Monday night, after months of deliberation, Trump said he would continue the war and increase the US's military presence in Afghanistan. He did not give a specific number, but most reports indicate he will send about 4,000 more US troops into the war-torn country.
Former President Barack Obama left 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and intended to reduce that number to 5,500 by 2017, but the Taliban's success on the battlefield changed those plans.
Resolute Support began on January 1, 2015, and since then 47 American soldiers have been killed and 54 more have been wounded.
NATO's Resolute Support mission would keep 13,000 troops — mostly American — in Afghanistan for two years to train and advise Afghan security forces.
Source: NATO
Making good on his 2012 reelection campaign promise, President Obama withdrew roughly 34,000 troops from Afghanistan between 2013 and the end of 2014, officially concluding America's combat mission on December 28, 2014.
In May 2012, Obama met with Hamid Karzai — then in his 10th year of rule and widely considered to be a liability by decision-makers in Washington — in Afghanistan and signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement. Obama then addressed the nation from Bagram Air Base, pledging to end the war by the end of 2014.
Source: The White House
But the violence in Afghanistan continued. On August 6, 2011, a US Army helicopter was shot down by insurgents in the eastern province of Wardak. Seven Afghan army soldiers and 22 Navy SEALs were killed.
Source: ABC
The most iconic US success of the war was just around the corner though. On May 2, 2011, US forces conducted a raid on a high-walled compound in Pakistan that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. President Obama hailed bin Laden's death as "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al Qaeda."
Source: The New York Times
But there was no quick fix to the war's problems. The results of Afghanistan's September 2010 parliamentary elections were disputed after reports emerged of ballot stuffing and voter suppression across the country. Recounts were ordered, and final election results were released on October 31.
In June 2010, Obama fired his top Afghanistan commander, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, after his aides were anonymously quoted attacking Obama in a Rolling Stone article. He was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus, who would continue with counterinsurgency tactics that had proven successful during the Iraq surge.
On October 3, 2009, 300 Taliban insurgents attacked US Combat Outpost Keating in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Eight Americans and an estimated 150 insurgents were killed in one of the major battles of the war.
Source: Foreign Policy
Despite the elections, the Taliban gained in strength, and Karzai proved to be a duplicitous and unreliable ally. Afghanistan was backsliding. In February 2009, shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama said he would send an additional 17,000 American troops to the country in a surge that he hoped would "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan."
Source: CNN
Despite the insurgency, Afghans voted in the country's first free legislative elections in more than 25 years on September 18, 2005.
The war in Iraq diverted important resources away from Afghanistan, including US special-operations forces. The Taliban took note, reasserting themselves in a concerted insurgent campaign that lasted for several years.
In May 2003, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that major combat operations had ended in Afghanistan. President George W. Bush declared "mission accomplished" in Iraq that same day.
In March 2002, Afghan and US troops launched Operation Anaconda — their first large-scale ground attack since their raid on the Tora Bora caves in December 2001. Troops moved to root out nearly 800 Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the Shah-i-Kot Valley.
An interim government was formed by late December 2001. Hamid Karzai was sworn in as interim administration head on December 22.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations
By December, Taliban forces had abandoned their last stronghold in Kandahar. The Tora Bora cave complex southeast of Kabul, where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, was bombarded by US B-52s for two weeks. The Taliban had fallen but bin Laden escaped along with Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Source: The New York Times
Weakened by airstrikes, the Taliban eventually lost control of Kabul. Many of the city's residents, however, were left starving and homeless. The World Food Programme started its biggest food distribution ever in Kabul on December 8, 2001.
The Northern Alliance was formed mostly of guerrilla fighters and members of the military who had been ousted when the Taliban took power in 1996. Despite receiving aid from both Russia and Iran, the alliance was not very well trained or cohesive.
Source: Global Policy Forum
In early November 2001, a small number of special-forces soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Northern Alliance, a loosely knit anti-Taliban coalition.
Source: The New York Times
Operation Enduring Freedom launched on October 7, 2001 with a bombing campaign against Taliban forces.
None of the hijackers were Afghan nationals. However, President George W. Bush declared a "war on terror" that targeted Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, who received shelter and assistance from the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Source: White House Archives
