After the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001(9/11) that killed over 3,000 on U.S. soil, the United States vowed to hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice.

That hunt immediately led to Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda’s leaders were based, the home of the Taliban government harboring the Al Qaeda terror group that carried out the attacks.

US troop numbers grew as Washington poured in billions of dollars to fight a Taliban insurgency and fund reconstruction, peaking at about 110,000 in 2011.


THE HUMAN COST:

American service members killed in Afghanistan through April: 2,448.

US contractors: 3,846.

Afghan national military and police: 66,000.

Other allied service members, including from other NATO member states: 1,144.

Afghan civilians: 47,245.

Taliban and other opposition fighters: 51,191.

Aid workers: 444.

Journalists: 72.

How much money has been spent?

About $2 Trillion

The vast majority of spending in Afghanistan has come from the US.

Between 2010 to 2012, when the US for a time had more than 100,000 soldiers in the country, the cost of the war grew to almost $100bn a year, according to US government figures.



https://mobile.reuters.com/news/picture/the-longest-war-scenes-from-two-decades-idUSRTXFOTD0
Lalasticlala, Mynd44

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer artillery piece at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan, June 12, 2011.

An Afghan soldier attempts to break open a door as U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, look on during an operation to search for weapons in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district of Helmand province February 17, 2010.

Captain Melvin Cabebe with the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division stands near a burning M-ATV armored vehicle after it struck an improvised explosive device (IED) near Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar, July 23, 2010.

An Afghan man is detained by U.S. Marines from the First Battalion, Eighth Marines Bravo Company at their base in Talibjan after a battle against Taliban insurgents in Musa Qala district in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province November 7, 2010

Sgt. William Olas Bee, a U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmsir in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, May 18, 2008.

U.S. Army soldiers carry Sgt. Matt Krumwiede, who was wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED), towards a Blackhawk Medevac helicopter in southern Afghanistan June 12, 2012.

An Italian soldier from NATO cries as he carries a casket which contains the body of one of six Italian soldiers killed in Kabul, during a repatriation ceremony at the Kabul international airport, September 19, 2009.

A wounded Canadian soldier from the NATO-led coalition crawls for cover seconds after his position was hit by a Taliban shell fired from an 82-millimeter recoilless rifle during an ambush in Zhari district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, October 23, 2007.

Afghan troops and soldiers with the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division take up fighting positions after taking incoming fire at Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar, July 27, 2010.

U.S. troops from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) light candles during Christmas Eve celebrations at Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul, December 24, 2014.

Members of the U.S. Navy carry a comrade wounded by an explosion to a medevac helicopter in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, October 2, 2010.

Paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry board a waiting CH-47 Chinook helicopter as they begin a helicopter assault mission at Combat Outpost Herrera in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province, July 15, 2012.

The US led Afghan war can be termed the greatest money & drug laundering scheme by the Deep State of all time.

There's nothing to justify the lives lost on either side save for the Industrial Military Complex cashing out.

Terrorists yesterday, a Sovereign Government today.

A U.S. Army soldier with Charlie Company, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division blows a bubble with his chewing gum during a mission near Command Outpost Pa'in Kalay in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, February 3, 2013.

British soldiers from B Company, 2 Mercian, set off on an operation in Malgir, Helmand province, July 27, 2009.

Two 500 pound bombs explode at dusk on a Taliban fighting position near Blocking Position one above Kamdesh in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province, June 11, 2012.

A German Bundeswehr army paratrooper sniper of the Task Force Kunduz opens fire next to a mascot during a drill in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, December 8, 2010.

Heaven help those who help themselves.


USA helps county that helps themselves. It's obvious that Afghans love the Talibanis. So let them sort themselves.

USA doesn't have the funds to sink in a hole. That $2trn is what the USA government needs to invest on infrastructure in USA

Northern Alliance fighters ride on a T-62 tank past a dead body on the motorway 3 km north of Kabul, as Northern Alliance fighters approached the Afghan capital, November 13, 2001. Forces of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance entered Kabul on Tuesday after Taliban forces fled the capital, and were greeted by civilians.

An Afghan refugee girl in the Kili Faizu UNHCR Camp in Chaman, Pakistan reacts after spotting a jet flying overhead, November 10, 2001.

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters remains on the walls of a compound now used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010.

U.S. flight medic, SGT Billy Raines from CCO., 1-214 AVN Medevac task force Destiny, treats a wounded Afghan Army soldier during a Medevac flight in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province November 3, 2010.

U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Chris Sanderson, 24, from Flemington, New Jersey shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010.

A soldier with an injured ankle from the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division is assisted past his burning M-ATV armored vehicle after it struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a road near Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley in this picture taken July 23, 2010.

U.S. soldier Nicholas Dickhut from 5-20 infantry Regiment attached to 82nd Airborne points his rifle at a doorway after coming under fire by the Taliban while on patrol in Zharay district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan April 26, 2012.

An Afghan Army soldier fires a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at suspected Taliban militants as US Army soldiers crouch down at Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 27, 2010.

A rocket fired by U.S. soldiers from Dragon Troop of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment explodes next to a destroyed bus at operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan, December 31, 2014.

U.S. SPC Henry Rosenquist of 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior sits in the computer room in Honaker Miracle camp at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province, August 13, 2009.

A group of men detained for suspected Taliban activities are held for questioning at a schoolhouse in the village of Kuhak in Arghandab District, north of Kandahar, July 9, 2010.

U.S soldiers blow up a roadside bomb set up by Taliban fighters near the town of Walli Was in Paktika province, near the border with Pakistan, November 4, 2012.

Northern Alliance troops firing on Taliban positions in rugged territory outside the northeastern city of Taloqan, Afghanistan, in October 2001.

On their way into Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2001, Northern Alliance members found a Taliban fighter in a ditch and killed him.

An American B-52 bomber circled above Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, December 2001.

American soldiers at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, in August 2002.Credit...

Explorers pon the thread yeah yeah!!!!

Women in Kabul waiting to vote in October 2004. The landmark presidential election quickly fell into dispute.

Afghan police recruits being trained by DynCorp, a contractor for the U.S. government, in Kabul, in November 2005.

American soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division yelled to others to get out of the line of fire after being ambushed by Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, in June 2006.

Wounded soldiers in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan, in October 2007.

President George W. Bush with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan during a visit to Kabul, in December 2008.

Soldiers from the First Infantry Division on a foot patrol in Hutal, in the southern province of Kandahar, Afghanistan, in January 2009.

A German soldier burning a flare at a temporary campsite in the desert of Kunduz Province, in October 2009.

A bullet-pierced window at a Kabul guest house attacked by the Taliban, in November 2009.

war is a bad thing abeg

A suicide bomber struck near a hotel in Kabul in December 2009, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens.

Sgt. Grayson C. Colby, right, helped members of his medevac helicopter crew gather the remains of a fellow Marine who was killed by an improvised explosive device, in Helmand Province, in May 2010.

Members of the First Battalion, 87th Infantry, tended to a wounded comrade in Kunduz, in September 2010.

Soldiers boarded a transport helicopter in Kunduz, in March 2011.Credit...

Fighter jets on the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis flew sorties into Afghanistan from the North Arabian Sea, in January 2012.

The Kart-e-Sakhi cemetery in Kabul, in April 2016. More than 28,000 Afghan police officers and soldiers have been killed in the war since 2015, President Ashraf Ghani said last year.

Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where many veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried, in May 2018.

A funeral for one of the 63 people killed at a wedding in Kabul by an Islamic State suicide bomber, in August 2019.

President Barack Obama with cadets from the United States Military Academy at West Point, in December 2009.

President Donald J. Trump at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, in November 2019.

American soldiers on a transport plane about to land in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, in April 2010.

Two children passing members of a Taliban Red Unit, an elite force, in the Alingar district of Laghman, in March 2020.

A U.S. Army medevac crew member attempts to revive a Marine mortally wounded in an IED blast near the town of Marjah in Helmand province, August 22, 2010.

U.S. soldiers attend to a wounded soldier at the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 30, 2015.

A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment pays his respects during a memorial for Specialist Wyatt Martin and Sergeant First Class Ramon Morris at Bagram Air Field in the Parwan province of Afghanistan, December 23, 2014. Specialist Martin and Sergeant First Class Ramon were killed on December 12th by an improvised explosive device while on patrol near Bagram Air Field.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army's Alpha Battery, 425 Field Artillery, 3rd brigade of 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, New York, fire their 155 mm Howitzer in Cop Cherokee base in Kherwar district in Logar province, October 4, 2009

A U.S. soldier, wounded by sniper fire, is evacuated by his comrades in the village of Bargematal, Nuristan province, August 25, 2009.

U.S Army soldiers and an Afghan policeman look at the bodies of Taliban fighters after a 40-minute gun battle near the village of Shajoy in Zabol province March 22, 2008.

U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Chris Sanderson, 24, from Flemington, New Jersey shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010.

Afghan policemen stand next to a captured Taliban fighter after a gun battle near the village of Shajoy in Zabol province March 22, 2008.

Smoke and flames rise from fuel trucks after an overnight attack by the Taliban on the outskirts of Kabul, July 5, 2014.

Jake Beaudoin, a U.S. Army Private of 508 BSTB, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, takes cover during a controlled detonation to clear an area for setting up a check point in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, May 31, 2012.

Taliban fighters train with their weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan, July 14, 2009.

The roof of the Intercontinental hotel is lit up by an explosion during a battle between NATO-led forces and suicide bombers and Taliban insurgents in Kabul, June 2, 2011.

U r too much explorer..

Why is that it's only Muslim state that is experiencing war, terrorism and death?

This calls for urgent attention

An Afghan boy looks at a German armed forces Bundeswehr soldier during a patrol in a village in Kunduz province, April 26, 2009.

Canadian soldiers of NATO-led coalition take positions during patrol in stronghold of Panjwaii in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, April 11, 2009.

A US Marine Humvee kicks up dust as it crosses a group of Marine LAVs (Light Armoured Vehicles) as it leaves on patrol from the Marine base in southern Afghanistan, December 2, 2001.

An Afghan girl peers out from behind a wall at passing U.S. Marines driving inside light armored vehicles down Route 4 outside the Kandahar airport, December 27, 2001.

U.S. Marines escort battlefield detainees into a detention center at Kandahar International Airport, December 18, 2001.

U.S. Marines begin to form up their convoy at a staging area near Kandahar, as they await orders to begin their trek to Kandahar to take control of the airfield, December 13, 2001.

U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division soldier Jorge Avino from Miami, Florida carves the body count that their mortar team has chalked up on a rock, near the villages of Sherkhankheyl, Marzak and Bobelkiel, in Afghanistan, March 9, 2002.

An Afghan man and his son watch as soldiers from the US Army 82nd Airborne Division prepare to sweep their home on November 7, 2002, in southeastern Afghanistan.

Countless Lives lost (US military personnel and Afghan Civilians) for nothing, 20 years wasted

Afghan girls raise their hands during English class at the Bibi Mahroo high school in Kabul, Afghanistan, on November 22, 2006. Five years after the fall of the Taliban, millions of students have returned to packed schools, making education one of the few success stories in the struggle for a peaceful country.

US soldiers search for weapons on Afghan men, who work for a private security firm escorting truck convoys, after they found illegal weapons in their vehicle, in a village near Kandahar on April 27, 2008.

US soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division watch over Afghan prisoners during Operation Dragon Fury on June 2, 2003, in eastern Afghanistan.

Afghans carry the bodies of two children who they say were killed by US-led troops in Kabul early on Sept. 1, 2008. Hundreds of protesters blocked a road in Kabul accusing US-led troops of killing three members of a family, including two children, in a raid in the city, residents and witnesses said.

US Marines prepare to load a flag-draped transfer case holding the remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski at Dover Air Force Base on April 9, 2009, in Dover, Delaware. Oleski was killed on April 8 while supporting combat operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.

Casualty Affairs officer Capt. Miles Wilhelm comforts Tracy M. Hicks during the interment of her son Cpl. Darrion Terrell Hicks at Raleigh National Cemetery on Aug. 1, 2012, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hicks died from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device in Ghazni, Afghanistan on July 19, 2012.

US Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade walk toward helicopter transport as part of Operation Khanjar at Camp Dwyer in the Helmand province in Afghanistan on July 2, 2009.

Lt. Col. Christian Cabaniss speaks to his Marines at Camp Dwyer on July 1, 2009, in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The Marines are part of a stepped-up effort by American troops fighting Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.

A US Marine keeps watch as others search Afghans for weapons during a patrol in the Golestan district of Farah province, May 4, 2009.

US and Afghan Army soldiers question a farmer after a firefight with Taliban insurgents on March 14, 2010, at Howz-e-Madad in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

Marines prepare to carry Cpl. Jorge Villarreal to a medevac helicopter near Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge on October 17, 2010, in Kajaki, Afghanistan. Villarreal was killed on the patrol after stepping on an improvised explosive device.

Afghan women walk past a US soldier in Parwan province in January 2010.

Marines Lance Cpl. Michael Horne from 2nd Marine 8th Battalion gives a piece of candy to an Afghan boy in Sistani, Helmand province, on May 5, 2011, as the Marines search for insurgents.

A US service member salutes her fallen comrades during a memorial ceremony for six airmen killed in a suicide attack at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on Dec. 23, 2015.

Teri Johnson wraps her arms around her son's grave as hundreds gather to commemorate the lives of American veterans on Nov. 11, 2016, at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly Township, Michigan, for Veterans Day. Johnson's son, Joe, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

A U.S. soldier arrives on the scene where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul, on May 16, 2013. A Muslim militant group, Hizb-e-Islami, claimed responsibility for the early morning attack, killing many in the explosion and wounding tens, police and hospital officials

II Marine Logistics Group provide medical care to an Afghan Uniformed Police officer at Combat Outpost Musa Qa'la, on May 18, 2013. The AUP were patrolling through Musa Qa'la District when a roadside IED detonated. The police officer sustained injuries to his head and face, caused by shrapnel from the explosion.

Sophia Phillips plugs her ears as the firing party fires three rifle volleys for her father, US Army Staff Sergeant Francis G. Phillips IV, as members of the US Army honor guard perform a full military honors burial service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 20, 2013. Phillips, from Meridian, New York was killed in combat in the Maiwand district of Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device.

U.S. Army Sgt. Leroy Petry, who lost his right hand in 2008 while serving in Afghanistan, holds a baseball prior to delivering it to the mound for a Memorial Day baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners, on May 27, 2013, in Seattle.

Children run away after an explosion in Kabul, on May 24, 2013. Several large explosions rocked a busy area in the center of the Afghan capital, with Reuters witnesses describing shooting in the area.

A Mobile Strike Force Vehicle assigned to the Afghan National Army Mobile Strike Force Kandak, navigates through a series of obstacles at a rough terrain driving course on Camp Bastion, Helmand province, on May 13, 2013.

A trailer transports armored vehicles, used by NATO forces during the Afghan war, along a road after their arrival at Port Mohammad Bin Qasim, some 40 km (25 miles) from Karachi, on May 25, 2013.

A team of wrecker operators with Combat Logistics Battalion 6, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, hook a seven-ton truck chassis during vehicle recovery training at Twentynine Palms, California, May 25, 2013.

Soldiers from the Afghan National Army stand at the entrance of an old palace at ANA Forward Operating Base Muqor in Ghazni province, on May 28, 2013

An arrested Taliban fighter is displayed to the media in Panjwai district of Kandahar province, on May 28, 2013.

An Afghan policeman fires his weapon during a gun battle following a suicide attack in Kabul, on May 24, 2013. A suicide bomber struck in the heart of the Afghan capital, sending a plume of smoke billowing over Kabul.

A wounded Afghan policeman is carried away from the site of an explosion in Kabul, on May 24, 2013.

Afghan drug addict, Abdul Rahman, 44, exhales after smoking opium as his children watch him at his home in Laghman province, on May 21, 2013.

The number of Afghan heroin addicts tripled to 150,000, according to the United Nations, with 230,000 people using opium in 2012.