United States invasion of Afghanistan
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, the United States declared the war on terror and subsequently led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The stated goal was to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the attacks under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, and to deny Islamist militants a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by toppling the Taliban government. The United Kingdom was a key ally of the United States, offering support for military action from the start of the invasion preparations. The American military presence in Afghanistan greatly bolstered the Northern Alliance, which had been locked in a losing fight with the Taliban during the Afghan Civil War. Prior to the beginning of the United States' war effort, the Taliban had seized around 85% of Afghanistan's territory as well as the capital city of Kabul, effectively confining the Northern Alliance to Badakhshan Province and smaller surrounding areas. The American-led invasion on October 7, 2001, marked the first phase of what would become the 20-year-long War in Afghanistan.
"Invasion of Afghanistan" redirects here. For invasions by other polities, see Invasions of Afghanistan.
After the September 11 attacks, American president George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban government extradite Osama bin Laden to the United States and also expel al-Qaeda militants from Afghanistan; bin Laden had been active in Afghanistan since the Soviet–Afghan War and was already wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. The Taliban declined to extradite bin Laden and further ignored demands to shut down terrorist bases or extradite other suspected terrorists. In response, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom on 7 October 2001, alongside the United Kingdom. The two countries were later joined by a large multinational force, including Afghanistan's local Northern Alliance. The invasion effort made rapid progress for the next two months as the coalition captured Kabul on November 13 and toppled the Taliban by 17 December, after which international military bases were set up near major cities across the country. However, most members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban were not captured: during the Battle of Tora Bora, several fighters including Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda escaped into neighboring Pakistan or otherwise retreated to remote regions deep within the Hindu Kush.
In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to oversee military operations in Afghanistan and also train the new Afghan National Security Forces. At the Bonn Conference that same month, Hamid Karzai was selected to lead the Afghan Interim Administration. Simultaneously, the Taliban's founding leader Muhammad Umar reorganized the movement to wage asymmetric warfare against the coalition, and by 2002, the group had launched an insurgency against the American-led war effort. Protracted fighting continued for the next two decades, and by mid-2021, the international coalition and the United States had begun to withdraw from the country amidst a nationwide Taliban offensive. In August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul and toppled the Afghan government, re-establishing their rule in the form of a second Islamic emirate.
Analysis[edit]
According to historian Carter Malkasian, the campaign was a "striking military success".[8] The United States achieved its war aims while committing a force of only 110 CIA officers, 350 special operators, and 5,000 Rangers and Marines.[8] The model of special forces working with local fighters and calling in precision air strikes was heavily used by the US during later operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.[8] One explanation for the rapid victory is that in Afghan culture, fighters tend to defect to the winning side once its victory is seen as inevitable;[240] as anthropologist Thomas Barfield puts it, "Just as the Taliban had come to power by persuading people that they were winners without fighting and buying the defection of wavering commanders with suitcases full of hundred-dollar bills, they lost the war in a reverse process."[241] The pattern recurred during the 2021 Taliban offensive, when the US-backed government collapsed and a resurgent Taliban captured a dozen provincial capitals in a week before it entered Kabul unopposed.[242]