The U.S. Involvement in Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Timeline
Less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, American and allied forces began combat operations in Afghanistan, targeting al Qaeda and the Taliban regime that had been giving al Qaeda protection.
Nearly two decades later, the United States withdrew most of its troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained control of the country’s capital.
US President Joe Biden admitted that the collapse of the Afghan government happened more quickly than his administration had anticipated, but he refused to back away from his decision to end America’s longest war.
“I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden said. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.”
When he announced the withdrawal in April 2021, Biden said diplomatic and humanitarian efforts would continue in Afghanistan and that the United States would support peace efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban. He stated he had determined that a war which claimed approximately 2,300 troops and cost more than $2 trillion no longer fit within the pressing foreign policy concerns of 2021.
Editor’s note: This gallery contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.
Thousands of Taliban supporters rally in Quetta, Pakistan, near the Afghan border, on October 1, 2001.
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is seen at an undisclosed location in this television image broadcast on October 7, 2001. Bin Laden praised God for the September 11 attacks and swore America “will never dream of security” until “the infidel’s armies leave the land of Muhammad.” Al Jazeera TV/Getty ImagesA Tomahawk cruise missile is launched from a US ship in the Arabian Sea on October 7, 2001. American and British forces began airstrikes in Afghanistan, targeting al Qaeda and the Taliban regime that had been giving al Qaeda protection.
Ruben Sprich/Reuters
Members of the Afghan Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban group, kill a wounded Taliban fighter they found while advancing toward Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2001. US airstrikes and Northern Alliance ground attacks led to the fall of Kabul that month. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times/ReduxAn Afghan Northern Alliance fighter bursts into laughter as US planes strike a Taliban position near Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in December 2001. Afghan militia leaders declared victory in the battle of Tora Bora and claimed to have captured al Qaeda’s last base.
David Guttenfelder/AP
Renae Chapman holds her 2-year-old daughter, Amanda, during the funeral service for her husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Nathan R. Chapman, in Fort Lewis, Washington, in January 2002. He was the first US soldier to be killed by enemy fire during the war in Afghanistan. Russ Carmack/AFP/Getty ImagesMohboba, 7, stands near a bullet-ridden wall in Kabul as she waits to be seen at a health clinic in March 2002. She had a skin ailment that plagued many poverty-stricken children in Afghanistan. Paula Bronstein/Getty ImagesUS soldier Jorge Avino tallies the number of people that his mortar team had killed while fighting in Afghanistan in March 2002.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A man and his son watch US soldiers prepare to sweep their home in southeastern Afghanistan in November 2002.
Scott Nelson/Getty Images
Women wait in line to be treated at a health clinic in Kalakan, Afghanistan, in February 2003.
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Mohammaed Mahdi, who lost his foot in a mine explosion, waits for a Red Cross doctor at his home in Kabul in August 2004. This photo was taken by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti, who five years later lost part of his leg when the armored vehicle he was in hit a roadside bomb.Afghans in Kabul line up to vote in the country’s first democratic election in October 2004. Hamid Karzai was sworn in as President in December of that year.
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times/Redux
An Afghan soldier provides security at the site where a US helicopter crashed near Ghazni, Afghanistan, in April 2005. At least 16 people were killed.
Tomas Munita/AP
US President George W. Bush attends a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul in March 2006. It was Bush’s first visit to Afghanistan.
Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Girls at the Bibi Mahroo High School raise their hands during an English class in Kabul in November 2006. After the fall of the Taliban, millions of Afghan girls were able to attend school and get the education that their mothers couldn’t. Paula Bronstein/Getty ImagesBritish Marines take cover during an anti-Taliban operation near Kajaki, Afghanistan, in March 2007. Many other countries also deployed troops to the country.
John Moore/Getty Images
Supplies are dropped to US troops in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province in May 2007. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty ImagesAfghan students recite Islamic prayers at an outdoor classroom in the remote Wakhan Corridor in September 2007.
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
US Army Spc. Brandon Olson sinks onto a bunker embankment in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley in September 2007. The Korengal Valley was the site of some of the deadliest combat in the region.
Tim Hetherington/Imperial War Museums
US Marine Sgt. Nicholas Bender launches a Raven surveillance drone near the remote village of Baqwa, Afghanistan, in March 2009.
John Moore/Getty Images
US soldiers take defensive positions after receiving fire from Taliban positions in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley in May 2009. Army Spc. Zachary Boyd was still in his “I love NY” boxers because he rushed from his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members.US soldiers shield their eyes from the rotor wash of a Chinook helicopter as they are picked up from a mission in Afghanistan’s Paktika province in October 2009.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Children watch a Canadian soldier conducting a dusk patrol in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in October 2009.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
US soldiers fire mortars from a base in Afghanistan’s Kunar province in October 2009.Troops rest at an airfield in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in February 2010. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times/ReduxAfghan soldiers rush a wounded police officer to an American helicopter in Afghanistan’s Kunar province in March 2010.
Moises Saman/The New York Times/Redux
Village elders meet in Marja, Afghanistan, in March 2010. Moises Saman/The New York Times/ReduxSgt. Brian Keith sits with his wife, Sara, and their baby son, Stephen, just before his deployment to Afghanistan in March 2010. A few months earlier, President Barack Obama announced a surge of 30,000 additional troops, bringing the US total to almost 100,000 troops.US troops, aboard a C-17 transport plane, head to Afghanistan in April 2010.
Damon Winter/The New York Times/Redux
US soldiers recover an armored vehicle that was hit by an explosive device in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province in April 2010.
Damon Winter/The New York Times/Redux
Schoolgirls are seen through the window of a Humvee as they wave to a passing American convoy in Herat, Afghanistan, in June 2010.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
A man cries while talking to US soldiers in Naghma Bazaar, Afghanistan, in September 2010. The man said Taliban fighters had forced their way into his home and demanded food before battling with American soldiers.Halawasha, right, and an Afghan National Police member hold her young sister Shokria as a US Army medic wraps her serious burns. US soldiers were patrolling when they found Shokria, whose forearms were burned with scalding milk during a household accident five days earlier.An Afghan man is detained by US Marines after they battled Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in November 2010.
Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters
President Barack Obama and members of his national security team monitor the Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011.US Marine Cpl. Burness Britt reacts after being lifted onto a medevac helicopter in June 2011 after being injured by an improvised explosive device.US soldiers work out at a post in Afghanistan’s Kunar province in September 2011.Tarana Akbari, 12, screams after a suicide bomber attacked the Abul Fazel Shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, in December 2011. Twin bomb blasts killed dozens on the holy day of Ashura.Afghan soldiers, left, and American troops blow up a Taliban firing position in the Afghan village of Layadira in February 2013.
Bryan Denton/The New York Times/Redux
Lesleigh Coyer lies down at the grave of her brother, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Coyer, at Arlington National Cemetery in March 2013. He died of complications from an injury sustained in Afghanistan. Kevin Lamarque/ReutersSamiullah, 8 months old and malnourished, is held by his mother, Islam Bibi, at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Lashgar Gar, Afghanistan, in September 2013.
Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times/Redux
An Afghan army convoy travels Highway 1 in Afghanistan’s Wardak province in November 2013.Afghan Army Sgt. Sayed Wazir screams a prayer while firing a rocket in Afghanistan’s Wardak province in November 2013.A woman is rushed from the scene of a suicide car bombing in Kabul in December 2013.
Adam Ferguson/The New York Times/Redux
Blood-stained Pakistani bank notes are displayed on the body of a dead suicide bomber after an attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in March 2014. Police said they found the bank notes in his pocket.US President Barack Obama walks with the parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after making a statement at the White House about Bergdahl’s release in May 2014.This photo shows the aftermath of an American airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in October 2015. The hospital was “accidentally struck” by US bombs after Afghan forces called for air support.American service members ride in a helicopter on the way to the Bagram Air Base near Kabul in September 2017.President Donald Trump visits Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base in November 2019.Two children pass members of a Taliban Red Unit in Afghanistan’s Laghman province in March 2020. A month earlier, the United States and the Taliban signed a historic agreement.US soldiers retrieve their bags in Fort Drum, New York, in December 2020, after returning home from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan.
John Moore/Getty Images
President Joe Biden speaks from the White House Treaty Room in April 2021. Biden formally announced his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan before September 11.
Andrew Harnik/AP
A member of Afghanistan’s security forces walks at Bagram Air Base after the last American troops departed the compound in July 2021. It marked the end of the American presence at a sprawling compound that became the center of military power in Afghanistan.A member of the Afghan Special Forces drives a Humvee during a combat mission against the Taliban in July 2021. Danish Siddiqui, the Reuters photographer who took this photo, was killed days later.Hanif, who was struck in the temple by a stray bullet, and his older brother, Mohammed, are seen at the Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar in August 2021. Kandahar had been under siege for a month, and it would soon fall to the Taliban.Taliban fighters sit inside the presidential palace in Kabul in August 2021. The palace was handed over to the Taliban after being vacated hours earlier by Afghan government officials.People climb atop a plane at Kabul’s international airport after the Taliban retook the capital a day earlier. Hundreds of people poured onto the tarmac, desperately seeking a route out of Afghanistan.A man carries a bloodied child as a wounded woman lies on the street after Taliban fighters fired guns and lashed out with whips, sticks, and sharp objects to control a crowd outside the airport in Kabul in August 2021.People sit inside a military aircraft during an evacuation from Kabul in August 2021. The US Air Force evacuated approximately 3,000 people from Kabul’s international airport that day.Biden pauses as he listens to a question about a suicide bombing that took place outside the international airport in Kabul in August 2021. The attack killed dozens of Afghan civilians and 13 US service members.Ruhullah, 16, mourns during the burial of his father, Hussein, a former police officer who was killed in the suicide bombing at the airport in Kabul.People gather around the incinerated husk of a vehicle that was hit by a US drone strike in Kabul in August 2021. Ten members of one family, including seven children, were killed in the strike.Biden and other officials watch as flag-draped cases carrying the remains of American service members killed in Afghanistan return to the United States in August 2021.US Army Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne, boards a C-17 military transport plane to depart Kabul on August 31, 2021. He was the last US soldier to leave the country.Taliban fighters storm the Kabul airport after the US military completed its withdrawal.
