Poll support for afghan war plummets

Afghanistan War

  • First US soldier dies due to hostile fire.

  • The US and Britain launch bombs and cruise missiles against Taliban military and suspected terrorist camps.

  • Battle of Mazari Sharif

  • Northern Alliance fighters take Kabul, the capital of Afganistan.

  • Four foreign jounalists are ambushed and killed

  • Northern Alliance gained control of Kunduz, the last Taliban stronghold in Northern Afghanistan.

    Hundreds of prisoners are killed as well as 40 Alliance fighters and one U.S. CIA operative, Johnny Michael Spann. Spann becomes the first U.S. and Coalition combat casualty. A young American named John Walker Lindh is found in the midst of the rebellion and extradited to the US on terrorism charges.
  • The Battle of Tora Bora against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters; Osama bin Laden reportedly escapes during this battle.

  • The Bonn Agreement establishes the postwar system of government for Afghanistan, and establishes the International Security Assistance Force.

  • First US soldier dies due to hostile fire.

  • NATO officially takes command of peacekeeping in Afghanistan.

  • Afghan presidential election, 2004. In the country’s first direct election, Hamid Karzai wins the presidency with 55.4% of the vote.

  • The Afghanistan Compact is developed, establishing a framework of international cooperation with Afghanistan.

  • : Battle of Lashkagar. Taliban fighters attack a NATO base.

  • Operation Mountain Thrust is launched, the largest offensive since the fall of the Taliban.

  • 2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan begins.

  • Nangar Khel massacre - Eight civilians including a pregnant women and a baby died when Polish soldiers shelled the village of Nangar Khel. Seven soldiers have been charged with war crimes.

  • : 2008 Kandahar bombing kills 100 people, the deadliest suicide bombing of the war.

  • US vows to send 3,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

  • The Granai airstrike resulted in one of the highest civilian death tolls from Western military action since foreign forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001.

  • U.S. President Barack Obama announces Afghanistan War troop surge of 2009.

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    U.S. Surge to Afghanistan sees its peak, as 20,000 soldiers are deployed to the south

  • : Wikileaks releases 90,000 leaked documents pertaining to the war in Afghanistan.

  • The number one Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan, just miles from Islamabad.

  • A CH-47 Chinook helicopter transporting 30 U.S soldiers (including 17 Navy SEALs), 1 civilian interpreter and 7 Afghan troops is shot down in Wardak Province by RPG-wielding Taliban insurgents. There were no survivors of the crash. This incident marks th

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    Troops are still being sent home