Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used by the U.S. government for both the first stage (2001–2014) of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced that airstrikes targeting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had begun in Afghanistan. Beyond the military actions in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom was also affiliated with counterterrorism operations in other countries, such as OEF-Philippines and OEF-Trans Sahara.
Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base, is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of 1,492 metres (4,895 ft) above sea level, the air base has two concrete runways. The main one measures 3,602 by 46 metres, capable of handling large military aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy. The second runway measures 2,953 by 26 metres. The air base also has at least three large hangars, a control tower, numerous support buildings, and various housing areas. There are also more than 13 hectares of ramp space and five aircraft dispersal areas, with over 110 revetments.
Kabul International Airport is located about five kilometres (3 mi) from the center of Kabul in Afghanistan. It is owned by the Government of Afghanistan and operated by UAE-based GAAC Holding on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. It serves as one of the nation's main international airports, capable of housing over one hundred aircraft. It was locally named as Khwaja Rawash Airport. The airport was renamed in 2014 in honor of former President Hamid Karzai. The decision was made by the National Assembly of Afghanistan and the Cabinet of the then President Ashraf Ghani. It was given its current name in 2021 by the Taliban.
Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. The 436th Airlift Wing is the host wing and runs the busiest and largest air freight terminal in the Department of Defense.
Relations between Afghanistan and the United States began in 1921 under the leaderships of King Amanullah Khan and President Warren G. Harding, respectively. The first contact between the two nations occurred further back in the 1830s when the first recorded person from the United States explored Afghanistan. The United States government foreign aid program provided about $500 million in aid for economic development; the aid ended before the 1978 Saur Revolution. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a turning point in the Cold War, when the United States started to financially support the Afghan resistance. The country, under both the Carter and Reagan administrations committed $3 billion dollars in financial and diplomatic support to the anti-Soviet Mujahideen forces. Beginning in 1980, the United States began admitting thousands of Afghan refugees for resettlement, and provided money and weapons to the Mujahideen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The USSR withdrew its troops in 1989.
Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations (AFMAO) is a U.S. Air Force mortuary affairs unit located in the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. AFMAO combines the functions of both Air Force Mortuary Affairs and Port Mortuary, and was historically known as Dover Port Mortuary. AFMAO houses the United States' only port mortuary, the largest mortuary under the Department of Defense (DoD), and the only DoD mortuary located in the continental United States. The facility is named for mortician Charles C. Carson.
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 6 months.
Mortuary Affairs is a service within the United States Army Quartermaster Corps tasked with the recovery, identification, transportation, and preparation for burial of deceased American and American-allied military personnel. The human remains of enemy or non-friendly persons, are collected and returned to their respective governments or affiliations.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kabul was the official diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The embassy was housed in a chancery located on Great Massoud Road in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and was built at a cost of nearly $800 million. On August 15, 2021, in the face of a Taliban advance on Kabul, embassy staff relocated to makeshift but secure facilities at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Kabul fell and the chancery building officially closed late August 15th.
The following lists events from 2014 in Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Afghanistan.
On 28 June 2011, a group of nine gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the Inter-Continental Hotel, Kabul. The attack and an ensuing five-hour siege left at least 21 people dead, including all nine attackers. Responsibility was claimed by the Taliban.
This article summarizes the history of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).
The United States Armed Forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 2001–2021 war. In February 2020, the Trump administration and the Taliban, without the participation of the then Afghan government, signed the United States–Taliban deal in Doha, Qatar, which stipulated fighting restrictions for both the U.S. and the Taliban, and provided for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban's counter-terrorism commitments. The Trump administration's United States–Taliban deal, and then the Biden administration's decision in April 2021 to pull out all U.S. troops by September 2021 without leaving a residual force, were the two critical events that triggered the start of the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Following the deal, the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks and deprived the ANSF of a critical edge in fighting the Taliban insurgency, leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul on 15 August 2021.
Operation Allies Refuge was an evacuation effort carried out by the United States during the 2021 Taliban offensive. It took place in the final weeks of the War in Afghanistan and saw the airlifting of certain at-risk Afghan civilians, employees of the American embassy in Kabul, and other prospective applicants for the U.S. Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). American personnel also helped NATO and other regional allies in their respective evacuation efforts from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital city of Kabul. The operation was concurrent with the broader American military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the multinational evacuation of eligible foreigners and vulnerable Afghans.
Operation Pitting was a British military operation to evacuate British nationals and eligible Afghans from Afghanistan following the 2021 Taliban offensive. The operation consisted of more than 1,000 military personnel, including soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade. It ran concurrently with the evacuation efforts of numerous other countries.
Large-scale evacuations of foreign citizens and some vulnerable Afghan citizens took place amid the withdrawal of US and NATO forces at the end of the 2001–2021 war in Afghanistan. The Taliban took control of Kabul and declared victory on 15 August 2021, and the NATO-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed. With the Taliban controlling the whole city except Hamid Karzai International Airport, hostilities ceased and the Taliban assisted in the evacuation effort by providing security and screening evacuees.
A suicide bombing took place at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 26 August 2021, at 17:50 local time, during the evacuation from Afghanistan. At least 183 people were killed, including 170 Afghan civilians and 13 members of the United States military, the first American military casualties in the War in Afghanistan since February 2020. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (IS-KP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
