Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

The following items form a partial timeline of the War in Afghanistan. For events prior to October 7, 2001, see 2001 in Afghanistan

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Part of the Global War on Terrorism, and
the continuous Afghanistan conflict

Clockwise from top-left: British Royal Marines during a clearance in Helmand Province; U.S. soldiers in a firefight with Taliban forces in Kunar Province; An Afghan National Army soldier surveying atop a Humvee; Afghan and U.S. soldiers move through snow in Logar Province; Canadian forces fire an M777 howitzer in Helmand Province; An Afghan soldier surveying a valley in Parwan Province; British troops preparing to board a Chinook during Operation Tor Shezada.
(For a map of the current military situation in Afghanistan, see here.)
Date7 October 2001 – present
(19 years and 4 months)
Location
Status
Belligerents
Invasion (2001):
Northern Alliance
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Canada
 Australia
 Italy
 New Zealand[2]
 Germany[3]
Invasion (2001):
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
al-Qaeda
055 Brigade[4][5]
IMU[6]
TNSM[7]
ETIM[8]
ISAF/RS phase (from 2001):
 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Resolute Support
(from 2015)[9]

ISAF/RS phase (from 2001):
Taliban

al-Qaeda
Taliban splinter groups
ISIL–KP[14]
Commanders and leaders
Ashraf Ghani
Joe Biden
Boris Johnson
Scott Morrison
Giuseppe Conte
Angela Merkel
Zoran Milanović
Austin S. Miller
John F. Campbell
Mohammed Omar #
Akhtar Mansoor 
A. G. Baradar (POW)[26]
Hibatullah Akhundzada[11]
Jalaluddin Haqqani [27]
Obaidullah Akhund [26]
Dadullah Akhund [26]
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Osama bin Laden 
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Muhammad Rasul (POW)[13]
Haji Najibullah[28]
Strength

Afghan National Security Forces: 352,000[29]
Resolute Support Mission: ~17,000[30]

Military Contractors: 20,000+[31]

Taliban: 60,000
(tentative estimate)[32]

HIG: 1,500–2,000+[36]
al-Qaeda: ~300[37][38][39] (~ 3,000 in 2001)[37]


IEHCA: 3,000–3,500[13]
Fidai Mahaz: 8,000[28]


ISIL–KP: 3,500–4,000 (2018, in Afghanistan)[40]
Casualties and losses

Afghan security forces:
65,596+ killed[41][42]
Northern Alliance:
200 killed[43][44][45][46][47]
Coalition:
Dead: 3,562

Wounded: 22,773

  • United States: 19,950[49]
  • United Kingdom: 2,188[50]
  • Canada: 635[51]
Contractors
Dead: 3,937[52][53]
Wounded: 15,000+[52][53]
Total killed: 69,699+ killed[54]

Taliban: 67,000–72,000+ killed[54][32][55][56][57][42]
al-Qaeda: 2,000+ killed[37]


ISIL–KP: 2,400+ killed[58]
Civilians killed: 38,480+ killed[59][60]

a The continued list includes nations who have contributed fewer than 200 troops as of November 2014.[61]

b The continued list includes nations who have contributed fewer than 200 troops as of May 2017.[62]

2001

  • October 7: (9 p.m. local time): the United States, supported by Britain, begins its attack on Afghanistan, launching bombs and cruise missiles against Taliban military and communications facilities and suspected terrorist training camps. Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat were hit.
  • October 9: A cruise missile kills four U.N. demining employees and injured four others in a building several miles east of Kabul.
  • October 19: Airborne invasion into Afghanistan by Rangers of the Third Ranger Battalion, Seventy Fifth Ranger Regiment and others seizing a Qandahar airfield named Objective Rhino.
  • October 26: Abdul Haq killed.
  • November 6: Zari, Keshendeh and Aq-Kupruk fall to the Northern Alliance[63]
  • November 8: Pakistan, being the only nation that still had diplomatic ties to the Taliban, asked Afghanistan's rulers to close their consulate in the city of Karachi.
  • November 9: Battle of Mazari Sharif.
  • November 10: The Taliban and Northern Alliance fighters both claimed that the strategic northern Afghan city of Mazari Sharif was taken by Northern Alliance fighters.
  • November 11: Journalists Pierre Billaud, Johanne Sutton, and Volker Handloik are ambushed and killed.
  • November 12: Taliban forces abandon Kabul ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
  • November 14: Northern Alliance fighters took over Kabul, the Afghan capital, and then controlled virtually all the north of Afghanistan.
  • November 16: Mohammed Atef, the military chief of al-Qaeda, killed in a US airstrike.
  • November 19: Four foreign journalists - Harry Burton, Maria Grazia Cutuli, Azizullah Haidari, and Julio Fuentes – were ambushed and killed.
  • November 25: Northern Alliance gained control of Kunduz, the last Taliban stronghold in Northern Afghanistan, but only after Pakistani aircraft rescue several thousand Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters and their military advisers.[64][65] The Taliban then controlled less than 25% of the country, mainly around Kandahar in the south.
    • U.S. Marines landed in force by helicopter at Camp Rhino south of Kandahar and began preparing it for fixed wing aircraft. They also occupied the main road between Kandahar and Pakistan.
    • Battle of Qala-i-Jangi. Forces loyal to bin Laden smuggled weapons into their prison near Mazar i Sharif after surrendering at Kunduz. They attacked the Northern Alliance guards and storm an armory. U.S. Special Forces call in air attacks. Hundreds of prisoners are killed as well as 40 Alliance fighters and one U.S. CIA operative, Johnny Michael Spann. Spann becomes the first U.S. and Coalition combat casualty. A young American named John Walker Lindh is found in the midst of the rebellion and extradited to the US on terrorism charges.
  • December 6: Kandahar falls.
  • December: The Battle of Tora Bora against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters; Osama bin Laden reportedly escapes during this battle.
  • December: The Dasht-i-Leili massacre, where hundreds of Taliban were allegedly suffocated to death while being transported in metal containers.
  • December: The Bonn Agreement establishes the postwar system of government for Afghanistan, and establishes the International Security Assistance Force.
  • December 21: The interim Afghan government is sworn in.

2002

  • January 4: First US soldier dies due to hostile fire.
  • January 24, the Hazar Qadam raid sees Americans accidentally attack an allied compound collecting weapons for their Karzai government
  • February 14: Abdul Rahman, Afghan Aviation and Tourism Minister, killed by angry Hajj pilgrims.
  • March 1: Operation Anaconda against al-Qaeda fighters launched.
  • April 17: The 87-year-old exiled king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, returns.
  • April 18: Tarnak Farm incident leaves four Canadians dead from friendly fire.
  • June 11: King Zahir Shah opens the first post-Taliban loya jirga.[66]
  • July 1: In Uruzgan province, a US AC-130 gunship struck a wedding party, killing 48 civilians and injuring 117. The United States claimed their plane had come under attack from anti-aircraft fire before the strike.
  • July 6: Vice President Abdul Qadir assassinated in Kabul.
  • September 5: 2002 Kabul bombing kills 30 people.

2003

2004

  • January 4 – Constitution approved by Loya Jirga.
  • January 26 – Constitution signed by President Hamid Karzai.
  • October 9 – 2004 Afghan presidential election. In the country's first direct election, Hamid Karzai wins the presidency with 55.4% of the vote.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

  • February 12: Five innocent civilians including two pregnant women and a teenage girl killed in the botched Khataba raid.
  • February 21: Uruzgan helicopter attack kills 27-33 civilians including four women and a child in Uruzgan province.
  • Spring: Operation Moshtarak Phase I is led by US Marines to retake Marjah, in Helmand Province, from the Taliban.
  • Spring-Summer: U.S. Surge to Afghanistan sees its peak, as 20,000 soldiers are deployed to the south
  • June 23: General Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of the ISAF, resigns after controversial comments critical of the Obama administration were published in a magazine.
  • July 23: The Sangin airstrike kills a large number of Afghan civilians mostly women and children in Nangarhar province.
  • July 25: WikiLeaks releases 90,000 leaked documents pertaining to the war in Afghanistan.
  • September 18: Afghan Parliamentary Elections are held, widely criticized as fraudulent, although with notable instances of electoral institution impartiality.
  • Fall: Operation Moshtarak Phases II and III are held in Kandahar, driving the Taliban out of traditional safe-havens
  • Fall: Command of Regional Command South rotates from British to American command.

2011

  • January 26: The Afghan National Assembly is inaugurated.[72]
  • May 1: The number one Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan, just miles from Islamabad.
  • May 23: 4 U.S. soldiers (2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment) die and 1 wounded following an improvised explosive device attack in Kunar province.
  • June 4–6: The Battle Of Gewi Ridge takes place where a platoon of U.S. soldiers air-assaulted the mountain ridge of Gewi (Kunar province) for over-watch of a major re-supply convoy. Following the insertion, an intensive firefight lasting 52 hours takes place, resulting in the deaths of 50+ Taliban insurgents.
  • August 6: A CH-47 Chinook helicopter transporting 30 U.S. soldiers (including 17 Navy SEALs), 1 civilian interpreter and 7 Afghan troops is shot down in Wardak Province by RPG-wielding Taliban insurgents. There were no survivors of the crash. This incident marks the deadliest day for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001.
  • August 11: Vengeance is exacted on the 11 Taliban militants involved in downing the CH-47 Chinook, who are killed in an F-16 airstrike. Meanwhile, five ISAF service members die following an improvised explosive device attack in the southern provinces.
  • December 9: Mohammed Ishmael, Ghaziabad district (Kunar province) police chief is killed in a suicide bombing of a mosque carried out by a 12-year-old Pakistani boy.

2012

2013

The army of the United States continues to conduct missions throughout Afghanistan, began closing forward operating bases (FOB).

See also

References

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  2. Crosby, Ron (2009). NZSAS: The First Fifty Years. Viking. ISBN 978-0-67-007424-2.
  3. "Operation Enduring Freedom Fast Facts". CNN. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
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  5. Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 ISBN 978-1472807908, p.48
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  7. "Pakistan's militant Islamic groups". BBC. 13 January 2002.
  8. "Evaluating the Uighur Threat". the long war journal. 9 October 2008.
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  12. Rod Nordland; Jawad Sukhanyar; Taimoor Shah (19 June 2017). "Afghan Government Quietly Aids Breakaway Taliban Faction". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
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  21. Martinez, Luis (10 July 2020). "Top Pentagon officials say Russian bounty program not corroborated". ABC News.
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  49. OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) U.S. CASUALTY STATUS FATALITIES as of: December 30, 2014, 10 a.m. EDT Archived 6 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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    Over 2,500 Afghan soldiers killed from Jan-May: US report
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