On September 11, 2001, 19 members of al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into the World Trade Center in NYC, and the third into the Pentagon.

The fourth plane was intended to hit a federal govt building in DC but crashed in a field following a passenger revolt.

The attack left nearly 3,000 people dead, and more than 2,500 others wounded.

The US blamed al-Qaeda for the attacks and sent troops to Afghanistan with the stated purpose of countering terrorism.

The US was involved for 20 years in the Afghan conflict—which is considered the longest war in the history of the United States.

“On my order, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaeda training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan,” said George. W. Bush, the former US president.

The highest number of US troops in Afghanistan was in 2011 after then-President Barak Obama decided to increase the number of American forces.

Based on reports, around 140,000 US and NATO troops were present in Afghanistan then.

“The entrance of the American forces to Afghanistan was an absolute mistake,” said Asadullah Nadim, a political analyst.

In 2011, US special forces shot and killed Osama Ben Laden in a special operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children,” said Barak Obama, then US President.

In 2014, NATO officially ended its mission in Afghanistan and handed over security responsiblility to the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANSDF).

Former US President Donald Trump appointed Afghan-born US veteran diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad to continue the peace negotiations with the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office.

After more than 10 rounds of negotiations, Khalilzad reached a peace deal on February 29th, 2020, in Doha.

“This effort only becomes real for the United States when the Taliban signal interest in pursuing peace and ending their relationship with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups,” said Mike Pompeo, the former US Secretary of State.

After becoming the 46th president of the US, Joe Biden decided to withdraw troops from Afghanistan unconditionally.

“After 20 years — a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of thousands of Afghan National Security and Defense Forces, 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health — I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” Biden told a press conference in July 2021.

On August 31, 2021, the last American soldier, Major General Chris Donahue, left Afghanistan.

The longest war in American history ended.

“It was 12 at night, they (US) took off their latest flight from this airport and have gone. We have control of all of the airports and our country has reached independence,” Islamic Emirate’s Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.