Afghanistan
War

By: Janessa
Buchanan

History Of U.S.
Involvement
• Charlie Wilson (congressman) pretty much funded, supported, and found support to help Afghanistan win the war against the soviets. • The U.S. trained and supplied the
Mujahedeen to fight an organized armed force (like the U.S.)

How The U.S. Became
Involved.
• The U.S. became involved in the
Afghanistan War because the Taliban were harboring the Terrorist group’s (al-Qaeda’s) leader. Al-Qaeda attacked the twin towers on 9/11/01.
• Bush vowed to win the war on terrorism, he signed a law stating joint resolution.
This means that force is allowed and unprecedented actions (including strange ones) are allowed when in combat with terrorism- Sep. 18th, 2001

Who Are The Major
Combatants
The U.S.
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Germany
France
Canada
Austrailia

Al-Qaeda
• Taliban

How Was It Fought
• With British support, the U.S. started with airstrikes to retaliate on the Taliban and AlQaeda forces
• The first wave of ground fighting arrives 12 days later and it mainly consists of Taliban forces fighting Afghan opponents(citizens)

Key Events In The War
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9/11 (terrorist attack on twin towers)
Airstrikes from U.S. on Taliban and Al-Qaeda
The Taliban unravels rapidly after they lose at Mazar-e-Sharif on
November 9, 2001, to forces of an ethnic Uzbek military leader. Over the next week Taliban strongholds fall apart after coalition and Northern
Alliance offensives on Taloqan, Bamiyan, Herat, Kabul, and Jalalabad.
On November 14, 2001, the UN Security Council passed a Resolution
1378, calling for a "central role" for United Nations in setting up a transitional administration and inviting member states to send peacekeeping forces to promote stability and aid delivery.
Afghan militias engage in a fierce two-week battle (December 3 to 17) with al-Qaeda militants. It results in a few hundred deaths and the eventual escape of bin Laden, who is thought to have left for Pakistan on horseback on December 16
On December 5, 2001, the factions sign the Bonn Agreement, endorsed by Resolution 1383. The agreement installs Hamid Karzai as interim administration head, and creates an international peacekeeping force to maintain security in Kabul.
Operation Anaconda, the first major ground assault and the largest operation since Tora Bora, is launched against an estimated eight hundred al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Shah-i-Kot Valley south of the city of
Gardez (Paktia Province).
President George W. Bush calls for the reconstruction of Afghanistan "By helping to build an Afghanistan that is free from this evil and is a better place in which to live, we are working in the best traditions of George

Results Of The war
• Because the war is still technically going on (2014) it has been the longest war in
U.S. history (so they say) and the longer the war in a democracy, the less followers you have.
• Casualties and deaths of both
U.S. soldiers as well as the enemy’s have increased since the start.
• The death of bin laden (may
2, 2011)
• Soldiers with PTSD
• 21,000 civilians dead because of the violence

Current Status Of
The War
• After Bin Laden was killed the war became about shifting goals, unreliable allies, elusive enemies, lost lives, and depleted funds.
• The U.S. still remembers the 9/11