A timeline of greater than 40 years of battle in Afghanistan

The former Soviet Union marched into Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, 1979, claiming it was invited by the brand new Afghan communist chief, Babrak Karmal, and setting the nation on a path of 40 years of seemingly limitless wars and battle.
After the Soviets left in humiliation, America was the following nice energy to wade in. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist assaults, the US invaded to oust the Taliban regime, which had harbored al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
After practically 20 years, the US is ending its battle in Afghanistan, withdrawing the final American troops.
Left behind is the US-allied authorities, riven by corruption and divisions, which should fend off advancing Taliban insurgents amid stalled peace talks. Many Afghans concern the following chapter will see their nation plunge into chaos and inter-factional preventing amongst warlords.
An Afghan flag is raised throughout a handover ceremony from the US Army to the Afghan National Army, at Camp Anthonic, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, May 2, 2021. (Afghan Ministry of Defense Press Office by way of AP, File)
Here is a timeline of some key dates in Afghanistan’s 40 years of wars:
Dec. 25, 1979 — Soviet Red Army crosses the Oxus River into Afghanistan. In neighboring Pakistan, Afghan mujahedeen, or Islamic holy warriors, are assembling, armed and financed by the US for an anti-communist battle. More than 8 million Afghans flee to Pakistan and Iran, the primary of a number of waves of refugees over the many years.
Eighties — CIA’s covert Operation Cyclone funnels weapons and cash for the battle by means of Pakistani dictator Mohammed Zia-ul Haq, who calls on Muslim international locations to ship volunteers to combat in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is among the many 1000’s to volunteer.
1983 — President Ronald Reagan meets with mujahedeen leaders, calling them freedom fighters, on the White House.
September 1986 — The US offers the mujahedeen with shoulder-held anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which turns the course of the battle. Soviets start negotiating withdrawal.
Feb. 15, 1989 — The final Soviet soldier leaves Afghanistan, ending 10 years of occupation
April 1992 — Mujahedeen teams enter Kabul. The fleeing Najibullah is stopped on the airport and put underneath home arrest at a U.N. compound.
1992-1996 — Power-sharing among the many mujahedeen leaders falls aside they usually spend 4 years preventing each other; a lot of Kabul is destroyed and practically 50,000 persons are killed.
1994 — The Taliban emerge in southern Kandahar, take over the province and arrange a rule adhering to a strict interpretation of Islam.
Sept. 26, 1996 — The Taliban seize Kabul after sweeping throughout the nation with hardly a combat; Northern Alliance forces retreat north towards the Panjshir Valley. The Taliban grasp Najibullah and his brother.
1996-2001 — Though initially welcomed for ending the preventing, the Taliban rule with a heavy hand underneath Mullah Mohammed Omar, imposing strict Islamic edicts, denying ladies the precise to work and ladies the precise to go to highschool. Punishments and executions are carried out in public.
March 2001 — The Taliban dynamite the world’s largest standing Buddha statues in Bamyan province, to world shock.
September 2001 — After 9/11 assaults, Washington offers Mullah Omar an ultimatum: hand over bin Laden and dismantle militant coaching camps or put together to be attacked. The Taliban chief refuses.
Oct. 7, 2001 — A US-led coalition launches an invasion of Afghanistan.
Nov. 13, 2001 — The Taliban flee Kabul for Kandahar because the US-led coalition marches into the Afghan capital with the Northern Alliance.
Dec. 5, 2001 — The Bonn Agreement is signed in Germany, giving the vast majority of energy to the Northern Alliance’s key gamers and strengthening the warlords who had dominated between 1992 and 1996. Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun like most Taliban, is called Afghanistan’s president.
Dec. 7, 2001 — Mullah Omar leaves Kandahar and the Taliban regime formally collapses.
May 1, 2003 — President George W. Bush declares “mission accomplished” because the Pentagon says main fight is over in Afghanistan.
2004 and 2009 — In two basic elections, Karzai is elected president for 2 consecutive phrases.
Summer 2006: With the US mired in Iraq, the Taliban resurgence good points momentum with escalating assaults. Soon they start retaking territory in rural areas of the south.
April 5, 2014 — The election for Karzai’s successor is deeply flawed and each front-runners, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, declare victory. The US brokers a deal underneath which Ghani serves as president and Abdullah as chief govt, beginning an period of divided authorities.
Dec. 8, 2014 — American and NATO troops formally finish their fight mission, transitioning to a help and coaching function. President Barack Obama authorizes US forces to hold out operations towards Taliban and al-Qaida targets.
2015-2018 — The Taliban surge additional, staging near-daily assaults focusing on Afghan and US forces and seizing practically half the nation. An Islamic State group affiliate emerges within the east.
September 2018 — After his election guarantees to carry US troops house, President Donald Trump appoints veteran Afghan-American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad as negotiator with the Taliban. Talks undergo 2019, although the Taliban refuse to barter with the Kabul authorities and escalate assaults.
Sept. 28, 2019 — Another sharply divided presidential election is held. It just isn’t till February 2020 that Ghani is asserted the winner. Abdullah rejects the outcomes and holds his personal inauguration. After months, a deal is reached establishing Ghani as president and Abdullah as head of the peace negotiating committee.
August 18, 2019 — The Islamic State group carries out a suicide bombing at wedding ceremony in a primarily Hazara neighborhood of Kabul, killing greater than 60 individuals.
Feb. 29, 2020 — The US and the Taliban signal a deal in Doha, Qatar, setting a timetable for the withdrawal of the round 13,000 US troops nonetheless in Afghanistan and committing the insurgents to halt assaults on Americans.
Sept. 12, 2020-February 2021 — After months of delay, Taliban-Afghan authorities negotiations open in Qatar, sputter for a number of classes and at last stall with no progress. Ghani refuses proposals for a unity authorities, whereas the Taliban balk at a cease-fire with the federal government.
March 18, 2021 — After the US proposes a draft peace plan, Moscow hosts a one-day peace convention between the rival Afghan sides. Attempts at a resumption of talks fail. Taliban and authorities negotiators haven’t sat on the desk since.
April 14, 2021 — President Joe Biden says the remaining 2,500-3,500 US troops in Afghanistan shall be withdrawn by Sept. 11 to finish America’s “forever war.”

2019-Present — Violence grows in Kabul. IS carries out brutal assaults, together with on a maternity hospital and a faculty, killing newborns, moms and schoolgirls. Also rising is a wave of random assaults, unclaimed and mysterious, with shootings, assassinations and sticky bombs planted on automobiles, spreading concern amongst Afghans.

May 2021-Present — Taliban good points on the bottom speed up. Multiple districts within the north, outdoors the Taliban heartland, fall to the insurgents, generally with hardly a combat. Ghani calls a public mobilization, arming native volunteers, a step that dangers compounding the numerous factions.
July 2, 2021 — The United States fingers over Bagram Airfield to Afghan navy management after the final troops within the base go away. The switch of Bagram, the center of the US navy’s presence in Afghanistan all through the battle, indicators that the whole pullout of American troops is imminent, anticipated inside days, far forward of Biden’s Sept. 11 timetable.