During the nearly 18 years since the United States went to war in Afghanistan, the number of U.S. troops there reached as high as 100,000 and then plummeted after the 2011 killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan to the some 14,000 today. Now President Donald Trump has abruptly called off negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban, the insurgent group toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, on a deal that would begin a final troop pullout as part of ending America’s longest war.
A timeline of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan:
Oct. 7, 2001: President George W. Bush announces that U.S. and British troops have begun striking Afghanistan for harboring the al-Qaida terrorists blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks. The massive air campaign initially targets Taliban troops, training camps and air defenses.
November 2001: 1,300 American troops are in the country as commandos and ground troops, mostly Marines, begin to arrive.
December 2001: The U.S. force grows to 2,500 as troops scour the mountainous Tora Bora region looking for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The Taliban is ousted and an interim Afghan government is established.