War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
The war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 to 2021, and it became the longest war in United States military history. It ran six months longer than the Vietnam War. A United States-led coalition launched it under the name Operation Enduring Freedom, in response to the September 11 attacks. Within months, the coalition had pushed the Taliban out of the major population centers and ended their rule. Twenty years later, the Taliban were back in charge of the country.
Their return is the puzzle at the center of this documentary. How does a movement that has lost its cities and its government rebuild itself? Why could a coalition with high-technology militaries not finish it? What did Afghanistan's geography, religion and tribal society contribute? And who bore the cost of two decades of fighting?
In 2020, some 80 percent of Afghanistan's 33 million people lived in the countryside. That fact shaped the war before the first shot. Fighting gravitated to rural areas, where guerrillas had ample places to hide. Winters were harsh, so offensives tended to come in spring or summer, after a lull in the cold months.
Religion gave the conflict its vocabulary. Afghanistan is 99.7 percent Muslim, and centuries of foreign invasion by non-Muslims had tied the Afghan identity to resisting outsiders. Local mullahs could sway the population as much as the government could. Traditionally, they were the voices that prescribed resistance to outsiders through calls for holy war, or jihad. Both the Taliban and the Afghan government had to reckon with that influence.
Tribe divided what Islam united. Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group, making up between 38 and 50 percent of the population. Their traditional way of life, Pashtunwali, guided most tribal decisions, and its method of settling feuds often weakened tribal unity. Afghan leaders had long depended on tribes to keep order in rural areas, because the state alone was weak. Afghans tended to be more loyal to their community and tribe than to the state. Tribes therefore aligned with the Taliban or the government, whichever was more beneficial at the time.
The gap in power between high-technology coalition militaries and the guerrilla Taliban produced asymmetric warfare. The Taliban inherited their methods from the anti-Soviet mujahideen of the 1980s. Those fighters worked in small cadres of 10 to 50 men, armed with a mix of outdated weapons and modern ones, usually looted. The Taliban added suicide bombs, car bombs, roadside bombs known as IEDs, and targeted assassinations. They also planted personnel inside the Afghan military and police to carry out insider attacks. By 2009, the IED had become the Taliban's weapon of choice. It would drive up the number of wounded coalition soldiers during the troop surge of 2010.
In 1996, the Taliban seized Kabul with military support from Pakistan and financial support from Saudi Arabia. They had grown out of religious students, known as the Talib, who wanted to end warlordism through stricter adherence to Sharia. In Kabul they founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and imposed a fundamentalist Deobandi interpretation of Islam. Their edicts forbade women to work outside the home or to attend school. Women could not even leave their homes unless accompanied by a male relative. United Nations officials counted 15 massacres of civilians between 1996 and 2001, many aimed at Shias and Hazaras. By 2001, the Taliban controlled as much as 90 percent of the country, while the Northern Alliance was confined to the northeast corner. Fighting alongside the Taliban were some 28,000 to 30,000 Pakistanis and 2,000 to 3,000 al-Qaeda militants.
The 9/11 Commission in the United States later found that al-Qaeda used Afghanistan to train fighters, import weapons, coordinate with other jihadists and plot terrorist actions. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 men passed through the camps before 9/11. Most were sent to fight for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance, and a smaller number were inducted into al-Qaeda. After the 1998 US embassy bombings were linked to Osama bin Laden, President Bill Clinton ordered missile strikes on an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. In 1999, the international community imposed sanctions to push the Taliban toward extraditing bin Laden. The Taliban rebuffed the demand. Meanwhile, paramilitary teams from the CIA's Special Activities Division operated in Afghanistan through the 1990s, trying to locate and kill or capture bin Laden. They planned several operations but never received Clinton's order to proceed. The relationships they built with Afghan leaders proved essential in 2001.
On the morning of the 11th of September 2001-19 members of al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners in coordinated attacks. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, which collapsed. A third hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth, aimed at Washington, D.C., crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. No one aboard any of the four flights survived. Total deaths were 2,996, including the 19 hijackers. Bin Laden had planned and coordinated the attacks, and afterward he hoped to draw the US into an extended war like the one fought against the Soviets. The Taliban publicly condemned the attacks, but they greatly underestimated American willingness to go to war. The US, for its part, wrongly believed that the Taliban and al-Qaeda were almost inseparable. In fact they had very different goals and leaders.
President George W. Bush chose to issue an ultimatum before taking military action. He demanded that the Taliban hand over bin Laden. He told them to "close immediately every terrorist training camp." He told them to "hand over every terrorist and their supporters." And he demanded that they "give the US full access to terrorist training camps for inspection." On the same day, religious scholars meeting in Kabul decided that bin Laden should be surrendered. Mullah Omar, the Taliban founder, decided otherwise. He said that "turning over Osama would only be a disgrace for us and Islamic thought and belief would be a weakness." He also argued that the US would keep making demands after bin Laden was surrendered, and he claimed bin Laden was innocent. The Taliban said that bin Laden was protected by traditional Pashtun laws of hospitality.
In the weeks that followed, the Taliban demanded evidence of bin Laden's guilt. They later offered to hand him to a third country if the US stopped its bombing and provided that evidence. A Bush administration official answered that the demands were "not subject to negotiation" and that it was "time for the Taliban to act now." Covert American action began soon afterward, and the war started officially on the 7th of October 2001.
Fifteen days after 9/11, the CIA covertly sent members of its Special Activities Division into Afghanistan. They formed the Northern Afghanistan Liaison Team and linked up with the Northern Alliance in the Panjshir Valley, north of Kabul. In October, twelve-man Special Forces teams began arriving to work with the CIA and the Alliance. Within a few weeks, with help from American ground and air forces, the Northern Alliance captured several key cities. The Taliban held steady only in Kunduz Province, and everywhere else they were outmatched by US air support. By November, they had lost control of most of the country.
The United States did not invade alone. The United Kingdom assisted from the start, and eventually more than a dozen other countries joined. Most al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters were never captured. They escaped into neighboring Pakistan or retreated to rural and mountainous regions.
The best chance to catch bin Laden came in the mountains. By late November, he was at a fortified training camp in Tora Bora, and the battle there began on the 30th of November. CIA teams working with tribal militias followed him and called in airstrikes, with special forces arriving soon after. The militia numbered 1,000, but it was not fighting eagerly during Ramadan. The CIA requested that US Army Rangers be sent, and Marines were ready to deploy, but both requests were declined. At some point in December, bin Laden escaped to Pakistan.
Politics moved as fast as the fighting. At the Bonn Conference in December 2001, Hamid Karzai was selected to head the Afghan Interim Administration. After a 2002 loya jirga, a grand assembly held in Kabul, it became the Afghan Transitional Administration. On the 20th of December 2001, the UN authorized an International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF. Its task was to help Afghans maintain security in Kabul and the surrounding areas, and its mandate did not reach beyond that for the first few years. By February 2002-18 countries contributed to the force. The CIA also created Counter-terrorism Pursuit Teams staffed by Afghans. By 2010 they had grown to over 3,000 members and were considered one of the best Afghan fighting forces.
Shortly after Karzai's elevation to the presidency on the 5th of December, the Taliban may have tried to seek a conditional surrender. Two accounts conflict. In one, an agreement, possibly signed by Mullah Omar, would have traded surrender for immunity. In the other, the deal was narrower and covered only the surrender of Kandahar. Taliban sources said that Omar was not part of any deal. Whatever the truth, the US vetoed any sort of negotiation. Omar disappeared, and most Taliban leaders and thousands of fighters went to Pakistan.
By the numbers, the invasion was a striking military success. Fewer than twelve US soldiers died between October and March, compared with some 15,000 Taliban killed or taken prisoner. Malkasian, however, writes that the failure to capture bin Laden, to negotiate with the Taliban, or to include them in the new government set the course for the long war that bin Laden had dreamed of.
Pakistan complicated the picture. In the war's early years, it was seen as a firm ally and helped capture numerous top al-Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Internally, however, it was providing the Taliban with significant funding, access to safe houses and political support. Public opinion in Pakistan heavily favored the Taliban, and the government could not expel them without risking conflict inside its fragile country. The Taliban kept using Pakistan as a base and safe haven, and there they began rebuilding their strength.
In April 2002, Bush made a speech expressing a desire to rebuild Afghanistan. His administration had initially opposed nation-building, yet the idea slowly crept into the rationale for staying. The US also sought to instill democracy and women's rights as a moral matter. Its reconstruction efforts focused on education, health care and community development. The new Afghan army, created and funded by the US in early 2002, fared worse. It was built slowly, because of competing interests and a belief that the Taliban were no longer a strong threat. Some in the administration preferred to rely on the Northern Alliance and warlords. The army became an afterthought, poorly trained and equipped.
That same month, the Taliban began to organize. In Gardi Jangal, a refugee camp near the Helmand border, former mid-level Taliban officials set up a shura. It was composed of 23 groups of about 50 individuals each, around 1,200 in total. In North Waziristan in Pakistan, Jalaluddin Haqqani had started organizing the Haqqani network after exiling himself there in 2001. In early 2002, its membership was estimated at 1,400.
Some Taliban reached out to Karzai to open negotiations several times between 2002 and 2004. The US was adamantly against it and made sure that all top Taliban leaders were blacklisted, so the Afghan government could not negotiate with them. Malkasian argues that talks would have been low cost but highly effective. He attributes the refusal to American overconfidence and hubris, and notes that all the information about a possible Taliban resurgence was available but ignored.
Meanwhile, pressure to hunt down terrorists led to excesses. Coalition troops went on missions with questionable intelligence, at one point falling prey to a false tip supplied by a target's political opponents. Those captured were mostly low-level operatives who knew little about al-Qaeda. Numerous civilians were killed, including at a wedding that was misread as a Taliban gathering. Such errors drove Taliban recruitment. Many Taliban leaders who had given up arms, especially after Karzai promised amnesty, were increasingly harassed. By 2004, most Taliban leaders in Afghanistan had fled back to Pakistan. Malkasian adds that American missteps alone did not restart the conflict. The Taliban would have re-emerged anyway, because leaders like Mullah Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani had never put down their arms.
Pamphlets urging a holy war against Americans and other foreign troops appeared in early 2003. In March 2003, American attention shifted when US forces invaded Iraq. In May 2003, Abdul Salam, the chief justice of the Taliban Supreme Court, proclaimed that the Taliban were back, regrouped, rearmed and ready for guerrilla war. Up to 1,000 guerrillas gathered in the Dey Chopan District of Zabul Province, where the Taliban decided to make a stand. Over 220 people, including several dozen Afghan police, were killed in August 2003. Omar reorganized the movement and launched the insurgency that year.
A commander named Dadullah was put in charge of the grand offensive the Taliban were preparing. Around 2004, he introduced suicide bombing into wide use, a tactic previously confined to al-Qaeda. A network of madrassas in Pakistan serving Afghan refugees supplied a steady stream of extremist recruits willing to die. Night letters were followed by kidnappings and assassinations of government officials and of village elders who collaborated with them. Government schools and clinics were burned down. Operation Asbury Park cleared Taliban forces out of Dey Chopan during the summer of 2004. In late 2004, the still-hidden Omar announced an insurgency to "regain the sovereignty of our country." The Taliban targeted that year's presidential election, and Karzai was elected president of what was now the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The US also began using drone strikes in Pakistan in 2004.
In June and July 2005, US Navy SEALs carried out Operation Red Wings in Kunar Province, aiming to disrupt a local Taliban group led by Ahmad Shah. The operation had one survivor and left 19 dead. Operation Whalers followed several weeks later, and Shah was seriously wounded. Even so, by the end of 2005 the Taliban had regained control of several villages in the south, where residents were frustrated by the lack of government help. The government was in a very weak position. The average district had only 50 police officers, and some districts had no government presence at all.
In January 2006, a multinational ISAF contingent began replacing US troops in southern Afghanistan. The United Kingdom formed its core, joined by Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Estonia. Canada wanted Kandahar, so the UK took Helmand province. Helmand was a center of poppy production, which suited the anti-narcotics focus of the British. Yet Pashtun Helmandis had never forgotten the 1880 Battle of Maiwand against the British, and it fed fierce resistance.
The warnings had been clear. Local intelligence suggested the Taliban would wage a brutal campaign in the summer of 2006, and coalition generals sent that information up the chain of command. Decision-makers ignored it. The US was distracted by Iraq, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was more interested in making the Afghan army affordable than effective. Of the 70,000 soldiers the army was supposed to have, only 26,000 had been trained and retained. Insurgent attacks reportedly grew fourfold between 2002 and 2006. By late 2007, Afghanistan was said to be in "serious danger" of falling to the Taliban, despite 40,000 ISAF troops.
Resentment of foreigners was rising too. On the 29th of May 2006, a US military truck in a Kabul convoy lost control and plowed into civilian vehicles. A riot followed, ending with 20 dead and 160 injured. On the 4th of March 2007, US Marines allegedly killed at least 12 civilians and injured 33 in Nangarhar. The 120-member Marine unit was ordered out of the country because the incident had damaged its relations with local people.
Western analysts in 2007 estimated that the Taliban fielded about 10,000 fighters at a time. Only 2,000 to 3,000 were highly motivated, full-time insurgents. The rest were volunteers, young Afghans angered by civilian deaths from airstrikes and by American detention of Muslim prisoners held for years without charge. About 100 to 300 full-time combatants were foreigners, many from Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Chechnya. They were reportedly more violent and harder to control, and often brought superior video-production or bomb-making expertise. On the 13th of June 2008, Taliban fighters freed all the prisoners in Kandahar jail, some 1,200 people, 400 of them Taliban. It was a major embarrassment for NATO. By 2010, the Taliban had as many as 25,000 dedicated soldiers, almost as many as before 9/11.
Troop numbers climbed in response. In January 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated, and in mid-February it was announced that 17,000 additional troops would deploy. ISAF commander General David McKiernan had called for as many as 30,000. In a classified assessment dated the 23rd of September 2009, General McChrystal concluded that a successful counterinsurgency would require 500,000 troops and five years. On the 1st of December 2009, Obama announced 30,000 more troops. Protests broke out in American cities the next day, with many protesters comparing the decision to Lyndon B. Johnson's expansion of the Vietnam War.
Civilian deaths shadowed the surge. On the 4th of September 2009, a NATO air raid southwest of Kunduz struck Taliban fighters who had hijacked civilian supply trucks. It killed up to 179 people, including over 100 civilians. The scale of the fighting then grew. In September 2010 alone there were 700 airstrikes, against 257 in all of 2009. The year 2010 saw more insurgent attacks than any year before it, peaking in September at over 1,500. From May 2010, NATO special forces concentrated on capturing or killing specific Taliban leaders. By March 2011, the US military claimed that this had netted more than 900 low- to mid-level commanders. At its peak in 2011, roughly 140,000 foreign troops were serving under ISAF command.
Talks flickered alongside the fighting. Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's co-founder and then second-in-command, favored negotiations. In February 2010, he was captured in a joint US-Pakistani raid in Karachi, which infuriated Karzai. In October 2010, a Taliban delegation was reportedly flown to Kabul by NATO aircraft for talks. Afterward it emerged that the man leading it, who claimed to be Akhtar Mansour, was an imposter who had duped NATO officials. On the 25th of July 2010, WikiLeaks released 91,731 classified documents covering US military reports from January 2004 to December 2009. They included accounts of civilian casualties and reports of Pakistani collusion with the Taliban.
On the 2nd of May 2011, US officials announced that bin Laden had been killed by Navy SEALs in Operation Neptune Spear, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Pakistan denied sheltering him and said it had shared information about the compound with the CIA since 2009. NATO leaders began planning an exit strategy. On the 22nd of June 2011, Obama announced that 10,000 troops would leave by the end of the year and 23,000 more by the summer of 2012. After the first 10,000 departed, 80,000 American troops remained.
On the 2nd of May 2012, Obama arrived unannounced in Kabul and signed a strategic partnership agreement with Karzai. In July, the US designated Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally. Earlier that year, Karzai and Obama had agreed to shift combat operations to Afghan forces by spring 2013. "What's going to happen this spring is that Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country," Obama said. The year had also brought a series of damaging incidents involving US troops. They included soldiers posing with the body parts of dead insurgents, a video of a helicopter crew firing a Hellfire missile at a group of Afghan men, the 2012 Quran burning protests and the Panjwai shooting spree.
On the 18th of June 2013, the transfer of security responsibilities from NATO to Afghan forces was completed. On the 26th of October 2014, the United Kingdom and the United States officially ended combat operations. The British handed over Camp Bastion and the Americans handed over Camp Leatherneck. On the 28th of December, NATO ended combat operations in a ceremony in Kabul. American forces continued under Operation Freedom's Sentinel, and the new NATO mission was Operation Resolute Support. From the Western perspective, the war thus divides into 2001 to 2014, the ISAF mission, when coalition forces did most of the fighting, and 2015 to 2021, when the Afghan armed forces did. In Afghanistan itself, the conflict is known simply as the war in Afghanistan. Departing troops were partly replaced by military contractors, many of them ex-coalition personnel, which let the US and Britain stay involved in ground actions without stationing their own forces.
Several factors fed a Taliban resurgence. With most foreign forces gone, the risk of being bombed and raided fell. In June 2014, Pakistan launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan, and thousands of mainly Uzbek, Arab and Pakistani militants flooded into Afghanistan, swelling Taliban ranks. International attention turned to crises in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. Afghan security forces lacked, among other things, air power and reconnaissance. The Taliban also expanded governance in areas they held, especially by providing justice that many viewed as less corrupt than the government's courts.
In Kunduz Province, where clashes dated from 2009, flights into Kunduz city were suspended in May 2015 after weeks of fighting. In late September, Taliban forces attacked from four districts, entered the city and stormed the regional hospital. They reportedly blocked the route to the airport to stop civilians fleeing. Farther south in Helmand, the Taliban took Musa Qala on the 26th of August 2015. On the 21st of December, Sangin fell after fierce clashes that killed more than 90 soldiers in two days. Senior American commanders said Afghan troops there lacked effective leaders, weapons and ammunition. Some soldiers had fought for years without seeing their families, causing poor morale and high desertion.
The insurgency was also reshaping itself. In January 2015, the Islamic State established a branch in Afghanistan called Khorasan, or ISIS-K, and began clashing with the Taliban. On the 11th of November 2015, in Zabul Province, Taliban fighters loyal to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor fought a pro-Islamic State splinter faction led by Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, and more than 100 militants died. Sirajuddin Haqqani was named deputy Taliban leader in the summer of 2015. He and other Haqqani leaders increasingly ran day-to-day military operations, urban attacks and a complex international fundraising network. Tensions with the Pakistani military grew, because American and Afghan officials accused it of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group.
By early January 2017-33 districts across 16 provinces were under insurgent control, 258 were under government control and nearly 120 were contested. The Afghan army had about 169,000 soldiers, but suffered a 33 percent attrition rate in 2016. Sangin was captured by the Taliban again on the 23rd of March 2017. Almost a quarter of British casualties earlier in the war had come from fighting for that one town. On the 21st of April 2017, the Taliban attacked Camp Shaheen near Mazar-e-Sharif and killed over 140 Afghan soldiers. In September 2017, the Trump administration deployed another 3,000 US troops, adding to roughly 11,000 already there. On the 20th of November, General Nicholson announced airstrikes on Taliban-run drug production facilities, saying the Taliban were "becoming a criminal organization" that earned about $200 million a year from drug-related activities.
In January 2018, the Taliban were openly active in 70 percent of Afghanistan. They fully controlled 14 districts and had an active physical presence in 263 more. After the Kabul ambulance bombing on the 27th of January, Donald Trump and Afghan officials ruled out talks. Yet on the 27th of February, President Ashraf Ghani proposed unconditional peace talks. He offered the Taliban recognition as a legal political party and the release of Taliban prisoners. It was the most favorable offer to the Taliban since the war began, and it followed months of consensus building that found Afghans overwhelmingly supported a negotiated end. On the 27th of March, a conference of 20 countries in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, backed the offer.
A peace movement grew alongside it. The People's Peace Movement walked several hundred kilometers from Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, through Taliban-held territory, to Kabul. Afghan media dubbed it the Helmand Peace Convoy. The marchers met Ghani and held sit-in protests outside the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and nearby embassies. In June 2018, Ghani and the Taliban agreed an unprecedented mutual ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Taliban members flocked into Kabul and talked with locals and security forces, creating a mood of both hope and fear. Civilians called for the ceasefire to be made permanent. The Taliban rejected an extension and resumed fighting after it ended on the 18th of June.
The diplomacy that mattered bypassed Kabul. In July 2018, American officials secretly met members of the Taliban's political commission in Qatar. In September, Trump appointed Zalmay Khalilzad as special adviser on Afghanistan, and he led further talks in Qatar. The Taliban refused to let the Afghan government attend, considering it a puppet of the US. In January 2019, Ghani said more than 45,000 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed since he became president in 2014. A US report that month estimated that 53.8 percent of districts were under government control or influence, 33.9 percent were contested and 12.3 percent were under insurgent control or influence.
These efforts culminated in the United States-Taliban deal of 2020. It stipulated that all US troops would leave Afghanistan by 2021. In exchange, the Taliban pledged to prevent any militant group from staging attacks against the US and its allies from Afghan territory. The Afghan government was not a party to the deal and rejected its terms. As troops withdrew, the Taliban launched a broad offensive throughout the summer of 2021. On the 15th of August, they reestablished control of Kabul, and on the same day Ghani fled the country. The Taliban declared victory, and the war was formally brought to a close. By the 30th of August, the last American military aircraft had departed.
The war killed an estimated 176,000 to 212,000 people or more, including 46,319 civilians. Another 66,650 people died in the related War in North-West Pakistan. More than 5.7 million former refugees returned to Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion. Yet by the fall of Kabul, 2.6 million Afghans remained refugees, and another 4 million were displaced inside their own country.
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Common questions
How long did the war in Afghanistan last?
The war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 to 2021. It was the longest war in United States military history, surpassing the Vietnam War by six months.
What started the war in Afghanistan?
The war in Afghanistan began in response to the September 11 attacks, carried out by al-Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan and allied with the Taliban. The Taliban refused George W. Bush's ultimatum to hand over Osama bin Laden, and the war started officially on the 7th of October 2001.
Who fought in the war in Afghanistan?
The war in Afghanistan pitted a coalition led by the United States, which later supported the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, against the Taliban, its allies and its militias. Splinter groups, al-Qaeda and later the Islamic State complicated the fighting.
How did the war in Afghanistan end?
The war in Afghanistan ended after a Taliban offensive in the summer of 2021 that reestablished their control, including Kabul on the 15th of August. Ashraf Ghani fled the country that day, and the last American military aircraft departed by the 30th of August.
How many people died in the war in Afghanistan?
The war in Afghanistan killed an estimated 176,000 to 212,000 people or more, including 46,319 civilians. Another 66,650 people died in the related War in North-West Pakistan.
What was the 2020 United States-Taliban deal in the war in Afghanistan?
The 2020 deal stipulated that all US troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by 2021. In exchange, the Taliban pledged to prevent any militant group from staging attacks against the US and its allies from Afghan territory. The Afghan government was not a party to the deal and rejected its terms.
What was ISAF in the war in Afghanistan?
ISAF was the International Security Assistance Force, authorized by the UN on the 20th of December 2001. It first helped Afghans maintain security in Kabul and surrounding areas, and NATO formally ended its combat operations in 2014.
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- 109NewsSources: Taliban split with al Qaeda, seek peaceNic Robertson — CNN
- 110NewsIn Afghanistan, Taliban surpasses al-QaedaJoshua Partlow — 11 November 2009
- 111News'Another US strike' hits Pakistan12 September 2008
- 112NewsPakistan: Shoot GIs on cross-border raidsMSNBC.com — 16 September 2008
- 113NewsBush announces withdrawal of 8,000 troops from Iraq9 September 2008
- 114NewsBrown in tribute to Afghan deadBBC News — 9 June 2008
- 115NewsPakistan reacts with fury after up to 20 die in 'American' attack on its soil4 September 2008
- 116NewsPakistan fury over 'US assault'4 September 2008
- 117NewsPakistan cuts supply lines to Nato forces12 September 2008
- 118NewsPakistan fires on Nato aircraft25 September 2008
- 119Can the U.S. Win in Afghanistan?Dustin Turin — Student Pulse — 23 March 2009
- 120NewsPeace Talks With Taliban Top Issue in Afghan VoteCarlotta Gall — 17 August 2009
- 121NewsHamid Karzai reaches out to 'Taliban brothers' in AfghanistanBen Farmer — 3 November 2009
- 122The Karzai questions10 November 2009
- 123NewsWar Plan for Karzai: Reach Out to TalibanMark Landler et al. — 28 January 2010
- 125NewsNewest US troops in Afghanistan seeing combat in dangerous region south of KabulJason Straziulo — 16 February 2009
- 126Obama OKs 17,000 more US troops for Afghanistan29 March 2009
- 127NewsObama OKs adding Afghanistan forcesSusan Page — 16 February 2009
- 129NewsUnder Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killingGreg Miller — 27 December 2011
- 130NewsNo let-up in US drone war in PakistanDan De Luce — 20 July 2009
- 131The Drone WarPeter Bergen et al. — New America Foundation — 3 June 2009
- 132BookWorthy FightsLeon Panetta — Penguin Press — 2014
- 133NewsA Fight for Ordinary PeaceRajiv Chandrasekaran — 12 July 2009
- 1343 SCOTS launch massive air assaultUK Ministry of Defence
- 135NewsGermany to Pay $500,000 for Civilian Bombing VictimsMatthias Gebauer — 6 August 2010
- 136News'Fraud proof' found in Afghan pollsAl Jazeera — 11 September 2009
- 137NewsAs it happened: Afghan election 2009Jude Sheerin — BBC News — 20 August 2009
- 138NewsKabul urges polls attacks blackoutAl Jazeera — 10 August 2009
- 139NewsAfghan election fair, but not free: EUAdam Entous et al. — Reuters — 22 August 2009
- 140NewsVoters targeted after Afghan pollsAl Jazeera — 24 August 2009
- 141IPS Inter Press ServiceIpsnews.net
- 142NewsRight after interviewing KarzaiCNN — 5 February 2010
- 143NewsAfghan Attack Tremendous Setback for CIADavid Martin — 31 December 2009
- 144NewsHow Obama Came to Plan for 'Surge' in AfghanistanPeter Baker — 5 December 2009
- 145NewsAnti-war Leaders Blast Escalation of Afghanistan WarFight Back! News — 1 December 2009
- 146NewsObama's Afghanistan decision evokes LBJ's 1965 order on Vietnam buildup6 October 2009
- 147NewsAfghan troop numbers to eclipse Iraq soonUnited Press International — 25 March 2010
- 148NewsTaliban Fighters Appear Blunted in AfghanistanEric Schmitt — 26 December 2010
- 149NewsThe Afghan Surge is OverRajiv Chandrasekaren — 25 September 2015
- 150NewsWhat the numbers say about progress in AfghanistanAdam Levine — 15 October 2010
- 151Perry, Tom, "U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Suffer More Critical Injuries", Los Angeles Times, 7 April 2011, p. 4.
- 152NewsU.S.: Raids have taken out 900 Taliban leadersTom Vanden Brook — 7 March 2011
- 153Vanden Brook, Tom, "U.S.: Raids Have Taken Out 900 Taliban Leaders", USA Today, 8 March 2011, p. 6.
- 154NewsAn Uncharacteristically Upbeat General in AfghanistanRod Nordland — 24 January 2011
- 155NewsNato hails Afghanistan operation14 February 2010
- 156Afghanistan's fluffy peace jirgaCaroline Wadhams — 4 June 2010
- 157NewsHamid Karzai held secret talks with Mullah Baradar in AfghanistanDean Nelson — 16 March 2010
- 158NewsProfile: Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar21 September 2013
- 159NewsKarzai holds peace talks with insurgents22 March 2010
- 160White House shifts Afghanistan strategy towards talks with TalibanEwen MacAskill Simon Tisdall — 19 July 2010
- 161NewsTaliban Elite, Aided by NATO, Join Talks for Afghan PeaceDexter Filkins — 19 October 2010
- 162Fake Taliban leader 'dupes Nato negotiators'Jon Boone — 23 November 2010
- 163NewsThe War Logs – Interactive FeatureEric Schmitt — 25 July 2010
- 164NewsAfghanistan war logs: How US marines sanitised record of bloodbathDeclan Walsh — 4 March 2007
- 165NewsExplosive Leaks Provide Image of War from Those Fighting It: The Secret Enemy in PakistanMatthias Gebauer et al. — 25 July 2010
- 166NewsAl-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden dead – Obama2 May 2011
- 167NewsPakistan says had no knowledge of US bin Laden raidChris Allbritton — 3 May 2011
- 168NewsTaliban Say Offensive Will Begin SundayAlissa J. Rubin — 1 May 2011
- 169NewsTaliban Attack Afghan Government Offices in South7 May 2011
- 170NewsAfghanistan: Taliban's Kandahar raid into second day8 May 2011
- 171America has opened peace talks with Taliban, says Afghan President Hamid KarzaiBen Farmer — 18 June 2011
- 172Secret peace talks between US and Taliban collapse over leaksDean Nelson — 10 August 2011
- 173NewsObama Will Speed Pullout From War in AfghanistanMark Landler et al. — 22 June 2011
- 174NewsAPNEWSBREAK: Taliban Attacks Not Down After AllRobert Burns — 26 February 2013
- 175NewsSignaling Tensions, Pakistan Shuts NATO RouteJane Perlez et al. — 30 September 2010
- 177NewsNato attack can have grave consequences: DG ISPR29 November 2011
- 178NATO 'Regrets' Pakistan StrikeNazarul Islam — 27 November 2011
- 179NewsU.S. Soldiers Pose With Bodies of Suicide Bombers in AfghanistanEline Gordts — 18 April 2012
- 180NewsObama calls for Afghan body abuse punishmentBBC — 18 April 2012
- 181NewsPhotos just latest issue hounding U.S. military in AfghanistanCNN — 18 April 2012
- 182NewsHow will leaked photos impact U.S. mission in Afghanistan?Ashley Fantz — CNN — 19 April 2012
- 183NewsLeaders condemn US troops in body-parts photosJessica Wright — 19 April 2012
- 184NewsDismantling US bases as the Taliban fight onQuentin Sommerville — BBC — 19 April 2012
- 185NewsImages of G.I.'s and Remains Fuel Fears of Ebbing DisciplineThom Shanker — 18 April 2012
- 186News'Bye-bye, Miss American Pie' – then US helicopter appears to fire on AfghansEmma Graham-Harrison — 6 July 2012
- 187NewsPhotos of Soldiers Posing With Body Parts Add Strain to a Taxed Relationship18 April 2012
- 188NewsUS Helicopter Pilot Sings 'American Pie' as Missile Blows up 'Innocent Afghan Farmer' VIDEOAnissa Haddadi — 6 July 2012
- 189NewsU.S. Is Open to Withdraw Afghan Force After 2014Mark Landler et al. — 8 January 2012
- 190NewsThe Afghan War's Last Chapter?12 January 2013
- 191NewsObama, Karzai agree to accelerate military transitionCNN — 12 January 2013
- 192NewsObama announces reduced U.S. role in Afghanistan starting this springScott Wilson et al. — 11 January 2013
- 193NewsObama moves up deadline for Afghans to take lead security roleChristi Parsons et al. — 11 January 2013
- 194NewsNATO sets "irreversible" but risky course to end Afghan war21 May 2012
- 195Chicago NATO Summit 2012 DeclarationNATO — Defence Talk – Global Defense, Aerospace & Military Portal — 21 May 2012
- 196NewsNATO leaders agree on framework to wind down Afghan missionScott Wilson et al. — 21 May 2012
- 197NewsNATO accepts Obama timetable to end war in Afghanistan by 2014Elise Labott et al. — CNN — 22 May 2012
- 198NewsKarzai Wants U.S. Troops Confined to Bases; Taliban Suspend Peace TalksRod Nordland et al. — 15 March 2012
- 199US-Taliban Afghanistan peace talks in Qatar cancelled20 June 2013
- 200NewsObama Signs Pact in Kabul, Turning Page in Afghan WarMark Landler — 1 May 2012
- 201NewsU.S. designates Afghanistan a major ally, creates defense tiesCNN — 7 July 2012
- 202NewsUS troops will end 'most' Afghanistan combat this springBBC News US & Canada — 11 January 2012
- 203NewsObama Accelerates Transition of Security to AfghansMark Landler et al. — 11 January 2013
- 204NewsKarzai announces Afghan security handover18 June 2013
- 205NewsBlast Mars Day of Security Handover in KabulNathan Hodge — 18 June 2013
- 206NewsDeadly blast marks Afghan security handover18 June 2013
- 207NewsUK troops hand over Camp Bastion to Afghan forces, ending 13-year campaignRyan Syal — 26 October 2014
- 208NewsUK to keep 450 troops stationed in Afghanistan through 2016Rowena Mason — 27 October 2015
- 209NewsUK to increase troops in Afghanistan from 450 to 500Rowena Mason — 8 July 2016
- 210NewsU.S. formally ends the war in AfghanistanCBA News — 28 December 2014
- 212NewsAfghanistan marks takeover of security responsibility from NATO1 January 2015
- 213NewsAfghan interpreter hoping for asylum gets little help from those he worked forJames LaPorta — 28 November 2015
- 214Why are the Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan?BBC — 5 January 2016
- 215BookWaiting for Dignity: Legitimacy and Authority in AfghanistanFlorian Weigand — Columbia University Press — 2022
- 216JournalAfghanistan's Taliban–legitimate jihadists or coercive extremists?Florian Weigand — 2017
- 217JournalRebel rule of law: Taliban courts in the west and north-west of AfghanistanJackson and Weigand — 2020
- 218Afghan forces struggle to drive back Taliban from besieged cityReuters — 30 April 2015
- 219Heavy fighting as Taliban attack northern Afghan cityReuters — 27 April 2015
- 220Flights to besieged Afghan city cancelled as Taliban, army clashReuters — 7 May 2015
- 221INSIGHT – Stretched Afghan army falls back on militias to help defend KunduzReuters — 22 May 2015
- 222NewsAfghans counter Taliban offensive in northern Kunduz province21 June 2015
- 223NewsTaliban and Afghan Government Dispute Status of Kunduz21 June 2015
- 224Afghanistan: Taliban advance on key northern city21 June 2015
- 225Afghan forces recapture key district from TalibanReuters — 23 June 2015
- 226Taliban attempt to capture key Afghan citySune Engel Rasmussen — 28 September 2015
- 227NewsAfghan Taliban seize Kunduz city center in landmark gainFeroz Sultani Hamdard — 28 September 2015
- 228Taliban fighters raid Kunduz in AfghanistanAl Jazeera
- 229Taliban seizes control of major Afghan city Kunduz for first time since US-led invasionABC News — 28 September 2015
- 230Officials confirm ISIL present in AfghanistanAl Jazeera
- 231ISIS active in south Afghanistan, officials confirm for first timeCBS News — 12 January 2015
- 232Capture the Flag in Afghanistan22 January 2015
- 233U.S. forces can now pursue ISIS in AfghanistanCNN — 20 January 2016
- 234Afghan Army Kills Commander of ISIL Affiliate18 March 2015
- 235NewsTaliban Attack Police Base in Afghanistan, Killing 1713 June 2015
- 236Taliban seize district in Helmand province30 July 2015
- 237NewsTwo Setbacks for Coalition in Afghanistan26 August 2015
- 238US Airstrikes Target Islamic State in AfghanistanABC News — 11 February 2015
- 239NewsPrepare 200 graves, warn Sangin police besieged by Taliban23 December 2015
- 240Taliban attempt attack on Afghan Parliament in KabulMasoud Popalzai and Jethro Mullen — CNN — 22 June 2015
- 241NewsTaliban launch brazen attack on Afghan parliament, seize second district in northHamid Shalizi Harooni — 22 June 2015
- 242NewsAttack on Afghanistan's parliament – When even failure is success24 June 2015
- 243Afghan Peace Talks Expose Rifts in Taliban LeadershipVOA News — 24 June 2015
- 245Pakistan hosts Afghanistan peace talks11 January 2016
- 246Taliban holds 'informal' peace talks with AfghanistanJames Rothwell et al. — 18 October 2016
- 247NewsTaliban, Afghan figures talk ceasefire but fail to agreeAmena Bakr Ahmad — 3 May 2015
- 248Afghanistan: Taliban won't talk because it is winningAl Jazeera — 22 March 2016
- 251Number of ISIL Fighters in Afghanistan Drops Significantly, Official SaysUS Department of Defense — 14 April 2016
- 252NewsHaqqanis Steering Deadlier Taliban in Afghanistan, Officials Say7 May 2016
- 253Afghanistan Faces Tough Battle as Haqqanis Unify the TalibanABC news — 7 May 2016
- 254Fierce fight for Helmand as Afghan Taliban gains groundAl Jazeera — 21 December 2015
- 255SAS in battle to stop Taliban overrunning Sangin22 December 2015
- 256NewsThe U.S. was supposed to leave Afghanistan by 2017. Now it might take decades.26 January 2016
- 257British military deployed to Afghanistan: Why Sangin matters22 December 2015
- 258How IS has been making enemies in Afghanistan21 February 2016
- 260US Army orders hundreds of soldiers back to southern AfghanistanFox News — 11 February 2016
- 263U.S. troop reinforcements head for embattled southern Afghan provinceReuters — 9 February 2016
- 264NewsA 5th District in Helmand Province Falls to the Taliban15 March 2016
- 265Afghan forces face 'decisive' battle in Helmand7 April 2016
- 266Afghan soldiers desert as Taliban threaten key Helmand capitalCNN — 11 April 2016
- 267US airstrikes undermining Afghan security, says former president4 August 2016
- 268Afghanistan: Helmand Capital May Fall To TalibanSky News — 9 August 2016
- 269NewsTaliban's new commando force tests Afghan army's strength6 August 2016
- 270Taliban 'special forces' lead Helmand assault: Afghan officialsReuters — 14 August 2016
- 271No more peace talks with Taliban, Afghanistan's president says25 April 2016
- 272NewsTaliban leader says foreigners must quit Afghanistan for peaceReuters — 2 July 2016
- 273Afghan troops press offensive against Islamic StateReuters — 30 July 2016
- 275MagazineWhen War Is Just Another Day in Afghanistan18 July 2016
- 276American troops wounded fighting ISIS in Afghanistan as operations there growmilitary.com — 28 July 2016
- 277Over a hundred US troops sent to Lashkar Gah to battle Taliban22 August 2016
- 278NewsAfghanistan Signs Draft Peace Deal With Faction Led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar23 September 2016
- 279Afghanistan takes a step toward peace with notorious ex-warlord22 September 2016
- 283NewsUS cites progress against Islamic State in Afghanistan6 April 2017
- 284NewsTaliban take key Afghan district in south; 9 killed in northFox News — 23 March 2017
- 285NewsAfghan Taliban capture city of Sangin23 March 2017
- 286NewsU.S. may send up to 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan24 May 2017
- 287NewsTaliban fighters attack Afghan army base, 'killing 140'Al Jazeera — 22 April 2017
- 289Taliban kills more than 140 Afghan soldiers in suicide assaultLongwarjournal.org — 22 April 2017
- 290NewsC.I.A. Wants Authority to Conduct Drone Strikes in Afghanistan for the First Time15 September 2017
- 291Trump is sending more than 3,000 troops to AfghanistanVox — 19 September 2017
- 292US relaxes rules of engagement to help troops in Afghanistan defeat TalibanFox News — 4 October 2017
- 293NewsAfghan leaders in Helmand criticize US airstrikes on Taliban drug labs21 November 2017
- 294Taliban threaten 70% of Afghanistan, BBC findsBBC — 31 January 2018
- 295NewsOpinion | An Unprecedented Peace Offer to the TalibanHekmat Khalil Karzai — 11 March 2018
- 296Afghanistan offers amnesty to the Taliban in a bid to end 16-year war28 February 2018
- 297Afghan President Urges Taliban To Talk Peace, Offering Political RecognitionColin Dwyer — 28 February 2018
- 298NewsTashkent Conference Backs Afghan Government's Peace OfferRadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty — 27 March 2018
- 299NewsPeace Movement Blames Foreign Countries For Afghan WarZiar Yaad — 2019-03-24
- 300NewsHelmand Peace Convoy Rejected Taliban's Allegations26 June 2018
- 301NewsHelmand peace convoy makes appeals to Russian, American people for peace7 July 2018
- 302Going Nationwide: The Helmand peace march initiative23 April 2018
- 303NewsA Grass-Roots Afghan Peace Movement Grows, Step by StepMujib Mashal — 15 June 2018
- 304How Afghanistan's Peace Movement Is Winning Hearts and MindsRoshni Kapur — 22 September 2018
- 305Selfies with the Taliban: Afghan women buoyed by ceasefire snapsRuchi Kabul — 2018-07-06
- 309NewsU.S. Diplomats Held Face-to-Face Talks With Taliban, Insurgents SayTaimoor Shah et al. — 28 July 2018
- 310Zalmay Khalilzad Will Try to Pave Way for Taliban Talks with AfghanistanCato Institute — 28 September 2018
- 311NewsU.S. Envoy Meets Taliban In Push for Afghan Peace TalksCraig Nelson et al. — 12 October 2018
- 312Afghan Taliban attend landmark talks9 November 2018
- 314Marginalised governmentNawid Paigham — 24 March 2019
- 315NewsUS peace envoy meets Taliban co-founder25 February 2019
- 316NewsIn Moscow, Afghan Peace Talks Without the Afghan GovernmentAndrew Higgins et al. — 4 February 2019
- 318Erik Prince's Plan to Privatize the War in AfghanistanThe Atlantic — 18 August 2017
- 319NewsStaggering Afghan death toll revealed25 January 2019
- 320NewsAfghan Government Control Over Country Falters, US Report SaysRod Nordland — 1 February 2019
- 321NewsAfghan forces launch attacks to clear warring militants from east AfghanistanAbdul Qadir Sediqi
- 323NewsAmerica and the Taliban inch towards a peace deal in Afghanistan7 August 2019
- 324NewsAfter Trump Calls Off Talks, Afghanistan Braces for ViolenceDavid Sanger et al. — 8 September 2019
- 327Afghanistan's Taliban, US sign peace dealAl-Jazeera
- 328NewsU.S. signs peace deal with Taliban agreeing to full withdrawal of American troops from AfghanistanSarah Dadouch et al. — 29 February 2020
- 331NewsPresident Ghani rejects peace deal's prisoner swap with TalibanAl Jazeera — 1 March 2020
- 332NewsAfghan President Rejects Timeline For Prisoner Swap Proposed In US-Taliban Peace DealCat Schuknecht — NPR — 1 March 2020
- 333NewsAfghan peace deal hits first snag over prisoner releasesPolitico
- 334NewsA peace deal signed. Then America and the Taliban resume fighting
- 335NewsUS conducted airstrike on Taliban fighters following attack on Afghan checkpointSamantha Beech et al.
- 336NewsTaliban step up attacks on Afghan forces since signing US deal: data1 May 2020
- 337NewsKabul attack: Abdullah Abdullah escapes deadly attack6 March 2020
- 338NewsAfghanistan conflict: Militants in deadly attack on Sikh temple in Kabul25 March 2020
- 340NewsTaliban delegation arrives in Kabul for the first time since 2001Khaama Press — 31 March 2020
- 341NewsTaliban team arrives in Kabul to begin prisoner exchange processAbdul Qadir Sediqi — Reuters — 31 March 2020
- 342NewsAfghanistan peace deal: Taliban walk out of 'fruitless' talks7 April 2020
- 343NewsAfghan government says will release 100 Taliban prisonersAl Jazeera — 8 April 2020
- 344Loya Jirga Approves Release of 400 Taliban PrisonersTOLO News — 9 August 2020
- 346NewsTraditional council frees Taliban setting up peace talks9 August 2020
- 347To Release, Or Not To Release? Legal questions around Ghani's consultative loya jirga on Taleban prisonersEhsan Qaane — Afghanistan Analysts — 7 August 2020
- 348NewsAfghanistan Peace Talks Open in Qatar, Seeking End to Decades of WarMujib Mashal — 12 September 2020
- 349Afghan Security Forces Suffer Bloodiest Week in 19 Years22 June 2020
- 350Taliban kidnap 60 civilians in Afghanistan in a week21 June 2020
- 351NewsAfghanistan is disintegrating fast as Biden's troop withdrawal continuesNic Robertson — CNN — 24 June 2021
- 352NewsAfghan president says ready to discuss elections to advance talks with TalibanMarch 6, 2021
- 353MagazineHistory's Warning for the U.S. Withdrawal From AfghanistanPriya Satia — 27 April 2021
- 354NewsBiden set to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11Phil Stewart et al. — 13 April 2021
- 355NewsTaliban launches major Afghan offensive after deadline for U.S. pulloutReuters — 4 May 2021
- 356NewsEven the Taliban are surprised at how fast they're advancing in AfghanistanDan De Luce et al. — NBC News — 25 June 2021
- 357NewsNearly half of Afghanistan's provincial capitals under threat from TalibanBill Roggio — FDD's Long War Journal — 15 July 2021
- 358NewsMapping Taliban Contested and Controlled Districts in AfghanistanBill Roggio — FDD's Long War Journal — 25 July 2021
- 359NewsHow the Taliban stormed across Afghanistan in ten days2021-08-16
- 363NewsLast man out: the haunting image of America's final moments in AfghanistanBen Doherty — 31 August 2021
- 364NewsWith last plane out of Kabul, America's 20-year war in Afghanistan is overJoey Garrison et al. — 30 August 2021
- 367ReportBody Count – Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the 'War on Terror' – Iraq Afghanistan PakistanIPPNW, PGS and PSR — March 2015
- 368BookThe Taliban at War: 2001 - 2021Antonio Giustozzi — Oxford University Press — 2022-05-01
- 369NewsAfghan civilian deaths rise, insurgents responsible for most casualties – UN14 July 2011
- 370NewsAfghan civilian death toll reaches record highDamien Pearse and agencies — 4 February 2012
- 371NewsSharp rise in children killed and maimed in Afghan war, UN report reveals6 February 2017
- 372NewsCiting rising death toll, UN urges better protection of Afghan civilians9 March 2011
- 373NewsAugust deadliest month of 2009 for Afghan civilians, UN saysCNN — 26 September 2009
- 374JournalSocial science goes to war: the Human Terrain System in Iraq and AfghanistanAnthony King — 4 November 2016
- 375NewsAfghanistan Had Record Civilian Casualties in 2015, U.N. SaysDavid Jolly — 14 February 2016
- 376NewsAfghan civilian casualties at record high in 2016: UNAl Jazeera English — 6 February 2017
- 377JournalInjury profile suffered by targets of antipersonnel improvised explosive devices: prospective cohort studySmith S et al. — 2017
- 380Afghan RefugeesCosts of War — 2012
- 381Afghanistan
- 382NewsThe last US military planes have left Afghanistan, marking the end of the United States' longest warNicole Gaouette et al. — CNN — 31 August 2021
- 383NewsAIHRC Calls Civilian Deaths War Crime13 January 2011
- 384NewsTaliban attack civilians to spread fear: AmnestyReuters — 24 April 2007
- 385NewsAfghan Rights Groups Shift Focus to TalibanRod Nordland — 10 February 2011
- 386BookWorld Politics: Trend and TransformationCharles W. Kegley — Cengage — 2011
- 389NewsTaliban fighters execute 22 Afghan commandos as they try to surrenderAnna Coren et al. — 14 July 2021
- 391NewsObama's Pentagon Covered Up War Crimes in Afghanistan, Says Amnesty InternationalThe Daily Beast
- 392NewsAfghan Massacre Haunts PentagonLuke Harding — 14 September 2002
- 393NewsIn US Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates' DeathsTim Golden — 20 May 2005
- 394NewsArmy drops one charge against soldier accused in Afghan massacreReuters — 1 June 2012
- 395NewsICC authorises investigation into alleged Afghanistan war crimes2020-03-05
- 397BookThe Organized Crime Community: Essays in Honor of Alan A. BlockFrancisco E. Thourni — Springer — 2006
- 398BookOpium: uncovering the politics of the poppyPierre-Arnaud Chouvy — Harvard University Press — 2010
- 399JournalCan Anyone Pacify the World's Number One Narco-State? The Opium Wars in AfghanistanAlfred McCoy — 5 April 2010
- 400How the heroin trade explains the US-UK failure in AfghanistanAlfred McCoy — The Guardian — 9 January 2018
- 401NewsAhmed Wali Karzai, the corrupt and lawless face of modern AfghanistanSimon Tisdall — The Guardian — 12 July 2011
- 402NewsTwo Decades of American Lies in AfghanistanJames Risen — The Intercept — 26 August 2021
- 403NewsReports Link Karzai's Brother to Afghanistan Heroin TradeJames Risen — The New York Times — 4 October 2008
- 404NewsAfghanistan riddled with drug tiesChristian Science Monitor
- 405NewsProfits and poppy: Afghanistan's illegal drug trade a boon for Taliban16 August 2021
- 406Opium, the CIA and the Karzai AdministrationPeter Dale Scott — 12 April 2010
- 407NewsInside the CIA's secret mission to sabotage Afghanistan's opium2025-11-12
- 408NewsMeth and heroin fuel Afghanistan drugs boom2021-12-12
- 409NewsTaliban Outlaw Opium Poppy Cultivation in AfghanistanSafiullah Padshah et al. — 2022-04-03
- 413Afghanistan: Changing the Frame, Changing the Game. Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer CenterBelfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu
- 414NewsPortrait of a Foreign Policy FailureBarnett R. Rubin is Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center et al. — 2025-03-18
- 415NewsHow climate change helped strengthen the TalibanCARA KORTE — 20 August 2021
- 417NewsWhy is the world at war?Jason Burke — 2018-03-04
- 418BookDirectorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and PakistanSteve Coll — Penguin Group — 2019
- 419Research – CPI – OverviewTransparency.org
- 420Could monarchy have saved Afghanistan?Gawain Towler — 17 August 2021
- 421JournalBold move to save Afghanistan: Bring back a kingShireen K. Burki — 30 June 2010
- 422A Return to Monarchy Could Solve the Afghan ConflictWahab Raofi — Foreign Policy Journal — 17 May 2018
- 423Afghan Kings and the Failure of U.S. Military InterventionCarlo J.V. Caro — February 12, 2020
- 424NewsThe Sun in the Sky: The relationship between Pakistan's ISI and Afghan insurgentsMatt Waldman — Crisis States Research Centre — June 2010
- 425NewsExplosive Leaks Provide Image of War from Those Fighting It: The Secret Enemy in PakistanMatthias Gebauer et al. — 25 July 2010
- 427BookWar and peace in Afghanistan: the Pakistani role / Marvin G. Weinbaum.University of Arizona Libraries — 1991
- 428NewsIn Afghanistan, US Exits, and Iran Comes InCarlotta Gall — 5 August 2017
- 429Trump says US losing war, compares Afghanistan to NYC restaurant consultantCarol E. Lee et al. — 2 August 2017
- 430Is China Bringing Peace to Afghanistan?Sudha Ramachandran — June 20, 2018
- 431BookDirectorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and PakistanSteve Coll — Penguin Group — 2019
- 432NewsAfghanistan papers reveal US public were misled about unwinnable warPeter Beaumont — 9 December 2019
- 433NewsThe Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the WarCraig Whitlock — 9 December 2019
- 434NewsPakistan's hand in the Taliban's victory18 August 2021
- 435NewsThe Real Winner of the Afghan War? It's Not Who You Think26 August 2021
- 436Russia and Iran: Disappointed Friends of the Taliban?Antonio Giustozzi — Royal United Services Institute — 30 September 2021
- 437NewsKabul residents relish new freedomsCNN — 14 November 2001
- 438NewsKabul women keep the veilKate Clark — 24 November 2001
- 439WPO Poll: Afghan Public Overwhelmingly Rejects al-Qaeda, Taliban30 January 2006
- 440Afghan Futures: A National Public Opinion Survey29 January 2015
- 442Global Economic Gloom – China and India Notable Exceptions12 June 2008
- 443Goal of Libyan Operation Less Clear to Public5 April 2011
- 444NewsProtesters oppose sending more troops to AfghanistanHarold J. Adams — 6 December 2009
- 445NewsSaturday Word: Health Care (and Finance)Janie Lorber — 20 March 2010
- 446NewsTaliban announce new government for Afghanistan7 September 2021
- 447Afghanistan's Security Challenges under the Taliban12 August 2022
- 449NewsTaliban's Arrest Of Ethnic Uzbek Commander Sparks Clashes In Northern AfghanistanBruce Pannier — 29 January 2022
- 451Two years after Taliban takeover: why Afghanistan still poses a threat to the region and beyondStefan Wolff — 11 August 2023
- 452Terrorist Groups in Afghanistan2 April 2024
- 453NewsU.S. could work with Taliban against terrorists, Pentagon saysRachel Pannett et al. — 2021-09-02
- 454Hardline Haqqani Network Put in Charge of Kabul SecurityVoice of America — 19 August 2021
- 455It's Crazy to Trust the HaqqanisAnchal Vohra — 27 August 2021
- 456NewsWhy Are Pakistan's Militant Groups Splintering?Majeed Babar — 1 October 2011
- 457Pakistan Taliban splinter group vows allegiance to Islamic StateSaud Mehsud et al. — 18 November 2014
- 458NewsKP CTD denies existence of Tehreek-i-Jihad, claims it is another name for TTP10 August 2023
- 459NewsDoes Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) Actually Exist?Iftikhar Firdous — 29 April 2023
- 460NewsTaliban 'Removing' Uyghur Militants From Afghanistan's Border With ChinaReid Standish — 5 October 2021
- 462Tajik terrorist serves as Taliban commander in northern AfghanistanAndrew Tobin et al. — 2022-05-25
- 463JournalExecutions and Enforced Disappearances in Afghanistan under the Taliban30 November 2021
- 464NewsNearly two years later, Afghan allies still left hoping for help22 August 2023
- 465NewsElite Afghan commandos 'betrayed' by the British and left behind to be hunted down1 November 2023
- 467NewsSpecial forces blocked UK resettlement applications from elite Afghan troops19 February 2024
- 468NewsChina urges World Bank, IMF to help Afghanistan28 October 2021
- 469NewsAfghanistan Facing Famine: UN, World Bank, US Should Adjust Sanctions, Economic Policies11 November 2021
- 470News'Countdown to catastrophe': half of Afghans face hunger this winter – UN25 October 2021
- 471NewsTaliban blames U.S. as 1 million Afghan kids face death by starvation20 October 2021
- 472Security Council paves way for aid to reach desperate Afghans22 December 2021
- 473UN warns 6 million Afghans at risk of famine as crises grow30 August 2022
- 475BookGhost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001Steve Coll — Penguin — 2004
- 476BookDirectorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and PakistanSteve Coll — Penguin Press — 2018
- 477BookKilling the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in AfghanistanEdward Girardet — Chelsea Green Publishing — 2011
- 478National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States9/11 Commission — 20 September 2004
- 479BookState of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush AdministrationJames Risen — Simon & Schuster — 2008
- 480BookNATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting AloneDavid P. Auerswald et al. — Princeton University Press — 2014
- 481BookThe American War in Afghanistan: A HistoryCarter Malkasian — Oxford University Press — 2021
- 482JournalLessons on Political Violence from America's Post-9/11 WarsChristoph Mikulaschek et al. — 2018
- 483BookChoosing Defeat: The Twenty-Year Saga of How America Lost AfghanistanPaul D. Miller — Cambridge University Press — 2025
- 484JournalCreating common sense: getting NATO to AfghanistanPhilipp Münch — 2021
- 485ReportOperation Enduring FreedomRichard W. Stewart — United States Army — 2004
- 486America and the War on TerrorAEI Public Opinion Study — 24 July 2008
- 487BookDanger CloseSteve Call — Texas A&M University Press — 2010
- 488BookTaliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and BeyondAhmed Rashid — Yale University Press — 2022
- 489BookObama's WarsBob Woodward — Simon & Schuster — 2010