 2010, NATO special forces began to concentrate on operations to capture or kill specific Taliban leaders. As of March 2011, the US military claimed that the effort had resulted in the capture or killing of more than 900 low- to mid-level Taliban commanders. Overall, 2010 saw the most insurgent attacks of any year since the war began, peaking in September at more than 1,500. In February 2010, Coalition and Afghan forces began highly visible plans for an offensive, codenamed
Operation Moshtarak, on a Taliban stronghold near the village of
Marjah. The
"Peace Jirga" was held in Kabul, attended by 1,600 delegates, in June 2010. However, the Taliban and the
Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin, who were both invited by Karzai as a gesture of goodwill did not attend the conference. The Taliban's co-founder and then-second-in-command,
Abdul Ghani Baradar, was one of the leading Taliban members who favored talks with the US and Afghan governments. Karzai's administration reportedly held talks with Baradar in February; however, later that month, Baradar was captured in a joint US-Pakistani raid in
Karachi, Pakistan. The arrest infuriated Karzai and invoked suspicions that he was seized because the
Pakistani intelligence community was opposed to Afghan peace talks. Karzai started peace talks with Haqqani Network groups in March., 2011|left In 2010, the Obama administration decided to allow possible political negotiations to solve the war. The Taliban themselves had refused to speak to the Afghan government, portraying them as an American "puppet." Sporadic efforts for peace talks between the US and the Taliban occurred afterward, and it was reported in October that Taliban leadership commanders (the "
Quetta Shura") had left their haven in Pakistan and been safely escorted to Kabul by NATO aircraft for talks, with the assurance that NATO staff would not apprehend them. After the talks concluded, it emerged that the leader of this delegation, who claimed to be
Akhtar Mansour, the second-in-command of the Taliban, was actually an imposter who had duped NATO officials. On 25 July 2010, the
release of 91,731 classified documents from the
WikiLeaks organization was made public. The documents cover US military incident and intelligence reports from January 2004 to December 2009. Some of these documents included sanitized, and "covered up", accounts of civilian casualties caused by
Coalition Forces. The reports included many references to other incidents involving civilian casualties like the Kunduz airstrike and
Nangar Khel incident. The leaked documents also contain reports of Pakistan collusion with the Taliban. According to
Der Spiegel, "the documents clearly show that the Pakistani intelligence agency
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the most important accomplice the Taliban has outside of Afghanistan." On 2 May 2011, US officials announced that bin Laden had been killed in
Operation Neptune Spear, conducted by the US Navy SEALs in
Abbottabad, Pakistan. Pakistan came under intense international scrutiny after the raid. The Pakistani government denied that it had sheltered bin Laden, and said it had shared information with the CIA and other intelligence agencies about the compound since 2009. The 2011
Battle of Kandahar was part of an offensive that followed a 30 April announcement that the Taliban would launch their spring offensive. On 7 May, the Taliban launched a major offensive on government buildings in Kandahar. The
BBC called it "the worst attack in Kandahar Province since [2001], and an embarrassment for the [Afghan] government." Karzai confirmed in June 2011 that secret talks were taking place between the US and the Taliban, but these collapsed by August. soldier, part of ISAF's Regional Command North at
Camp Marmal, 2011 On 22 June 2011, Obama announced that 10,000 troops
would be withdrawn by the end of the year, and an additional 23,000 troops would return by the summer of 2012. After the withdrawal of 10,000 US troops, 80,000 remained. In 2011, Canada withdrew its combat troops, transitioning to a training role. Following suit, other NATO countries announced troop reductions. Taliban attacks continued at the same rate as they did in 2011, around 28,000 in 2013. Tensions between Pakistan and the US increased in late September 2011, after several Pakistan Frontier Corps soldiers were killed and wounded. The troops were attacked by a US piloted aircraft that was pursuing Taliban forces near the Afghan-Pakistan border, but for unknown reasons, opened fire on two Pakistan border posts. In retaliation, Pakistan closed the Torkham ground border crossing to NATO supply convoys for an unspecified period. This incident followed the release of a video allegedly showing uniformed Pakistan soldiers executing unarmed civilians. After the border closing, Pakistani Taliban attacked NATO convoys, killing several drivers, and destroying around 100 tankers. ISAF forces
skirmished Pakistan's armed forces on 26 November, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. Each side claimed the other shot first. Pakistan blocked NATO supply lines and ordered Americans to leave
Shamsi Airfield.
2012–2013: US troop incidents, Obama-Karzai meetings , 2012
Beginning in January 2012, incidents involving US troops occurred that were described by
The Sydney Morning Herald as "a series of damaging incidents and disclosures involving US troops in Afghanistan." These incidents fractured the partnership between Afghanistan and ISAF, raised the question whether discipline within US troops was breaking down, undermined "the image of foreign forces in a country where there is already deep resentment owing to civilian deaths and a perception among many Afghans that US troops lack respect for Afghan culture and people" and strained
relations between Afghanistan and the US. these "high-profile US military incidents in Afghanistan" Karzai and Obama agreed to transfer combat operations from NATO to Afghan forces by spring 2013 rather than summer 2013. "What's going to happen this spring is that Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country", Obama said. "They [ISAF forces] will still be fighting alongside Afghan troops...we will be in a training, assisting, advising role." He added that any US mission beyond 2014 would focus solely on
counterterrorism operations and training. In 2012, the leaders of NATO-member countries endorsed an exit strategy during the NATO Summit. while shifting from combat to advising, training and assisting
Afghan security forces. Most of the 130,000 ISAF troops would depart by the end of December 2014, Further attempts to resume talks were canceled in March 2012 and June 2013, following a dispute between Afghanistan and the Taliban regarding the latter's opening of a
political office in Qatar. Karzai accused the Taliban of portraying themselves as a
government-in-exile. On
2 May 2012, Karzai and Obama signed
a strategic partnership agreement between the two countries, after the latter had arrived unannounced in Kabul. On 7 July, as part of the agreement, the US designated Afghanistan a
major non-NATO ally after Karzai and Clinton met in Kabul. Both leaders agreed that the US would transfer Afghan prisoners and prisons to the Afghan government On 18 June 2013, the transfer of security responsibilities from NATO to Afghan forces was completed. ISAF remained slated to end its mission by the end of 2014. Some 100,000 ISAF forces remained in the country.
2014–2015: Withdrawal and increase of insurgency The UK and the US officially ended their combat operation in Afghanistan on 26 October 2014. The UK handed over its last base in Afghanistan,
Camp Bastion, and the US handed over its last base,
Camp Leatherneck, to Afghan forces. Around 500 UK troops remained in "non-combat" roles. On 28 December, NATO officially ended combat operations in a ceremony held in Kabul. Continued operations by US forces within Afghanistan were under
Operation Freedom's Sentinel; and the new NATO mission was
Operation Resolute Support. The withdrawal of troops did not mean the withdrawal of military presence. As US troops withdrew from Afghanistan, they were replaced by
military contractors hired by the US and UN. Many of these contractors consisted of ex-Coalition military personnel. This allowed the US and British to continue to be involved in ground actions without the requirement to station their own forces. The Taliban began a resurgence due to several factors. The withdrawal of most foreign forces from Afghanistan reduced the risk the Taliban faced of being bombed and raided. In June 2014, Pakistan launched
Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the
North Waziristan tribal area, and dislodged thousands of mainly Uzbek, Arab, and Pakistani militants, who flooded into Afghanistan and swelled the Taliban's ranks. The group was further emboldened by the relative lack of interest from the international community, as attention was given to crises in
Syria,
Iraq, and
Ukraine. Afghan security forces lacked, among other things, air power and reconnaissance. The political infighting in Kabul, and the apparent weakness in governance at different levels, were exploited by the Taliban. The Taliban expanded governance in the areas under their control, attempting to build local-level legitimacy. Their governance strategy rested in particular on the provision of justice, which was often viewed as less corrupt than the courts of the government. Heavy fighting occurred in Kunduz Province, which was the site of
clashes from 2009 onwards. In May 2015, flights into the Kunduz city were suspended due to weeks of clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban outside the city. The intensifying conflict in the Northern
Char Dara District within Kunduz Province led the Afghan government to enlist local militia fighters to bolster opposition to the Taliban insurgency. In June, the Taliban intensified attacks around
Kunduz city as part of a major offensive to try and capture it; tens of thousands of inhabitants were displaced internally. The government recaptured the Char Dara district after roughly a month of fighting. In late September, Taliban forces launched an attack on Kunduz city, seizing outlying villages and entering the city. The Taliban stormed the regional hospital and clashed with security forces at the nearby university. The fighting saw the Taliban attack from four different districts: Char Dara to the west, Aliabad to the southwest, Khanabad to the east, and Imam Saheb to the north. The Taliban took the Zakhel and Ali Khel villages on the highway leading south, which connects the city to Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif through Aliabad district. They reportedly made their largest gains in the southwest of Kunduz, where some armed local communities had started supporting the Taliban. One witness reported that the headquarters of the
National Directorate of Security was set on fire. In January 2015, the
Islamic State caliphate (IS) established a branch in Afghanistan called
Khorasan (ISIS-K), and began recruiting fighters and clashing with the Taliban. It was created after pledging allegiance to the self-assumed worldwide caliph
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On 18 March, Hafiz Wahidi, IS' replacement deputy Emir in Afghanistan, was killed by the Afghan Armed Forces, along with 9 other IS militants accompanying him. In 2015, the Taliban began an offensive that took over parts of Helmand Province. By June, they had seized control of
Dishu and
Baghran killing 5,588 Afghan government security forces (3,720 of them were police officers). By the end of July, the Taliban had overrun
Nawzad District and on 26 August, the Taliban took control of
Musa Qala. In October, Taliban forces had attempted to take
Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. The Afghan 215th Corps and special operations forces launched a counteroffensive against the Taliban in November, Whilst the assault was repelled, Taliban forces remained dug into the city's suburbs as of December 2015. On 22 June 2015, the Taliban detonated a car bomb outside the National Assembly in Kabul, and attacked the building with assault rifles and
RPGs. The bombing highlighted differences within the Taliban in their approach to peace talks. In July 2015, Pakistan hosted the first official peace talks between Taliban representatives and the Afghan government. The US and China attended the talks brokered by Pakistan in Murree as two observers. In January 2016, Pakistan hosted a round of four-way talks with Afghan, Chinese and American officials, but the Taliban did not attend. The Taliban did hold informal talks with the Afghan government in 2016. China's reason for the negotiation was that Afghan security situation affected its own separatist groups, and economic activity with Pakistan. The Taliban declined. On 11 November 2015, it was reported that in Zabul Province, Taliban fighters loyal to the new Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor fought a pro-IS splinter faction of the Taliban led by Mullah Mansoor Dadullah. Even though Dadullah's faction enjoyed the support of foreign IS fighters, including Uzbeks and Chechens, Mansoor's loyalists reportedly had the upper hand. According to a Zabul Province official, more than 100 militants from both sides were killed in the conflict. The infighting stifled peace talks. The infighting caused Mansour to be consumed with a campaign to quell dissent against his leadership; this led
Sirajuddin Haqqani, then-chief of the Haqqani Network, to be selected as the deputy leader of the Taliban in summer 2015. Sirajuddin and other Haqqani leaders increasingly ran the Taliban's day-to-day military operations, notably organizing urban terrorist attacks, and building a complex international fundraising network. They also appointed Taliban governors, and began uniting the Taliban. As a result, the Haqqani Network, mostly autonomous until then, became deeply integrated with the Taliban, and grew in influence within the insurgency. Tensions with the Pakistani military grew because American and Afghan officials accused them of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group. advisers in 2015 December 2015 saw a renewed Taliban offensive in Helmand focused on the town of
Sangin. The Sangin district fell to the Taliban on 21 December after fierce clashes that killed more than 90 soldiers in two days. It was reported that 30 members of the
SAS, alongside 60 US special forces operators, joined the Afghan Army in the battle to retake parts of Sangin from Taliban insurgents. In addition, about 300 US troops and a small number of British remained in Helmand to advise Afghan commanders at the
corps level. Senior American commanders said that the Afghan troops in the province had lacked effective leaders, as well as the necessary weapons and ammunition to hold off persistent Taliban attacks. Some Afghan soldiers in Helmand had fought in tough conditions for years without getting to see their families, causing poor morale and high desertion. They were mainly defectors from the Afghan and the Pakistani Taliban, and were generally confined to
Nangarhar Province, and partially, Kunar Province. In early February 2016, Taliban insurgents renewed their assault on Sangin, after previously being repulsed in December 2015, launching many strong attacks on Afghan government forces earlier in the month. As a result, the US sent troops from the 2nd Battalion,
87th Infantry Regiment, and
10th Mountain Division to prop up the Afghan
215th Corps in Helmand Province, particularly around Sangin, joining US special ops forces already in the area. On 14 March 2016,
Khanneshin District in Helmand Province fell to the Taliban; and district by district, Afghan troops were retreating back to urban centers in Helmand. An Afghan army offensive to retake the town of Khanisheen was repelled by the Taliban, and desertions in the army were rife. Despite US airstrikes, militants besieged Lashkar Gah, reportedly controlling all roads leading to the city and areas a few kilometres away. The US stepped up airstrikes in support of Afghan ground forces. Afghan forces in the city were reported as "exhausted", whilst police checkpoints around the capital were falling one by one. Meanwhile, the Taliban sent a new elite commando force into Helmand called "
Sara Khitta" in Pashto. Afghan security forces repelled attacks by Taliban fighters encroaching on Chah-e-Anji nearby Lashkar Gah; Afghan special forces backed by US airstrikes battled increasingly well-armed and disciplined Taliban militants. An Afghan special forces commander said: "The Taliban have heavily armed, uniformed units that are equipped with night vision and modern weapons." On 10 March 2016, officials said that the Taliban clashed with a Taliban splinter group (led by Muhammad Rasul) in the Shindand district of
Herat, and up to 100 militants were killed. Additionally, due to the integration of Haqqani Networks into the Taliban leadership, it would become harder for peace talks to take place. On 23 July 2016, Afghan and US forces began an offensive to clear Nangarhar Province of IS militants hours after the
Kabul bombing. The operation was dubbed "Wrath of the Storm", involving both Afghan regular army and special forces, and was the Afghan army's first major offensive that summer. The estimated size of ISIS-K in January 2016 was around 3,000, but by July, it had dropped to around 1,000 to 1,500, with 70% of its fighters coming from the TTP. As of July 2016, at least an estimated 20% of Afghanistan was under Taliban control, with southernmost
Helmand Province as a major stronghold, while
General John Nicholson stated that Afghan Armed Forces' casualties had risen 20% compared to 2015. On 22 August, the US announced that 100 US troops were sent to Lashkar Gah to help prevent the Taliban from overrunning it, in what Brigadier General Charles Cleveland called a "temporary effort" to advise Afghan police. On 22 September 2016, the Afghan government signed a draft peace deal with Hezb-i-Islami. memorialize two comrades who were killed in action during the
Battle of Boz Qandahari in 2016|left On 31 December 2016, the Taliban continued their assault on the province with attacks on Sangin and Marjah districts. Some estimated suggest the Taliban had retaken more than 80% of Helmand province. In early January 2017, the
Marine Corps Times reported that Afghan forces sought to rebuild, following an exhausting 2016 fighting season; 33 districts, spread across 16 Afghan provinces, were under insurgent control whilst 258 were under government control and nearly 120 districts remained "contested." In April 2017, a NATO spokesman said that Afghan and international forces had reduced ISIS-K controlled territory in Afghanistan by two-thirds, and had killed around half their fighters in two years. Since the beginning of 2017, 460 airstrikes against terrorists (with drone strikes alone killing more than 200 IS militants); he added that the affiliate had an estimated 600–800 fighters in two eastern Afghan provinces. On 23 March 2017,
Sangin district was captured by the Taliban, as they had overrun the district center of the town of Sangin. During the earlier phase of the war, almost a quarter of British casualties were caused by fighting for the town, while more recently hundreds of Afghan troops died defending it. On 29 April, the US deployed an additional 5,000 Marines to southern Helmand Province. On 21 April 2017, the Taliban
attacked Camp Shaheen near Mazar-e-Sharif, killing over 140 Afghan soldiers. On 15 September 2017, it was reported that the CIA was seeking authority to conduct its own
drone strikes in Afghanistan and other war zones, according to current and former intelligence and military officials, and that the change in authority was being considered by the White House as part of the new strategy despite concerns by the Pentagon. On 19 September, the
Trump administration deployed another 3,000 US troops to Afghanistan, adding to the roughly 11,000 US troops already there. On 4 October, Defense Secretary
Jim Mattis approved a change in
rules of engagement as part of the new strategy so that there was no longer a requirement for US troops to be in contact with enemy forces in Afghanistan before opening fire. On 20 November 2017, General Nicholson announced that US and Afghan airstrikes were targeting Taliban-run drug production facilities in Afghanistan, under a new strategy aimed at cutting off Taliban funding, saying that the latter was "becoming a criminal organization" that was earning about $200 million a year from drug-related activities. Ghani strongly endorsed the airstrikes.
2018–2019: Peace overtures on 27 January) and IS that killed scores of civilians, U.S. president
Donald Trump and Afghan officials decided to rule out any talks with the Taliban. However, on 27 February, following an increase in violence, Ghani proposed unconditional peace talks with the Taliban, offering them recognition as a legal political party and the release of the Taliban prisoners. The offer was the most favorable to the Taliban since the war started. It was preceded by months of national consensus building, which found that Afghans overwhelmingly supported a negotiated end to the war. Two days earlier, the Taliban had called for talks with the US. On 27 March, a conference of 20 countries in
Tashkent,
Uzbekistan, backed the Afghan government's peace offer. The Taliban did not publicly respond. Following Ghani's offer of unconditional peace talks with the Taliban, a growing peace movement arose in Afghanistan during 2018, particularly following a
peace march by the
People's Peace Movement, which the Afghan media dubbed the "Helmand Peace Convoy." The marchers walked several hundred kilometers from Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, through Taliban-held territory, to Kabul. There, they met Ghani, and held sit-in protests outside the
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and nearby embassies. Their efforts inspired further movements in other parts of Afghanistan. Following the march, Ghani and the Taliban agreed a mutual, unprecedented,
ceasefire during
Eid al-Fitr celebrations in June. During the ceasefire, Taliban members flocked into Kabul, where they communicated with locals and state security forces. Creating a mood of both hope and fear, many civilians welcomed the Taliban and spoke about peace. Although civilians called for the ceasefire to be made permanent, the Taliban rejected an extension and resumed fighting after the ceasefire ended on 18 June, while the Afghan government's ceasefire ended a week later. train together in an aerial reaction force exercise at
Camp Qargha in Kabul, 2018|leftAmerican officials secretly met members of the Taliban's political commission in Qatar in July 2018. In September 2018, Trump appointed
Zalmay Khalilzad as special adviser on Afghanistan in the US State Department, with the stated goal of facilitating an intra-Afghan political peace process. Khalilzad led further talks between the US and the Taliban in Qatar in October. Russia hosted a separate peace talk in November between the Taliban and officials from Afghanistan's High Peace Council. The talks in Qatar resumed in December, though the Taliban refused to allow the Afghan government to be invited, considering them a
puppet government of the US. The Taliban spoke with Afghans, including Karzai, in Moscow in February 2019, but again these talks did not include the Afghan government. In July 2018, the Taliban carried out the
Darzab offensive and captured Darzab District, following the surrender of ISIS-K to the Afghan government. In August, the Taliban launched a series of offensives. The largest was the
Ghazni offensive, in which the Taliban assaulted the major city of
Ghazni for several days, but eventually retreated. On 25 January 2019, Ghani said that more than 45,000 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed since he became president in 2014. He also said that there had been fewer than 72 international casualties during the same period. A January 2019 report by the US estimated that 53.8% of Afghan districts were government control or influence, with 33.9% contested, and 12.3% under insurgent control or influence. On 30 April 2019, Afghan government forces undertook clearing operations directed against both ISIS-K and the Taliban in eastern Nangarhar Province, after the two groups fought for more than a week over multiple villages in an area of illegal
talc mining. The National Directorate of Security claimed 22 ISIS-K fighters were killed and two weapons caches destroyed, while the Taliban claimed Afghan forces killed seven civilians. On 28 July, Ghani's running mate
Amrullah Saleh's office was attacked by a suicide bomber and a few militants. At least 20 people were killed; Saleh and 49 others were injured. By August, the Taliban controlled more territory than at any point since 2001. Peace negotiations between the US and the Taliban failed in September. On 25 February 2019, peace talks began between the Taliban and the US in Qatar, with Abdul Ghani Baradar notably present. This round of talks resulted in a seven-day partial ceasefire which began on 22 February 2020.
2020: US–Taliban deal, beginning of US withdrawal (left) and Taliban representative
Abdul Ghani Baradar (right) sign the
Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan on 29 February 2020 On 29 February 2020, the US and the Taliban
signed a conditional peace deal in
Doha, Qatar, that called for a prisoner exchange within ten days and was supposed to lead to US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months. However, the Afghan government was not a party to the deal, and, in a press conference the next day, Ghani criticized the deal for being "signed behind closed doors." He said the Afghan government had "made no commitment to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners", and that such an action "is not the United States' authority", but rather Afghanistan's. After signing the agreement with the US, the Taliban resumed offensive operations against the Afghan army and police on 3 March, conducting attacks in Kunduz and Helmand provinces. On 4 March, the US retaliated by launching an air strike against Taliban fighters in Helmand. Despite the peace agreement between the US and the Taliban, insurgent attacks against Afghan security forces reportedly surged in the country. In the 45 days after the agreement (1 March to 15 April), the Taliban conducted more than 4,500 attacks in Afghanistan, which showed an increase of more than 70% as compared to the same period in the previous year. Meanwhile, ISIS-K continued to be a threat on its own, killing 32 people in a
mass shooting in Kabul on 6 March, killing 25
Sikh worshippers in Kabul on 25 March, and a
series of attacks in May most notably killing 16 mothers and newborn babies in Kabul. On 31 March 2020, a three-person Taliban delegation arrived in Kabul to discuss the release of prisoners, the first Taliban representatives to officially visit Kabul since 2001. Shaheen tweeted hours later that the Taliban's negotiating team was recalled from Kabul. and the Taliban had released 1,000. However, the Afghan government refused to release 400 prisoners that the Taliban requested be freed, as the prisoners were accused of serious crimes. Ghani also said he lacked the constitutional authority to release them, so he convened a
loya jirga from 7 to 9 August to discuss the issue. The jirga agreed to free the 400. On 22 June, Afghanistan reported its "bloodiest week in 19 years", during which 291 members of the
Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) were killed and 550 others wounded in 422 attacks carried out by the Taliban. At least 42 civilians, including women and children, were also killed and 105 others wounded. During the week, the Taliban kidnapped 60 civilians in central
Daikundi Province.
2021: End of US withdrawal, last Taliban offensive The Taliban insurgency
intensified considerably in 2021 coinciding with the
withdrawal of US and allied troops from Afghanistan. Since the US withdrawal, the number of casualties of women in the Afghanistan conflict rose by almost 40% in the first quarter of 2021 alone. On 6 March, Ghani expressed that his government would negotiate peace with the Taliban, discussing with them about holding new elections, and forming a government in a democratic manner. On 13 April, the
Joe Biden administration in the US announced that it would withdraw its remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan by 11 September. The US also reiterated support for the Afghan government regarding a possible Taliban military victory.The Taliban began
its last major offensive on 1 May, culminating in the
fall of Kabul, a Taliban victory, and the end of war. In the first three months of the offensive, the Taliban made significant territorial gains in the countryside, increasing the number of
districts it controlled from 73 to 223. On 5 July, the Taliban announced their intention to present a written peace plan to the Afghan Government in August, but as of 13 August, this had not been done. Sources claimed that on 12 August, Abdullah Abdullah, the Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, handed in a plan titled "exiting the crisis" which was shared with the Taliban; it called for the creation of a "joint government." The Taliban gained control of various towns throughout June and July. On 6 August, they captured the first provincial capital of
Zaranj. Over the next ten days, they swept across the country, capturing capital after capital. On 14 August,
Mazar-i-Sharif was captured as commanders
Rashid Dostum and
Atta Nur fled across the border to Uzbekistan, cutting Kabul's vital northern supply route. By noon, Taliban forces advanced from the
Paghman district reaching the gates of Kabul; Ghani discussed the city's protection with security ministers, while sources claimed a unity peace agreement with the Taliban was imminent. However, Ghani was unable to reach top officials in the interior and defense ministries, and several high-profile politicians had already hurried to the airport. By 2 p.m., the Taliban had entered the city facing no resistance; the president soon fled by helicopter from the
Presidential Palace, and within hours, Taliban fighters were pictured at Ghani's desk in the palace. With the virtual collapse of the republic, the war was declared over by the Taliban on the same day.As the Taliban seized control, the need to evacuate populations vulnerable to the Taliban, including the interpreters and assistants who had worked with the coalition forces, ethnic minorities, and women, became urgent. For more than two weeks, international diplomatic, military and civilian staff, as well as Afghan civilians, were
airlifted out the country from
Hamid Karzai International Airport. On 16 August, Major General Hank Taylor confirmed that US air strikes had ended at least 24 hours earlier and that the US military's focus would be to maintain security at the airport as evacuations continued. The final flight, a US Air Force C-17, departed on 30 August, marking the end of America's longest war. == Impact ==