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War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

Belligerents
Taliban
al-Qaeda
IMU
Hezbi Islami Afghanistan
Northern Alliance
United States
ISAF
Operation Enduring Freedom Allies
Commanders
Mohammed Omar
Obaidullah Akhund #
Mullah Dadullah †
Jalaluddin Haqqani
Osama bin Laden
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Mustafa Abu al-Yazid
Tohir Yo‘ldosh
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Bismillah Khan
Mohammed Fahim
Abdul Rashid Dostum
Tommy Franks
William J. Fallon
Egon Ramms
Mauro del Vecchio
David Richards
Dan McNeill
Strength (July 2007) 20,000 (est.)ANA: 50,000 NATO: 41,500
U.S. (separate from ISAF): 8,000, U.K. 8,000, UAE: Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown, est. 12,000 + (August 2007)
Afghan security forces: 5,820 killed , 5,000 wounded, 725 captured
Northern Alliance: 200 killed
Coalition: 723 killed
(US:423, UK: 91, Canada:82, Others:) 1,693 wounded (US 1,913, Canada 275, UK 140, Germany 70, Other 80+)
Contractors 83 KIA, 2,428 WIA
Civilian dead: 7,300-14,000

Campaigns of the War on Terrorism

Afghanistan – Philippines – Horn of Africa – Mediterranean – Maghreb – Iraq – Saudi Arabia – Thailand – Pakistan – Israel and Lebanon – Palestinian Territories – Somalia – Poop
War in Afghanistan
(2001–present)

Qala-i-Jangi – Tora Bora – Anaconda – Red Wing – Lashkagar – Mountain Thrust – Helmand – Panjwaii – Medusa – Mountain Fury – Falcon Summit – Sangin – Achilles – Hoover – Chora – Firebase Anaconda – Harekate Yolo – Musa Qala
Terrorist attacks:
Kabul – Bagram Air Base – Baghlan – Hotel Serena – Kandahar – Spin Boldak
Soviet involvement – Government collapse – Anarchy – Taliban control – US/NATO involvement
The War in Afghanistan (2001–present), which began on October 7, 2001, was launched by the United States and the United Kingdom in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was the beginning of the George W. Bush administration's War on Terrorism. The stated purpose of the invasion was to capture Osama bin Laden, destroy al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban regime which had provided support and safe harbor to al-Qaeda.

The U.S. and the UK led the aerial bombing campaign, with ground forces supplied primarily by the Afghan Northern Alliance. In 2002, American, British and Canadian infantry were committed, along with special forces from several allied nations. Later, NATO troops were added. The U.S. military calls the conflict Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength. The war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement. Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, growing illegal drug production, and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul.

Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, which is a joint U.S. and Afghan operation, with some involvement from other nations, is separate from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is an operation of NATO nations including the U.S. The two operations run in parallel.

Background
From May 1996, Osama bin Laden had been living in Afghanistan along with other members of al-Qaeda, operating terrorist training camps in a loose alliance with the Taliban. Following the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa, the US military launched submarine-based cruise missiles at these camps with limited effect on their overall operations.

The UN Security Council had issued Resolutions 1267 and 1333 in 1999 and 2000 directed towards the Taliban which applied financial and military hardware sanctions to encourage them to turn over bin Laden for trial in the deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in August 1998, and close terrorist training camps.

The 9-11 attacks
After the September 11, 2001, attacks, investigators asserted there was evidence implicating Osama bin Laden. In a taped statement over three years later, bin Laden publicly mused that he had envisioned something similar to the 9-11 attacks.

On 20 September 2001, in an address to a joint session of Congress, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered an ultimatum to the Taliban, to:
deliver al-Qaeda leaders located in Afghanistan to the United States
release all imprisoned foreign nationals, including American citizens
protect foreign journalists, diplomats, and aid workers in Afghanistan
close terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and "hand over every terrorist and every person and their support structure to appropriate authorities"
give the United States full access to terrorist training camps to verify their closure
The Taliban refused to directly speak to Bush, stating that talking with a non-Muslim political leader would be an insult to Islam. But they made statements through their embassy in Pakistan: the Taliban rejected the ultimatum on September 21, 2001, saying there was no evidence in their possession linking bin Laden to the September 11 attacks. On September 22, 2001, the United Arab Emirates, and on the following day, Saudi Arabia withdrew their recognition of the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan, leaving neighboring Pakistan as the only remaining country with diplomatic ties.

Moderates within the Taliban allegedly met with American embassy officials in Pakistan in mid-October to work out a way to convince Mullah Muhammed Omar to turn bin Laden over to the U.S. and avoid its impending retaliation.[citation needed] President Bush rejected these offers made by the Taliban as insincere.On October 7, 2001, before the onset of military operations, the Taliban made an open offer to try bin Laden in Afghanistan in an Islamic court. This counteroffer was immediately rejected by the U.S. as insufficient. It was not until October 14, 2001, seven days after war had broken out, that the Taliban openly offered to hand bin Laden over to a third country for trial, but only if they were given evidence of bin Laden's involvement in 9/11.

There has been some debate over whether or not the UN Security Council should have had to authorize the use of force in the NATO-led military operations in Afghanistan, based on the uncertainty of whether the invasion was an act of collective self-defense provided for under Article 51 of the UN Charter, or an act of aggression. The Security Council has, however, authorized the International Security Assistance Force to use force in its mission of securing the country.

Timeline of the War 2001: Initial attack
At approximately 16:14 UTC (12:15 p.m. EDT, 20:45 local time) on Sunday October 7, 2001, American and British forces began an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban forces and al-Qaeda[citation needed]. Strikes were reported in the capital, Kabul (where electricity supplies were severed), at the airport and military nerve-centre of Kandahar (home of the Taliban's Supreme Leader Mullah Omar), and also in the city of Jalalabad (training camps). The Taliban condemned these attacks and called them an "attack on Islam."

At 17:00 UTC, American President Bush confirmed the strikes on national television and British Prime Minister Tony Blair also addressed the UK. Bush stated that at the same time as Taliban military and terrorists' training grounds would be targeted, food, medicine, and supplies would be dropped to "the starving and suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan."

CNN released exclusive footage of Kabul being bombed to all the American broadcasters at approximately 5:08pm October 7, 2001. A number of different technologies were employed in the strike. US Air Force general Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that approximately 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles, launched by British and U.S. submarines and ships, 25 strike aircraft from US aircraft carriers, USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and 15 US Air Force bombers, such as B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress were involved in the first wave, launched from Diego Garcia. Two C-17 Globemaster transport jets were to deliver 37,500 daily rations by airdrop to refugees inside Afghanistan on the first day of the attack.

A pre-recorded videotape of Osama bin Laden had been released before the attack in which he condemned any attacks against Afghanistan. Al Jazeera, the Arabic satellite news channel, reported that these tapes were received shortly before the attack. In this recording bin Laden claimed that the United States would fail in Afghanistan and then collapse, just as the Soviet Union did, and called for a war of Muslims, a jihad, against the U.S.

Initial air campaigns
Bombers operating at high altitudes well out of range of anti-aircraft fire began to bomb the al-Qaeda training camps and Taliban air defenses. During the initial build-up preceding the actual attack, there had been speculation in the media that the Taliban might try to use U.S.-built Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that were the bane of Soviet helicopters during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. If any of these missiles existed at the time of the air campaign, they were never used and the U.S. didn't lose any aircraft to enemy fire. Beyond that, the Taliban had little to offer in the way of anti-aircraft weaponry, relying mostly on left-over arms and weapons from the Soviet invasion. U.S. aircraft, including Apache helicopter gunships, operated with impunity throughout the campaign, while cruise missiles pounded the country.

The strikes initially focused on the area in and around the cities of Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar. Within a few days, most al-Qaeda training sites had been severely damaged and the Taliban's air defenses had been destroyed. The campaign then focused on command, control, and communication targets which weakened the ability of the Taliban forces to communicate. However, the line facing the Afghan Northern Alliance held, and no tangible battlefield successes had yet occurred on that front. Two weeks into the campaign, the Northern Alliance demanded the air campaign focus more on the front lines. As the war dragged on civilian casualties also began to mount in the affected areas. Meanwhile, thousands of Pashtun militiamen from Pakistan poured into the country, reinforcing the Taliban against the U.S. led forces.

The next stage of the campaign began with carrier based F/A-18 Hornet fighter-bombers hitting Taliban vehicles in pinpoint strikes, while other U.S. planes began cluster bombing Taliban defenses. For the first time in years, Northern Alliance commanders finally began to see the serious results that they had long hoped for on the front lines. The Taliban support structure began to erode under the pressure of the air-strikes. U.S. Special Forces then launched an audacious raid deep into the Taliban's heartland of Kandahar, even striking one of Mullah Omar's compounds. However, the campaign's progress seemed to remain very slow. The last week of October had ended, and it was now the beginning of November.

At this time, the next stage of the air campaign began to fulfill long-awaited Northern Alliance expectations. The Taliban front lines were bombed with 15,000-pound daisy cutter bombs, and by AC-130 gunships. Poor Taliban tactics increased the effects of the strikes. The fighters had no previous experience with American firepower, and often even stood on top of bare ridgelines where Special Forces could easily spot them and call in close air support. By November 2, Taliban frontal positions were decimated, and a Northern Alliance march on Kabul seemed possible for the first time. Foreign fighters from al-Qaeda took over security in the Afghan cities, demonstrating the instability of the Taliban regime. Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance and their CIA/Special Forces advisors planned the next stage of their offensive. Northern Alliance troops would seize Mazari Sharif, thereby cutting off Taliban supply lines and enabling the flow of equipment from the countries to the north, followed by an attack on Kabul itself.

Land advances: Mazari Sharif
U.S. Forces work with the Northern Alliance on Horseback on November 12.On November 9, 2001, the battle for Mazari Sharif began. U.S. bombers carpet-bombed Taliban defenders concentrated in the Chesmay-e-Safa gorge that marks the entrance to the city. At 2 p.m., Northern Alliance forces then swept in from the south and west, seizing the city's main military base and airport. The forces then mopped up the remnants of the Taliban in the gorge in front of the city, meeting only light resistance. Within 4 hours, the battle was over. By sunset, what remained of the Taliban was retreating to the south and east. Mazari Sharif was taken. The next day, Northern Alliance forces seeking retribution combed the city, shooting suspected Taliban supporters in on-the-spot executions. Approximately 520 Taliban, demoralized and defeated, many of whom were fighters from Pakistan, were shot when they were discovered hiding in a school. Looting was also widespread throughout Mazari Sharif.

The same day the massacres of former Taliban supporters were taking place in Mazari Sharif, November 10, Northern Alliance forces swept through five northern provinces in a rapid advance. The fall of Mazari Sharif had triggered a complete collapse of Taliban positions. Many local commanders switched sides rather than fight. The regime was beginning to unravel at the seams throughout the north. Many of their front line troops were outflanked and then surrounded in the northern city of Kunduz as the Northern Alliance drove past them southwards. Even in the south, their hold on power seemed tenuous at best. The religious police stopped their regular patrols. A complete implosion of the Taliban regime seemed imminent.

The fall of Kabul
Finally, on the night of November 12, Taliban forces fled from the city of Kabul, leaving under cover of darkness. By the time Northern Alliance forces arrived in the afternoon of November 13, only bomb craters, burned foliage, and the burnt out shells of Taliban gun emplacements and positions were there to greet them. A group of about twenty hardline Arab fighters hiding in the city's park were the only remaining defenders. This Taliban group was killed in a brief 15-minute gun battle, being heavily outnumbered and having had little more than some shrub to shield them. After these forces were neutralized Kabul was in the hands of the US/NATO forces and the Northern Alliance.

The fall of Kabul marked the beginning of a collapse of Taliban positions across the map. Within 24 hours, all of the Afghan provinces along the Iranian border, including the key city of Herat, had fallen. Local Pashtun commanders and warlords had taken over throughout northeastern Afghanistan, including the key city of Jalalabad. Taliban holdouts in the north, comprised of mainly Pakistani volunteers, fell back to the northern city of Kunduz to make a stand. By November 16, the Taliban's last stronghold in northern Afghanistan was besieged by the Northern Alliance. Nearly 10,000 Taliban fighters, led by foreign fighters, refused to surrender and continued to put up stubborn resistance. By then, the Taliban had been forced back to their heartland in southeastern Afghanistan around Kandahar.

By November 13, al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, with the possible inclusion of Osama bin Laden, had regrouped and were concentrating their forces in the Tora Bora cave complex, on the Pakistan border 50 kilometers (30 mi) southwest of Jalalabad, to prepare for a stand against the Northern Alliance and US/NATO forces. Nearly 2,000 al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters fortified themselves in positions within bunkers and caves, and by November 16, U.S. bombers began bombing the mountain fortress. Around the same time, CIA and Special Forces operatives were already at work in the area, enlisting and paying local warlords to join the fight and planning an attack on the Tora Bora complex.

The fall of Kunduz
Just as the bombardment at Tora Bora was stepped up, the siege of Kunduz that began on November 16 was continuing. Finally, after nine days of heavy fighting and American aerial bombardment, Taliban fighters surrendered to Northern Alliance forces on November 25-November 26. Shortly before the surrender, Pakistani aircraft arrived ostensibly to evacuate a few hundred intelligence and military personnel who had been in Afghanistan previous to the U.S. invasion for the purpose of aiding the Taliban's ongoing fight against the Northern Alliance. However, during this airlift, it is alleged that up to five thousand people were evacuated from the region, including Taliban and al-Qaeda troops allied to the Pakistanis in Afghanistan.

On November 25, the day that Taliban fighters holding out in Kunduz finally surrendered and were being herded into the Qala-i-Jangi fortress near Mazar-I-Sharif, a few Taliban attacked some Northern Alliance guards, taking their weapons and opening fire. This incident soon triggered a widespread revolt by 300 prisoners, who soon seized the southern half of the complex, once a medieval fortress, including an armory stocked with small arms and crew-served weapons. One American CIA operative who had been interrogating prisoners, Johnny Michael Spann, was killed, marking the first American combat death in the war. The revolt was finally put down after seven days of heavy fighting between a SBS unit along with some Green berets and Northern Alliance, AC-130 gunships and other aircraft took part providing strafing fire on several occasions, as well as a bombing airstrikes. 86 of the Taliban prisoners survived, and around 50 Northern Alliance soldiers were killed. The quashing of the revolt marked the end of the combat in northern Afghanistan, where local Northern Alliance warlords were now firmly in control.