Key Events in the Afghanistan Conflict

1979	Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (simultaneous covert US support for rebels until 1989).
1992	Najibullah’s Afghan communist government overthrown by the mujahideen parties; the Peshawar Accords create the Islamic State of Afghanistan (aka the warlord government); ISA-HiG civil war until 1996.
1994	Taliban emerge.
1996	Taliban seize control of Kabul and establish the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; the Northern Alliance continues fighting the new Taliban government.
1998	Al Qaeda attacks American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
2000	Al Qaeda attacks warship USS Cole.
2001
	September 9	Al Qaeda kills Shura-e-Nazar leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.
	September 11	Terrorist attacks on US World Trade Center; President Bush demands that the Taliban government extradite Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda members.
	October 7	Operation Enduring Freedom begins.
	November 13	Northern Alliance takes control of Kabul.
	December 5	Bonn Agreement is signed, which establishes Hamid Karzai as head of the interim administration.
	December 9	Taliban surrender Kandahar; United States rejects peace overture; Taliban leader Mullah Omar flees.
	December 20	UN Security Council Resolution 1386 establishes ISAF.
2002
	April	Adoption of lead nation concept; United States to oversee Afghan National Army development.
	June 7	Emergency Loya Jirga elects Hamid Karzai as head of the Afghan Transitional Administration.
2003
	May 1	Rumsfeld declares end of “major combat” in Afghanistan.
	June	United States approves “Accelerating Success” concept.
	August	NATO assumes control of ISAF, replacing the rotating national command; it is NATO’s first deployment outside of Europe and North America.
	December	Loya Jirga ratifies new constitution.
2004
	October	Presidential elections; Karzai becomes first democratically elected head of Afghanistan.
2005
	September 18	Parliamentary elections; major victories for warlords and local strongmen.
2006
	Throughout	Regular Taliban offensives and anti-United States demonstrations occur in Afghanistan.
	September 11	US embassy and military command in Afghanistan publishes “Strategic Directive for Afghanistan.”
2007
	February	Bush updates Afghanistan policy.
2009
	January 20	Obama is inaugurated as 44th US president.
	January 22	Richard Holbrooke is selected for the newly created position of special representative for Afghanistan.
	March 27	Obama announces new strategy (“to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its safe havens in Pakistan, and to prevent their return to Pakistan or Afghanistan”) and sends an additional 4,000 soldiers.
	June 15	General Stanley A. McChrystal replaces General David D. McKiernan as commander in Afghanistan.
	August 20	Afghan presidential elections; Karzai is declared as winner in November.
	September 20	McChrystal assessment becomes public (leaked to press).
	December 1	Obama announces surge and sets July 2011 to start troop drawdown.
2010
	June 23	General David Petraeus replaces McChrystal as commander.
	September 18	Afghan parliamentary elections.
	November	NATO summit in Lisbon agrees to hand control of security to ANSF by end of 2014.
	December 1	2010 Afghanistan-Pakistan Annual Review outlines five lines of efforts; one of them is reconciliation.
	December 13	Richard Holbrooke dies.
2011
	Throughout	Exploratory talks between the United States and Taliban.
	February	Mark Grossman follows Richard Holbrooke as SRAP.
	May 1	Osama bin Laden is killed by US forces.
	June 22	Obama announces troop withdrawal timeline.
	September 13	Taliban attack on US embassy in Kabul.
	December 5	Second Bonn Conference.
2012
	December	Grossman resigns as SRAP; his deputy David D. Pearce takes over as acting SRAP.
2013
	May	Jim Dobbins takes over as SRAP.
	June 18	Abortive opening of Taliban office in Doha.
	June 19	Karzai suspends talks on bilateral security agreement with United States (which resumed later).
	November	Karzai refuses to sign BSA.
2014
	April 5	Afghan presidential election; second round held on June 14 between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.
	July	Jim Dobbins retires from his SRAP position; Jarrett Blanc becomes acting SRAP.
	September 21	Ghani is declared the winner of Afghan presidential election, but Abdullah disputes outcome. Some on Abdullah’s side threaten civil war. At US insistence, the two candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, form a unity government; Ghani becomes president and Abdullah chief executive.
	October	BSA is signed.
	December	ISAF mandate ends.
2015
	January 1	Operation Resolute Support succeeds ISAF to train, advise, and assist the ANSF.
	March	Obama delays troop withdrawal.
	July 29	Taliban confirm death of Mullah Mohammad Omar, announce Mullah Akhtar Mansour as his successor.
	September 28	Taliban temporarily capture Kunduz.
	November 17	Richard G. Olson is appointed as SRAP.
2016
	May 21	Taliban leader Mansour is killed in an air strike in Pakistan; Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada becomes successor.
	July 6	Obama announces that 8,400 US troops will remain in Afghanistan; NATO extends “Resolute Support Mission” beyond 2016.
	September 22	The Afghan government and Hizb-e-Islami sign a peace deal.
2017
	January 20	Trump is inaugurated as 45th US president.
	April 21	Taliban attack Afghan army headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif, killing 140.
	April 29	300 Marines are deployed to Helmand, where the Taliban are gaining control over an increasing number of districts.
	May 31	A bomb attack in Kabul close to the presidential palace and foreign embassies kills 150 people.
	August 21	Trump outlines his Afghanistan policy.
2018
	January 4	Trump suspends nearly all US security aid to Pakistan.
	February 14	Taliban issues “Letter to the American People” asking for peace talks.
	February 28	President Ashraf Ghani says the Afghan government is willing to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political party as part of a potential cease-fire agreement.
	June 8–10	After President Ghani announced a unilateral cease-fire for the end of Ramadan, the Taliban followed with their own three-day cease-fire over Eid al-Fitr.
	July	NATO extends “Resolute Support Mission” “until conditions indicate a change is appropriate.”
	September 5	Zalmay Khalilzad is appointed as US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation; US-Taliban talks begin.
2019
	September 7	After nine rounds of US-Taliban talks and an alleged agreement in principle, President Trump suspends the process due to objections from his administration and the Afghan government.
2020
	February 29	US and Taliban sign agreement.
	September 12	Afghan government begins talks with Taliban.