Timeline: As US Troops Leaves Afghanistan After 20 Years, Here's A Recall Of Major Events

Bobins AbrahamUpdated: Aug 31, 2021, 16:21 IST
8 min read
Indiatimes

August 31 marked a historic day for both the US and Afghanistan as it formally ended the American military presence in the country after twenty years.

With this, the US's longest and most expensive war to date has also ended.

US troops leaving kabul AFP

The US has left Afghanistan, like when they came to the country 20 years ago, with the Taliban in control.

But a lot happened in the two decades that the US was in Afghanistan. Here is a timeline of major events, that reshaped the history of the two countries and beyond.

September 11, 2001

The US is hit by the worst terror attack in its history after Al-Qaeda terrorists hijack commercial airliners, crashing them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Close to three thousand people die in the attacks.

September 18, 2001

US President George W Bush signs into law a joint resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible for attacking the United States on 9/11.

October 7, 2001

President George W Bush launches his "war on terror" in response to the September 11 attacks, with airstrikes in Afghanistan.

November 9, 2001

Forces loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostum, former Vice President of Afghanistan captures Mazar-e-Sharif, from the Taliban, the first major city to fall.

November 13, 2001

Kabul is also fallen as the Taliban continues to retreat in the face of US-led NATO and allied local forces attacks.

November 14, 2001

UN Security Council passes Resolution 1378, calling for a ¡°central role¡± for the United Nations in establishing a transitional administration and inviting member states to send peacekeeping forces to promote stability and aid delivery.

December 5, 2001

The first agreement on the interim government was made between several Afghan groups in Bonn, Germany.

December 16, 2001

The US has pinpointed the location of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a Tora Bora cave complex. But even after a two-week-long operation, Laden manages to escape at the last minute.

December 17, 2001

US and allied forces drove out the Taliban from power in Afghanistan

December 22, 2001

Hamid Karzai is appointed to lead an interim government and NATO begins to deploy its International Security Assistance Force.

March 2002

US launches Operation Anaconda, the first major ground assault and the largest operation since Tora Bora, in the Shah-i-Kot Valley of Paktia Province. Nearly two thousand US and one thousand Afghan troops are deployed to battle the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

April 17, 2002

President George Bush commits to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

June 2002

Loya Jirga picks the name of Hamid Karzai, chairman of Afghanistan¡¯s interim administration to head Afghanistan¡¯s transitional government.

May 1, 2003

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declares an end to ¡°major combat.¡±

January 2004

An assembly of 502 Afghan delegates agrees on a constitution for Afghanistan, creating a presidential system of government.

October 9, 2004

Afghanistan's first election under a new system is held on October with an enthusiastic turnout of 70 percent. Karzai wins 55 percent of the vote.

July 2006

First major resurgence by Taliban and the number of suicide attacks quintuples from 27 in 2005 to 139 in 2006, while remotely detonated bombings more than double, to 1,677.

November 2006

NATO wants Afghan National Army to begin to take control of security from 2008.

May 2007

Taliban guerrilla commander Mullah Dadullah is killed in a joint operation by Afghan and NATO forces in the south of Afghanistan.

February 17, 2009

President Barack Obama announces plans to send seventeen thousand more troops to the war zone.

February 17, 2009

The Taliban regroup in the south and east, as well as across the border in Pakistan, and launch an insurgency.

As attacks multiply, the US command in 2008 asks for more troops and the first reinforcements are sent.

President Barack Obama recommits U.S. forces to Afghanistan to combat "resurgent" Taliban.

August 20, 2009

Hamid Karzai is re-elected as President of Afghanistan on August 20, 2009 in elections that are marred by massive fraud, low turnout and Taliban attacks.

November 2010

At a summit in Lisbon, NATO member countries sign a declaration agreeing to hand over full responsibility for security in Afghanistan to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

May 1, 2011

US announces that Osama bin Laden is killed in a special forces operation in Pakistan.

June 22, 2011

President Obama outlines a plan to withdraw thirty-three thousand troops by the summer of 2012.

January 2012

Taliban strikes a deal to open an office in Qatar.

June 2013

Afghan forces take the lead in security responsibility nationwide as NATO hands over control of the remaining ninety-five districts.

May 27, 2014

President Barack Obama announces a timetable for withdrawing most US forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016.

June 14, 2014

Run-off election for the President is held.

September 20, 2014

Both Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory.

September 19, 2014

The Independent Election Commission announces Ashraf Ghani as the winner. Abdullah and Ghani signed a power-sharing agreement, with Ghani being named president and Abdullah taking on an important position in the government.

December 2014

NATO issues a joint statement, designating that Afghan Security Forces "will assume full responsibility for security" of the country by the end of the year. The international coalition ends its operations in Afghanistan, US continues its own battle.

April 13, 2017

The United States mother of all bomb on suspected Islamic State hideout in a cave complex in eastern Nangarhar Province.

January 2018

The Taliban carry out a series of bold terror attacks in Kabul that killed more than 115 people amid a broader upsurge in violence.

February 2019

Negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in Doha enter their highest level. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar insists on US withdrawing its troops in exchange for the Taliban pledging to block international terrorist groups from operating on Afghan soil.

September 7, 2019

President Trump abruptly breaks off peace talks with the Taliban.

February 29, 2020

US envoy Khalilzad and the Taliban¡¯s Baradar sign an agreement that paves the way for a significant drawdown of troops.

February 18, 2020

Ghani is declared victorious for a second term on February 18, 2020, an announcement rejected by his rival and former minister Abdullah Abdullah, who vows to form his own parallel government.

September 12, 2020

Representatives of the Taliban and of the Afghan government and civil society meet face to face for the first time in Doha.

November 17, 2020

US announces plan to halve the number of troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 by mid-January.

April 14, 2021

President Joe Biden announces US troops will withdraw from Afghanistan starting on May 1 and ending on Sept. 11, bringing America's longest war to a close. It was an extension of the previous withdrawal deadline of May 1 agreed between the United States and the Taliban.

May 1, 2021

The United States and NATO start withdrawing their 9,500 soldiers, of which 2,500 are American. In May, the Americans withdraw from the Kandahar air base.

May 4, 2021

Taliban fighters launch a major offensive on Afghan forces in southern Helmand province. They also attacked in at least six other provinces.

May 11, 2011

The Taliban capture Nerkh district just outside the capital Kabul as violence intensifies across the country.

June 7, 2011

Senior government officials say more than 150 Afghan soldiers are killed in 24 hours as fighting worsens. They add that fighting is raging in 26 of the country's 34 provinces.

June 22, 2021

Taliban launch a series of attacks in the north of the country, far from their traditional strongholds in the south. The UN envoy for Afghanistan says they have taken more than 50 of 370 districts.

July 2, 2021

Bagram air base -- Afghanistan's biggest, and the nerve centre of the US-led coalition's operations -- is handed over to Afghan forces.

July 21, 2021

Taliban insurgents control about half of the country's districts, according to the senior US general, underlining the scale and speed of their advance.

July 26, 2021

The United Nations says nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in May and June in escalating violence, the highest number for those months since records started in 2009.

August 6, 2021

The Taliban capture their first provincial capital, Zaranj in the southwest.

Other major cities fall within days, including Kandahar and Herat -- Afghanistan's second- and third-biggest cities respectively.

August 13, 2021

Four more provincial capitals fall in a day, including Kandahar, the country's second city and spiritual home of the Taliban. In the west, another key city, Herat, is overrun and veteran commander Mohammad Ismail Khan, one of the leading fighters against the Taliban, is captured.

August 14, 2021

The Taliban take the major northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and, with little resistance, Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province just 70 km (40 miles) south of Kabul. The United States sends more troops to help evacuate its civilians from Kabul as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says he is consulting with local and international partners on next steps.

August 15, 2021

The Taliban take the key eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, effectively surrounding Kabul.

August 15, 2021

Taliban insurgents enter Kabul, an interior ministry official says, as the United States evacuate diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.

August 15, 2021

Taliban takes over the presidential palace hours after President Ghani leaves the country.

August 16, 2021

President Biden says his administration made the right decision in ending US military involvement in Afghanistan.

August 26, 2021

13 US troops, over 100 Afghan civilians are killed in blasts in Kabul.

August 31, 2021

Last US troops leave Afghanistan, ending the 20 years of war.

Bobins Abraham

Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.

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