TIMELINE: Afghan War (through 2014)

Transcription

1 Page1 TIMELINE: Afghan War (through 2014) 2001 September Four US airliners are hijacked, resulting in almost 3,000 deaths, and the symbolic destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. The international al-qaeda network is blamed, with Osama Bin- Laden as its reputed head. September October 2001 US President George W Bush talks of an attack on Afghanistan. While none of the September 11 hijackers were Afghan, the Taliban were widely believed to be sympathetic to al-qaeda. President Bush describes the strike on Afghanistan as the War on Terror while theories abound about Afghanistan s strategic importance, including its natural gas reserves and importance for a proposed pipeline. Demonstrations against the invasion are held around the world. October 7 - United States attacks Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, host to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. November 13 - Anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces enter Kabul. December Hamid Karzai is instated as leader of post-taliban Afghanistan. A Pashtun, Karzai worked previously with the Mujahadeen who forced the Soviet withdrawal from the country, but reportedly refused the role of Taliban UN ambassador in the 1990s. He fled to live in exile in Pakistan March Operation Anaconda, a first major ground assault is launched, with almost 2,000 US forces fighting 1,000 Taliban fighters. In March, talk of an attack on Iraq is ramping up with resources soon to be redirected to a new theatre of war. June 11 - Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, opens and later elects Hamid Karzai as president of interim government. He is sworn in as president for 18 months on June March US forces invade Iraq and begin another war that will last until The goal is to remove Sadaam Hussein from power. August NATO takes control of security in the capital Kabul, while operations attempting to defeat Al- Qaeda and the Taliban, continue throughout the country January The authority of the President is consolidated by the adoption of a new constitution. October Hamid Karzai is voted back in as President, with a high turnout. Also in October, Bin Laden surfaces in a video shortly before the US election George W. Bush is re-elected in November defeating Democratic challenger John Kerry May Details of severe prisoner abuse at the hands of US forces emerge, as the US and Karzai sign a joint declaration pronouncing them strategic partners with focus on the war against international terrorism February - Over $10 billion in reconstruction aid is pledged to Afghanistan over five years.

2 Page2 June - July A tough summer for Coalition forces, with suicide bombings leaping from 27 in 2005 to 139 in Early in the summer, scores are killed in battles in the south during Operation Mountain Thrust. July onwards - NATO takes over the leadership of military operations in the south heavy fighting as Taliban resist the attempts to extend government control March Launch of Operation Achilles, reportedly the largest operation to date in the South. Heavy fighting continues in Helmand Province. August The UN reports that opium production is at record high June Massive jailbreak sees 350 insurgents freed in Kandahar. Karzai warns that Afghanistan will send troops into Pakistan if Pakistan does not take action against allegedly destabilizing elements. June 12 - Donors pledge about $20 billion in aid at a Paris conference but say Kabul must do more to fight corruption. July 7 - Suicide car bomb hits Indian embassy in Kabul, killing 58 people and wounding 141. August French public shocked at deaths of ten soldiers, while US and Afghan forces accused of Herat airstrike which kills at least 89 civilians. September President Bush sends 4,500 more troops in quiet surge, while Germany pledges an increase of 3,500 the following month. November Democratic Senator Barack Obama is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican Senator John McCain. Obama s campaign was motivated by opposition to the Iraq War and he pledged to increase the US effort in Afghanistan. December 5 - Karzai and new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari promise to increase cooperation and agree a joint strategy to fight al Qaeda and others along their shared border January 27 - Thousands of U.S. troops move into two key provinces in eastern Afghanistan as part of strategy of outgoing Bush administration. February Democrats elected in the US New President Barack Obama plans 17,000 more troops, with a withdrawal date for the majority set at Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls original mission too broad. March 29 - Karzai announces he will stay in office after his term officially ends on May 21 until elections in August. He later says he will run for re-election. May General Stanley McChrystal installed as commander of US forces after fresh thinking sought. July 4000 US marines launch offensive against Taliban in heartland of southern Helmand.

3 Page3 August Widespread claims of fraud and numerous attacks mar presidential elections Karzai declared winner and later sworn in, after challenger Abdullah Abdullah pulls out. October 19 - U.S. election observers Democracy International say a run-off vote is needed because, as a result of a U.N.-led probe into election fraud, Karzai has won less than 50 percent of the vote. November 1 - Abdullah quits the November 7 run-off, saying the IEC and government have not met his demands, including the sacking of top election officials. Karzai is declared president again. November 5 - The U.N. says it will evacuate hundreds of its international staff for several weeks because of deteriorating security, a blow to Western efforts to stabilize the country. December President Obama orders a troop Surge: US troop numbers boosted by 30,000 to 100, February NATO-led forces launch Operation Moshtarak to gain control of southern Helmand. April Karzai blames foreign observers for the disputed election, and says UN and EU officials are involved in plot to install a puppet government. US says this is genuinely troubling. June General McChrystal relived as Commander of US forces after a Rolling Stone article cites him criticizing the administration. June 2 - A jirga gathering of tribal leaders and other notables approves a plan by Karzai to seek a peace deal with moderate elements of the Taliban. July International conference backs Karzai s timetable for control of security for Afghan forces from Also in July, Wikileaks Afghan War Diary outlines the in excruciating detail a decade of war and failure to subdue insurgency on behalf of international forces. November - NATO agrees to hand control of security to Afghan forces by the end of November 20 - Obama says for the first time his goal is to end the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and to reduce the number of U.S. troops deployed there by then May - The US announces it has killed Osama bin Laden in a commando raid in Pakistan. June - US President Barak Obama announced that 10,000 US troops will withdraw by the end of 2011 and another 22,000 will leave by the summer of An estimated 70,000 troops will stay until September 13 - Five police, 11 civilians killed when insurgents shower Kabul's diplomatic enclave with RPGs and gunfire for 20 hours. US blames Pakistani based Haqqani network. September 20 - A man posing as a Taliban representative meeting former president and chief peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani, the head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, detonates a bomb hidden in his turban and kills Rabbani at his Kabul home. October 4 - Karzai signs a wide-ranging agreement with India, deepening their ties, including an Indian commitment to help train Afghan security forces. India is one of Afghanistan's biggest bilateral donors, having pledged about $2 billion since 2001.

4 Page4 October 7 - The Taliban vows to keep fighting until all foreign forces have left Afghanistan, in a statement marking the 10th anniversary of the start of the U.S. military campaign there. October 19 - Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells Afghan civil society leaders she has seen progress in their country. October 31 - Karzai rules out an early resumption of talks with the Taliban after a summit meeting with Pakistan which appeared to yield no breakthrough in a bitter rift between the two. November 29 - Pakistan pulls out of an international conference on Afghanistan after a NATO attack kills 24 of its soldiers. December 5 - The international conference opens in Germany and the hosts signal the West will stay the course with Afghanistan. Secretary of State Clinton says the United States will also resume paying into a World Bank-administered trust fund for Afghanistan January - Taliban agree to open office in Dubai as a move towards peace talks with the US and the Afghan government. February - At least 30 people are killed in protests about the burning of copies of the Koran at the US Bagram airbase. US officials believed Taliban prisoners were using the books to pass messages, and that they were extremist texts not Korans. Two soldiers are also killed in reprisal attacks. March - US Army Sgt Robert Bales is accused of killing 16 civilians in an armed rampage in the Panjwai district of Kandahar. April - Taliban announce "spring offensive" with audacious attack on the diplomatic quarter of Kabul. The government blamed the Haqqani Network. Security forces kill 38 militants. Nato withdrawal plan May - Nato summit endorses the plan to withdraw foreign combat troops by the end of New French President Francois Hollande says France will withdraw its combat mission by the end of a year earlier than planned. July - Tokyo donor conference pledges $16bn in civilian aid to Afghanistan up to 2016, with US, Japan, Germany and UK supplying bulk of funds. Afghanistan agrees to new conditions to counter corruption. August - The US military discipline six soldiers for accidentally burning copies of the Koran and other religious texts in Afghanistan. They will not face criminal prosecution. Three US Marines are also disciplined for a video in which the bodies of dead Taliban fighters were urinated on. September - US hands over Bagram high-security jail to the Afghan government, although it retains control over some foreign prisoners. Taleban attack the nearby Bagram air base the following day. The US also suspends training new police recruits in order to carry out checks on possible ties to Taliban following series of attacks on foreign troops by apparent police and Afghan soldiers. The total number of US soldiers killed in the Afghan war reaches 2,000.

5 Page June - Afghan National Security Forces formally take over combat operations March - A flag lowering ceremony is held in Kabul to mark the end of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. May 27 - President Obama announces that the United States combat mission in Afghanistan will end in December May 31 - President Obama announces the release of Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier held captive by the Taliban for five years. September 30 - The United States and Afghanistan sign a joint security agreement that will allow U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the previous December deadline to withdraw. October 26 - The United Kingdom formally ends its combat mission in Afghanistan with a flag lowering ceremony in Helmand province. December 28, After thirteen years, the United States and NATO end their combat mission with Afghanistan. In a official ceremony, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force officially marks the end of coalition combat in Afghanistan by rolling up the ISAF flag. Total US Soldiers Killed in This War: 2,356