Who Was When
Wars

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

See this year on the world timeline

Sides

US-led coalition and the Afghan government

United States, United Kingdom, Northern Alliance (2001), and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (from 2001, under its interim names until 2004)

against
The Taliban and al-Qaeda

Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) and Al-Qaeda

Countries today: Afghanistan

What happened

After the attacks of 11 September 2001, the United States demanded that Afghanistan's Taliban government hand over Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda; the Taliban refused. On 7 October US and British aircraft began bombing, and US special forces worked with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, which took Kabul and other cities within weeks. Bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora into Pakistan. At Bonn in December an interim administration under Hamid Karzai was agreed, and an international security force, later led by NATO, was deployed. The Taliban regrouped, partly from Pakistan, and fought an insurgency across the south and east; US and Afghan officials accused Pakistan's intelligence service of backing them, which Pakistan denied. US forces killed bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011. NATO ended its combat mission in December 2014, leaving Afghan forces to do most of the fighting. In February 2020 the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha for a full foreign withdrawal. As troops left in 2021, the Taliban took one provincial capital after another and entered Kabul on 15 August; the last US aircraft left on 30 August.

Outcome: The Taliban took Kabul on 15 August 2021 and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan fell; the last US and allied troops left on 30 August.

Key events

Leaders

  • George W. Bush · President of the United States, 2001–2009 · US-led coalition and the Afghan government
  • Barack Obama · President of the United States, 2009–2017 · US-led coalition and the Afghan government
  • Hamid Karzai · Head of the Afghan interim government from 2001, then President until 2014 · US-led coalition and the Afghan government
  • Ashraf Ghani · President of Afghanistan, 2014–2021 · US-led coalition and the Afghan government
  • Mullah Omar · Founder and leader of the Taliban · The Taliban and al-Qaeda
  • Hibatullah Akhundzada · Leader of the Taliban from 2016 · The Taliban and al-Qaeda
  • Osama bin Laden · Founder and leader of al-Qaeda · The Taliban and al-Qaeda

Deaths

Death tolls are estimates and often contested. Each is a range from its sources; a figure one party gives is marked as theirs.

Battle deaths · All sides

Sources