When was afghanistan invaded

An interim government was declared. Their initial role was to secure Kabul, the Afghan capital. But the security situation was deteriorating. A reorganised Taleban began copying the terror tactics of Iraqi insurgents. In January , Private Jonathan Kitulagoda became the first British soldier killed in a combat role when a suicide bomber detonated his device next to his vehicle.

In April , the British redeployed in strength, focusing on Helmand Province in the south. Over 3, troops were sent to help with reconstruction efforts. They operated out of Camp Bastion, a specially built base in the desert near the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. But operations were far more intense than expected, and British soldiers were drawn into heavy firefights in towns like Musa Qala and Sangin.

Britain led the operation, which secured canal and river crossings in Helmand around Lashkar Gah. The British participated in the largest joint offensive to date in Helmand. Over 15, allied and Afghan troops attacked Marjah, a town which was controlled by the Taleban and by drug traffickers. He also signalled his intention to end all British combat missions in Afghanistan by December The British combat mission ended with the handover of Camp Bastion to Afghan forces on 26 October British troops have remained in Afghanistan since in a training and advisory role based in Kabul and Helmand.

The war in Afghanistan sucked in enormous resources. What was planned as a short-term reconstruction mission turned into a full-blown war. Camp Bastion grew to the size of Reading.

Its perimeter wall was more than 20 miles long. Its 2. At the height of the fighting, there were more than flights a day. Twenty years later, the U. The Taliban have taken over most of the country , including its capital, Kabul.

More than 5, American soldiers and contractors were killed over that time. Another 1, coalition soldiers also died. A careful reading of the February peace agreement between the Trump administration and the Taliban, an agreement that the Biden administration is apparently adhering to , reveals that the Taliban made almost no concessions in return for the U.

When the U. Their regime was brutal, but it managed to clamp down on extreme lawlessness and to stabilize a country that, by then, had endured 22 years of horrendous war against Soviet occupiers and among rival Afghan factions. Until its demise in mid-August , the Afghan government in Kabul was weak, corrupt, divided and vulnerable.

It attempted to rule over a population of 38 million with some of the most corrupt state institutions on Earth. The regime established by the U. Many state officials were also predatory warlords who recruited their followers to the civil service with the expectation that they would enrich themselves through bribes. Foreign-backed Afghan political factions, such as the Hazara Fatemiyoun group organized by Iran, had infiltrated all levels of government.

And in a desperate attempt to limit the gains of the Taliban, the Afghan government began directly paying independent warlords for their support, even as many were involved in the drug trade and abusing civilians.

The constitution paves the way for presidential elections in October He serves two five-year terms as president. More than British troops lose their lives in Afghanistan over the course of the conflict.

The operation ends a year hunt led by the CIA. The confirmation that Bin Laden had been living on Pakistani soil fuels accusations in the US that Pakistan is an unreliable ally in the war on terror. His death is kept secret for more than two years. Pakistan denies that he was in the country. Most of those who remain focus on training and supporting the Afghan security forces. Islamic State militants begin operations in Afghanistan. The figure is far higher than previously thought.

The US and Nato allies agree to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal. Afghan security forces collapse in the face of the Taliban advance. They emerged in the civil war that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops in , predominantly in the south-west and the Pakistan border areas. They vowed to fight corruption and improve security, but also followed an austere form of Islam. By , they had taken control of almost all of the country.

They enforced their own hardline version of Sharia, or Islamic law, and introduced brutal punishments. Men were made to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka.

TV, music and cinema were banned. After their overthrow they regrouped in Pakistani border areas. In terms of lives lost, it is obviously not easy to say exactly. The number of coalition casualties is much better recorded than Taliban and Afghan civilians. Research by Brown University estimates losses in the Afghan security forces at 69, There had been daily attacks and armed clashes in our area," Wali said.

We had lost our homes and everything that we owned. The US should have looked for other solutions after the invasion," he said. Their understanding of Afghan society was flawed, certainly not sufficient to run the government," Arife said, adding that the changes were not organic and therefore didn't last after the US forces exited the country. Their return to power has raised many questions about the two-decade-long US military presence in Afghanistan.

For instance, what did the US achieve in Afghanistan after spending so much time and money in the war-ravaged country? Although the Taliban's comeback is a setback to Western intervention in Afghanistan, from the Afghan perspective, the US invasion was not an utter failure.

Experts say Afghan society has changed tremendously since the US invasion — so much so that the Taliban also feel the need to present a "benign" and "moderate" face to their compatriots and the international community.

After capturing Kabul, the militant group said it would form an inclusive government, and that the new regime would be qualitatively different from the one established before the US invasion. The middle class has expanded in the country, and the number of educated people and entrepreneurs has also grown in the past two decades.

Different groups — including women, academics and common citizens — are protesting the Taliban rule in different parts of the country. As female employees in Kabul were reportedly told to stay home, some staged a protest against the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban government.

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