We all know what happened on September 11 2009 and as a result the “War on terror” was started. In October 2001 the US and several other coalition countries invaded Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom. The goal of Operation Enduring Freedom is to capture Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, to completely destroy Al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban from power. There is proof that there were plans to remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan long before the September attacks. Currently there are 64,500 NATO- ISAF forces, 100,000 troops from the Afghan National Army, 48,250 US troops not in the ISAF and 9200 British troops.
The coalition in Afghanistan is made up of 44 countries, with a majority of the NATO troops committed to the ISAF. The IASF is a NATO led security and development mission set up by the UN on December 20 2001. For the first 2 years of their deployment they only had jurisdiction in Kabul, but in October 2003 the UN Security Council voted to extend their mission beyond Kabul. They proposed to expand their jurisdiction in 4 stages, each stage extending their control to a different part of the country. First to the north, then to the west, south and finally to the east taking control of the whole country
The initial attacks on Afghanistan were by the Air force to weaken the defenses of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, which were then followed up by Ground forces. After the Initial attack there were many small battles all over Afghanistan. By the end of November there was only one major Taliban/Al-Qaida stronghold left, the providence of Kandahar. The coalition forces, with the rest of the country pretty much liberated focused their efforts on this region, eventually driving the Taliban/Al-Qaida forces into the mountains of Uruzgan Province and into Pakistan. Only 13 US soldiers died during this period. This marked the end of the major offensive operations and the start of diplomatic efforts.
While the initial attacks...