War in Afghanistan
Intervention and long insurgency that ended with the Taliban returning to power after coalition withdrawal.
Historical overview
Overview adapted from a Wikipedia summary and stored locally on May 11, 2026.
The war in Afghanistan was a prolonged armed conflict lasting from 2001 to 2021. It began with an invasion by a United States–led coalition under the name Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the September 11 attacks (9/11) carried out by the Taliban-allied and Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda. The Taliban were expelled from major population centers by American-led forces supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, thus toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate. In 2004, the U.S.-backed Islamic Republic was established, but by then, the Taliban, led by founder Mullah Omar, had reorganized and begun an insurgency against the Afghan government and coalition forces. The conflict ended as the 2021 Taliban offensive reestablished the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in United States military history, surpassing the Vietnam War by six months.
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Border context
Post-9/11 intervention era
Counterterror wars, state-building campaigns and unresolved post-Soviet disputes dominate the early twenty-first-century map.
Afghanistan and Iraq become the central intervention theaters. Congo, Darfur and the Caucasus remain active conflict zones.Arab uprisings and insurgency expansion
Uprisings, regime collapse and insurgencies spread across the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel.
Syria and Libya enter civil war. Mali and Lake Chad become major insurgency theaters.ISIS wars and renewed interstate pressure
The ISIS territorial project, Yemen's war and Russia's first phase of war against Ukraine reshape conflict geography.
ISIS loses territorial control by 2019. Crimea, Donbas, Yemen and the Sahel remain decisive zones.Pandemic-era wars and invasion shock
Wars in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Ukraine show state collapse, mass mobilization and renewed interstate war.
Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion reorients European security. Myanmar's coup turns into nationwide civil war.