Afghanistan, From Bombing to Drawdown

October 7, 2001 -- Three weeks after the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush announces Operation Enduring Freedom, with U.S. military strikes against al- Qaida terrorist camps and Taliban bases in Afghanistan. In an

November 13, 2001 -- Northern Alliance and U.S. forces enter the Afghan capital, Kabul, forcing the Taliban to retreat and flee south toward Kandahar province.

December 5, 2001 -- The United Nations sponsors a conference in Germany with major Afghan factions. They sign an accord that lays out a road map for political development in post-war Afghanistan. The Bonn Agreement installs Hamid Karzai as Afghan interim

December 13, 2001 -- In eastern Afghanistan, the United States intensifies its bombing campaign in pursuit of al-Qaida fighters hiding in the hills of Tora Bora.

March 2, 2002 – U.S. forces launch their biggest ground offensive yet, Operation Anaconda, against several hundred al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in mountainous eastern Afghanistan. Here, a US Army Ch-47 Chinook helicopter comes in to land as an Army Apac

June, 2002 -- A grand council, known as a loya jirga, elects Hamid Karzai to lead Afghanistan’s transitional administration. The body will draft a new constitution and pave the way for elections in the next 18 months.

November, 2002 – The U.S. army creates military-civilian units, called provincial reconstruction teams, or PRTs as part of stabilization efforts. PRTs were designed to help deliver basic services including security, health care and education.

May 1, 2003 – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares an end to “major combat” in a briefing with reporters in Kabul. Eight thousand U.S. troops are stationed in Afghanistan at the time. Rumsfeld spoke as President Bush made a similar declaratio

August 8, 2003 – NATO assumes security in and around Kabul, the organization’s first commitment outside of Europe. This gives the alliance a leadership role in the United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force, known by the acronym ISAF

January, 4, 2004 -- A loya jirga adopts a new Afghan constitution. The move marks a major step toward holding the country's first free elections in more than two decades. In October, Mr. Karzai becomes the country's first democratically elected president,

October 29, 2004 -- Osama bin Laden releases a video tape to Arab television network al-Jazeera four days before the U.S. presidential election. In the video, the al-Qaida leader tells Americans their security does not depend on who is elected or al-Qaida

May 23, 2005 -- During President Karzai's visit to Washington, he and President Bush sign a joint declaration, re-emphasizing the strategic partnership between the United States and Afghanistan.

September 18, 2005 -- Afghanistan holds its first parliamentary elections, choosing 249 legislators and delegates to 34 provincial councils including, for the first time in Afghanistan, women. Nearly 600 women are among the six thousand candidates. The el

July, 2006 -- Fighting between Taliban and al-Qaida fighters and Afghan government forces intensifies.

May 13, 2007 -- The Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Dadullah, is killed in a U.S.-led operation in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. He was widely regarded as one of the militant group's most capable and ruthless commanders.

June 12, 2008 -- The international community pledges more than $20 billion in aid to Afghanistan at a donors' conference in Paris.

August 22, 2008 -- A coalition airstrike in Herat province's Shindand district kills civilians and militants. A U.S. military investigation concluded that more than 30 civilians died, not five as the U.S. military initially insisted.

Dec 1, 2009 -- President Obama announces his new strategy for winning the war in Afghanistan, which involves sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to the country by the summer of 2010. The added troops will join an estimated 68,000 U.S. service members and tens

U.S. Army cadets watch President Obama announce his strategy at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, December 1, 2009.

February 17, 2009 -- President Obama approves a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials say the total will come to 17,000, in addition to the 38,000 U.S. troops already in Afghanistan. And they say all th

March 27, 2009 -- President Obama announces a new strategy, linking success in Afghanistan to a stable Pakistan. He said the goal is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent its return to either country in the

May 11, 2009 -- Defense Secretary Gates replaces the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, with General Stanley McChrystal. Gates said it was time for fresh thinking and fresh eyes on the war in Afghanistan.

July 2009 -- U.S. Marines launch the first major offensive operation (Operation Khanjar, Strike of the Sword) under President Obama's revamped strategy to defeat an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency. Here, U.S. Marines walk at Camp Dwyer in Helmand

June 23, 2010 -- President Obama accepts the resignation of his top commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, and names General David Petraeus to replace him.

November 2010 -- At a NATO summit in Lisbon, NATO and Afghanistan sign an agreement marking the Atlantic alliance's commitment to the war-torn nation after it ends combat operations, ostensibly by the end of 2014.

May 1, 2011 -- President Obama tells the world that Osama bin Laden has been killed by U.S. special forces following an assault on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.