Sar-e Pol, also spelled Sari Pul, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It borders Ghor and Bamyan to the south, Samangan to the east, Balkh and Jowzjan to the north, and Faryab to the west. The province is divided into 7 districts and contains 896 villages. It has a population of about 632,000, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The province was created in 1988, with the support of northern Afghan politician Sayed Nasim Mihanparast. The city of Sar-e Pol serves as the provincial capital.
Tarinkot, also spelled as Tarin Kowt, is a city in south-central Afghanistan, serving as the capital of Uruzgan Province. It sits at 1,317 m (4,321 ft) above sea level, and is connected by a road network with Kandahar to the south, Nili in Daykundi Province to the north, and Malistan in Ghazni Province to the northeast.
Operation Achilles was a NATO operation, part of the War in Afghanistan. Its objective was to clear Helmand province of the Taliban. The operation began on March 6, 2007. The offensive is the largest NATO-based operation in Afghanistan to date. NATO officials reported that, contrary to previous operations, Taliban fighters were avoiding direct confrontation in favor of guerilla tactics.
The Battle of Chora took place in and around the town of Chora, in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province, from June 15 to 19, 2007. The fighting was between ISAF and Afghan forces on one side and Taliban forces on the other, for the control of the Chora District center, regarded by the Taliban as a tactical target because it provides ground access from unsecured Gizab District in the north to the provincial capital of Tarinkot. According to some press reports, the fighting was the largest Taliban offensive of 2007 in Afghanistan, and resulted in the death of one American, two Dutch, and 16 Afghan soldiers, as well as approximately 58 civilians and 71 Taliban fighters.
The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict from 2001 to 2021. It was the direct response to the September 11 attacks. It began when an international military coalition led by the United States launched an invasion of Afghanistan, declaring Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the earlier-declared war on terror; toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate and establishing the Islamic Republic three years later. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centers by the US-led forces, supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance; however Bin Laden relocated to neighboring Pakistan. The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic, and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in the military history of the United States, surpassing the length of the Vietnam War (1955–1975) by approximately six months.
The Battle of Kunduz took place from April to October 2015 for control of the city of Kunduz, located in northern Afghanistan, with Taliban fighters attempting to seize the city and displace Afghan security forces. On 28 September 2015, the Taliban forces suddenly overran the city, with government forces retreating outside the city. The capture marked the first time since 2001 that the Taliban had taken control of a major city in Afghanistan. The Afghan government claimed to have largely recaptured Kunduz by 1 October 2015 in a counterattack, although local sources in the city disputed the claim made by government officials.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Afghanistan.
Operation Omari, also called the Spring Offensive, was an offensive launched by the Taliban against the Afghan government in Afghanistan. Its start was announced on 12 April 2016. The Taliban made their yearly spring offensive announcement on April 12, 2016. They named the offensive in honor of the movement's late leader. The announcement of Operation Omari includes details on how the members of the group should present themselves in public. The aim of the Operation is considered ambitious and its focus is on clearing the remaining areas from enemy control and presence. Unlike offensive announcements from previous years this announcement contained details about specific targets that would be attacked during the operation. The targets were stated in general terms with reference only to "large scale attacks on enemy positions across the country, martyrdom-seeking and tactical attacks against enemy strongholds, and assassination of enemy commanders in urban centers."
The Janikhel offensive was launched by the Taliban and the Haqqani network in early August 2016 to conquer the Janikhel District within the contested Paktia Province from government forces. Due to the district's geographic location, it is of great strategic and tactical value to any force that controls it. After being besieged by insurgents for weeks and not receiving any outside help, the local government forces retreated from the district on 27 August. Even though the district was retaken by the government on 5 September, the fact that the district had been captured by the Taliban in the first place was widely considered a heavy blow for the government, which faced increasing insecurity and loss of territory since the ISAF retreat in 2014.
The Battle of Kunduz occurred on 3 October 2016 in the Afghan city of Kunduz between Afghan National Security Forces and Taliban insurgents. It occurred exactly a year after the 2015 battle when the Taliban briefly controlled the city.
The Battle of Tora Bora in June 2017 was a military engagement for the cave complex of Tora Bora and its surroundings in Afghanistan. Fighting took place between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) and forces opposed to it, namely the Taliban, militias formed by the population of the Pachir Aw Agam District, and the Afghan National Army. After heavy clashes ISIS–K forces initially succeeded in capturing Tora Bora from the Taliban on 13–14 June 2017, but Afghan government forces retook the cave complex by 17 June.
The Ghazni offensive began on 10 August 2018, when Taliban fighters launched an assault on the city of Ghazni, Afghanistan's sixth largest city and one which has been culturally and strategically important for much of the country's history. The attack resulted in the deaths of hundreds of insurgents, soldiers, police, and civilians. The city also sustained large-scale property damage. The battle, occurring only weeks before Afghanistan's 2018 parliamentary election, was the largest since a three-day truce in June had raised hopes of peace talks.
The Battle of Darzab was a major conflict between the Taliban and the Islamic State's Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) who fought each other over control of Jowzjan Province's Darzab District in Afghanistan. Following heavy clashes, ISIS–K was defeated, with most of the group's forces in Jowzjan Province killed or captured.
This article summarizes the history of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).
The Islamic State–Taliban conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-KP) and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The conflict initially began when both operated as insurgent groups in Nangarhar; since the creation of the Taliban's emirate in 2021, IS-KP have targeted and assassinated Taliban members using hit-and-run tactics. The group have also caused incidents and attacks across the border in Pakistan.
2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.
The 2021 Taliban offensive was a military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and allied militants that led to the fall of the Kabul-based Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the end of the nearly 20-year War in Afghanistan that had begun following the United States invasion of the country. The Taliban victory had widespread domestic and international ramifications regarding human rights and proliferation of terrorism. The offensive included a continuation of the bottom-up succession of negotiated or paid surrenders to the Taliban from the village level upwards that started following the February 2020 US–Taliban deal.
The capture of Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan, occurred on 6 August 2021. According to local officials, only the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and its forces had put up a fight against the Taliban, but they too eventually surrendered to the Taliban. Local officials had been requesting reinforcements but received no response. Zaranj was the first provincial capital to be taken by the Taliban in their 2021 offensive and the first one to be captured since Kunduz in 2016.
The Battle of Kandahar began on 9 July 2021, as Taliban insurgents assaulted the city to capture it from the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). After heavy fighting for weeks the city's defenses had started to dissolve in August. This allowed the Taliban to enter and overrun most of the city on 12 August 2021, including the Sarposa prison, which included the release of over 1,000 prisoners, and ultimately the capture of the city. However, the siege for the nearby airport continued, where government loyalists held out until being evacuated on 16 August.
The Battle of Kunduz took place between the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the Taliban for control of the city of Kunduz. The fighting started in late June and lasted until the city was overrun by the Taliban on 8 August. The Afghan government forces, defending the city, withdrew to 217th Pamir Corps headquarters and airport within the city. After resisting for three days, an entire 217th Pamir Corps had surrendered, allowing Taliban to take control of the airport and a number of military vehicles and tanks stationed inside the headquarters.
Taliban 
Wais Samim (Uruzgan provincial police chief)