The War in Afghanistan: Timeline

2001: In the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in New York, British Special Forces troops support US strikes on Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan. An interim Afghan government is established and an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) assembled to bring stability to the country.

2002: The British Army and Marines deploy units to Kabul as part of ISAF, in an operation named Herrick. The first British soldier is killed in Afghanistan. The British contingent of ISAF undertakes counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics operations, provides security in the capital, Kabul, and trains Afghan national security forces.

2003: NATO is given control of ISAF. ISAF’s remit is gradually expanded to cover the entire country to support the interim government and the electoral process and to restore infrastructure.

2004: Second British soldier killed. Announcement of large-scale deployment of British troops to Helmand, focusing on counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics operations.

2005: Construction work on the British base of Camp Bastion begun, including a standard tented field hospital facility.

2006–7: Britain’s Task Force Helmand, initially 3,300 personnel, deployed into the large, ethnically and tribally diverse province in the south of Afghanistan as Operation Herrick IV. The Task Force is not intended to be involved in day-to-day fighting, but is primarily meant to support development assistance to the Provincial Reconstruction Team working in the two major towns in Helmand: Lashkar Gah and Gereshk. The insurgency grows steadily, requiring troops to move into outlying towns and forward operating bases. From either larger forward operating bases or smaller patrol bases, either specially built or adapted from existed buildings (sometimes forts or more often ruins of compounds and villages), the British forces mount attacks on villages or settlements to clear them of insurgents. At its peak this Task Force would comprise almost ten thousand men and women, on six-month tours of duty, primarily rotating between Camp Bastion and a growing network of forward bases.

2008: Casualties mount, at least six thousand on all sides, requiring the tented hospital to be replaced by a hard-build facility at Camp Bastion.

2009: ‘Why we are in Afghanistan’ statement released via the MoD web site:

Our objective is clear and focused: to prevent Al Qaeda launching attacks on our streets and threatening legitimate government in Afghanistan and Pakistan.1

The year of the IED. Helmand is recognised as the most violent province in Afghanistan. Britain has 137 separate bases across the area, from smaller patrol bases to larger forts – forward operating bases. For the first time, most casualties coming into the Field Hospital at Camp Bastion are from mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), not gunshot or artillery wounds. The British are overwhelmed in the province and gradually hand over military operations to the US Marine Corps. They continue with efforts to train the Afghan National Army, to create stable governance structures and economic development. Troops continue to operate from forward operating bases to liaise with local populations. Special forces and intelligence assets are diverted from high-value work against commanders in the province to combat those building and laying IEDs.

2010: In the hospital at Bastion, this is known as ‘the year of the hammering’. IEDs continue to kill and maim, regardless of strategy, tactics or changes in vehicle armouring.

2011: The worst year for civilian casualties so far. Twenty-seven thousand people are displaced in Helmand Province.

2012: Britain announces it will begin to scale back its military involvement in Afghanistan, handing over to the Afghan National Army (ANA).

2013: Thousands of civilian deaths and displacements continue. Much of the Afghan refugee population that will eventually reach the shores of the Mediterranean begins its journey here.

2014: Britain withdraws the last of its forces from Afghanistan. Camp Bastion is handed over to the ANA, including a scaled-down hospital. ANA casualties remain steadily high. IEDs do not recognise the British withdrawal and continue to explode.