wpostServer: http://css.washingtonpost.com/wpost
10 years of the Afghanistan war Oct. 7, 2011, marks a decade of fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, an effort initially led by the United States and now overseen by NATO.
July 18, 2006
On Oct. 7, 2001, the war in Afghanistan began with allied air attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda targets.
Michael Hanschke
/
AFP/Getty Images
Related Content
Sept. 9, 2001
Ahmed Shah Massoud, an anti-Taliban leader who had earlier fought against the Soviets, was killed by two men posing as Arab journalists and thought to be al-Qaeda agents two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
John Moore
/
Getty Images
Sept. 14, 2001
President George W. Bush speaks to volunteers and firefighters after surveying the damage at the World Trade Center site in New York City.
Paul J. Richards
/
AFP/Getty Images
Oct. 31, 2001
The United States deployed B-52 bombers and other warplanes to assist anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces on the ground.
Anonymous
/
AP
Dec. 15, 2001
An anti-Taliban fighter watches a U.S. bomber drop ordnance on al-Qaeda positions in the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan.
Chris Hondros
/
Getty Images
Nov. 10, 2001
A Northern Alliance fighter fires an artillery shell on Taliban positions in northern Afghanistan.
Gergei Grits
/
AP
Dec. 10, 2001
Hamid Karzai, then the head of the interim Afghan government, meets with tribal leaders from the five southern Afghan states. Karzai won the presidency after the Taliban was driven from power.
Jerome Delay
/
AP
Dec. 5, 2001
A mujaheddin fighter takes two Taliban fighters to prison in Herat. U.S.-led forces helped the Northern Alliance topple the Taliban regime.
Kamran Jebreili
/
AP
Dec. 17, 2001
Afghan militia leaders declared victory in the battle of Tora Bora, claiming to have captured al-Qaeda's last base. Despite that victory, Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remained at large.
David Guttenfelder
/
AP
March 13, 2002
U.S. Col. Frank Wiercinski speaks to troops after a three-week-long offensive against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the eastern Shahikot Valley.
Mikhail Metzel
/
AP
June 16, 2002
An Afghan delegate from the southern province of Paktia applauds during a speech at a tribal assembly in Kabul. Delegates to the Loya Jirga assembly insisted they had the right to approve members of a broad-based government, but supporters of newly elected President Hamid Karzai said he must have the final decision.
Natalie Behring
/
Getty Images
May 1, 2003
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld meets with U.S. Special Forces troops in Kabul after declaring an end to "major combat" operations 18 months after U.S.-led forces helped topple the Taliban regime.
Luke Frazza
/
AFP/Getty Images
Jan. 4, 2004
Loya Jirga delegates discuss the amended draft constitution before adopting the first post-Taliban charter. Afghanistan's grand assembly later adopted the document, with delegates approving a presidential system for the Islamic republic.
Shah Marai
/
AFP/Getty Images
Oct. 16, 2004
Afghans went to the polls on Oct. 9, 2004, their first time voting in a direct election to choose a president. The election was seen as a crucial step toward democracy and peace in the war-torn country after the fall of the Taliban.
Paula Bronstein
Oct. 29, 2004
Osama bin Laden, addressing the American public in a video four days before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, said the United States could avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stopped threatening the security of Muslims.
/
AP
May 23, 2005
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, at the Pentagon, inspect troops who served in Afghanistan. Karzai and President George W. Bush signed a "strategic partnership" enabling long-term U.S. involvement in Afghanistan's security and reconstruction.
Brendan Smialowski
/
AFP/Getty Images
Sept. 18, 2005
Afghan women vote in Kabul in their nation's first parliamentary elections. The elections representend a major step toward restoring democracy and stability in Afghanistan almost four years after the Taliban's ouster.
Paula Bronstein
/
Getty Images
July 4, 2006
A woman looks out a destroyed window after a bomb exploded in Kabul in front of a cinema near the presidential palace. Although Taliban and al-Qaeda forces no longer dominated, the violence continued.
Rodrigo Abd
/
AP
Nov. 22, 2006
Canadian soldiers use part of the wall of a grape-drying silo to fill defensive sandbags at a base in Kandahar province. Around this time, differences within the coalition emerged during a NATO meeting in Latvia.
David Guttenfelder
/
AP
May 13, 2007
Mullah Dadullah, a prominent Taliban military commander, was killed in fighting with Afghan and Western troops in southern Afghanistan. His death represented a major victory for the Afghan government and the international coalition.
Allauddin Khan
/
AP
Aug. 15, 2009
Hamid Agha receives medical attention at Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital after he was injured in a car bombing in front of the NATO headquarters in Kabul. The blast occurred five days before the scheduled Aug. 20 elections.
Nikki Kahn
/
The Washington Post
Feb. 24, 2009
As the security situation continued to challenge coalition forces, President Obama planned to send an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan the following spring and summer, adding to the 36,000 already there.
Spencer Platt
/
Getty Images
July 13, 2009
A U.S. Marine runs to safety moments after a roadside bomb blows up in Helmand province. Improvised explosive devices continue to be among insurgents' favored weapons.
Manpreet Romana
/
AFP/Getty Images
May 11, 2009
Soldiers, including one who was rushed from his sleeping quarters, stand at ready after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley.
David Guttenfelder
/
AP
July 30, 2009
Abdullah Abdullah, seen in the poster on the column, stood as Hamid Karzai's top challenger in the 2009 presidential election.
Nikki Kahn
/
The Washington Post
May 28, 2010
A boy runs past a burning oil tanker carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces after it was attacked by Taliban fighters on a Jalalabad highway, east of Kabul. Taliban strength remained unchanged at the time from the previous year, despite a surge in the number of U.S. and NATO troops and military offensives in the insurgent heartland.
Rahmat Gul
/
AP
July 21, 2009
U.S. Marines drop three 1,000-pound bombs on more than 1,600 bags of poppy seeds discovered at Safar Bazaar after a raid in Helmand province.
Nikki Kahn
/
The Washington Post
June 23, 2010
President Obama announces the resignation of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and the appointment of his successor, Gen. David H. Petraeus, shown standing with Obama in the Rose Garden of the White House.
Nicholas Kamm
/
AFP/Getty Images
Oct. 6, 2011
Soldiers en route to the Middle East on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war wait to check in for their flights at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport.
Bill O'Leary
/
WASHINGTON POST
Sept. 23, 2010
Newly trained female officers of the Afghan National Army attend their graduation ceremony at the army's training center in Kabul.
Gemunu Amarasinghe
/
AP
May 4, 2011
Residents gather outside a burned compound at the hideout of slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Pakistan said the world must share the blame for failing to unearth bin Laden as a furor swelled over how he had managed to live undisturbed near Islamabad, the capital.
Aamir Qureshi
/
AFP/Getty Images
July 2, 2009
More than 4,000 U.S. Marines embark in an expeditionary move into towns and villages along the Helmand River valley in Operation Khanjar.
Nikki Kahn
/
The Washington Post
Sept. 24, 2011
Supporters of slain former president Burhanuddin Rabbani chant slogans during a protest against the Taliban and Pakistan in Faizabad. Thousands of mourners had buried Rabbani, a peace negotiator, a day earlier amid chaotic scenes that undercut calls from President Hamid Karzai to pursue reconciliation with the Taliban.
Qais Usyan
/
AFP/Getty Images
June 11, 2009
At first light, Sgt. James Weser, left, and Capt. Serg Glushenko pack up as they prepare to meet their helicopter after a mission along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Nikki Kahn
/
The Washington Post
FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES
Photos of the day
Preakness Stakes, deadly tornadoes, Whit Monday, Gothic festival, World Dog Show and more.
Ethiopia’s salt trail
For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...
Eye on entertainment
Joanna Lumley, Madonna, Prince, Tracy Morgan, Nicole Kidman, Justin Timberlake, Gene Simmons and more.
???initialComments:true! pubdate:10/06/2011 21:11 EDT! commentPeriod:3! commentEndDate:10/9/11 9:11 EDT! currentDate:5/20/13 8:0 EDT! allowComments:false! displayComments:true!
Section:/world/war-zones
Loading...
Comments