Kabul International Airport is located in the northern part of Kabul, Afghanistan. It is one of the country's main international airports, capable of housing over a hundred military and civilian aircraft. It is currently operated by UAE-based GAAC Holding and Afghanistan's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.
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.
The Taliban insurgency began after the group's fall from power during the 2001 War in Afghanistan. The Taliban forces fought against the Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai, and later by President Ashraf Ghani, and against a US-led coalition of forces that has included all members of NATO; the 2021 Taliban offensive resulted in the collapse of the government of Ashraf Ghani. The private sector in Pakistan extends financial aid to the Taliban, contributing to their financial sustenance.
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 and along with Pakistan also rendering critical 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 that took place from 2001 to 2021. Launched as a direct response to the September 11 attacks, the war began when an international military coalition led by the United States invaded 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.
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.
Jennifer Rene Psaki is an American television political analyst and former government official. A political advisor who served under both the Obama and Biden administrations, she served the Biden administration as the 34th White House press secretary until May 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the Obama administration as the White House deputy press secretary (2009); the White House deputy communications director (2009–2011); the spokesperson for the United States Department of State (2013–2015); and the White House communications director (2015–2017). Psaki was a political contributor for CNN from 2017 to 2020. As of March 2023, she hosts the talk-show Inside with Jen Psaki on MSNBC.
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.
Roslyn Littman "Roz" Schulte was a United States Air Force officer killed in action in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, making her the first female United States Air Force Academy graduate to be killed by enemy action and the second female graduate killed in action. She was posthumously awarded the National Intelligence Medal for Valor and the Hawaii Medal of Honor.
Harold Joseph "Harry" Greene was a United States Army general who was killed during the War in Afghanistan. During his time with the United States Army, he held various commands associated with engineering and logistical support for United States and coalition troops. At the time of his death, he was deputy commanding general of Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan.
The following lists events from 2014 in Afghanistan.
The Manbij bombing occurred on 16 January 2019 when a suicide bomber targeted a busy market street in Manbij known to be frequented by American soldiers during the Syrian civil war.
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 signed the United States–Taliban deal in Doha, Qatar, which stipulated fighting restrictions for both the US and the Taliban, and in return for the Taliban's counter-terrorism commitments, provided for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021. Following the deal, the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks on the Taliban at the detriment of the ANSF fighting the Taliban insurgency. The Biden administration's final decision in April 2021 to begin the withdrawal as planned on May 1, 2021, but delay the final pull-out of all US troops until September 2021, triggered the start of the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). This collapse led 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.
On 15 August 2021, Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban after a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021. It was the final action of the War in Afghanistan, and marked a total victory for the Taliban. This led to the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.
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 (ISIS–K) claimed responsibility for the attack.
