On October 7, 2001, the United States of America embarked on what would eventually be dubbed “the Afghanistan War.” Recognized as “Operation Freedom” and conducted in unison with the Afghan United Front, British Armed Forces and many other allies, America began a turbulent battle that would ultimately test the resolve of the nation, strength of the government and moral fiber of all parties involved.
With Americans still reeling from the fresh wounds of the September 11 attacks, the country’s president, George W. Bush, began a rallying cry against the terrorists responsible and all those who would harbor and assist them. Pointing to the alleged Afghani terrorists involved in 9/11, Bush and his fellow government officials devised a strategy to rid Afghanistan of Al-Qaeda terrorists and the governing Taliban regime, and ultimately, free the Afghani people from their oppressive rulers by creating a democratic state.
In essence, the move would serve as both a response to the then-recent terrorist attacks, and also, a pre-emptive strike to the possible future attacks that would always hang over America’s head as long as terrorist regimes maintained control of Afghanistan.
Originally, "Operation Enduring Freedom" began with the cumulative effort of the Afghan United Front and British ground forces, working in unison with American Special Forces and the United States’ air support. The goal, of course, was to oust the occupying Taliban regime first from power, and then, eventually, from all of Afghanistan.
In the beginning the plan worked to design, and the Taliban leadership, in response to the attacks, fled to Pakistan to seek refuge. Many suspected that among the escapees was the man whom the Americans desperately wanted to catch, the man who have emerged as the face of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Osama bin Laden.
At this stage, the reasons for why America was proceeding in the Afghanistan War were still explicitly clear. Finding bin Laden, locating other high-ranking Al-Qaeda officials, bringing them all to justice for their part in the attacks, and toppling the Taliban regime in Afghanistan remained the primary objectives.
Shortly thereafter, the democratic Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was created. Initially, an interim government under Hamid Karzai was put into place, but that, as reiterated many times by both American and Afghani forces, was simply until a permanent fixture could be established. Towards the end of December 2001, in an effort to maintain control around Kabul and all neighboring territories, the International Security Assistance Force established the U.N. Security Council. Things would flow smoothly from there until 2003, at which point, NATO took over the International Security Assistance Force.
In 2003, however, an insurgency campaign led by the Taliban forces against the democratic Islamic Republic began to take form. Things would only get worse from there, as American priorities shifted away from instituting democratic policies and bettering the lives of the Afghani people, and more so began to revolve around defending the country from the seemingly never-ending war against the Taliban forces attempting to reclaim control. In 2006, a very a noticeable amount of Taliban-leg insurgent activity became identified and pin-pointed as the reasons for the troubles in Afghanistan.
Then, in 2009, it was determined that Taliban forces were responsible for nearly 76 percent of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan. On December 1 of that year, President Barack Obama announced that he would deploy another 30,000 soldiers over the course of the next six months. Later, he would set a withdrawal date for 2014.