So, you thought the U.S. military pulled out of Afghanistan?
After all, that’s what President Barack Obama indicated in December when he declared combat in the longest U.S. war was now history.
In fact, about 9,800 U.S. troops provide training and support in Afghanistan. They are to remain until the end of the year — a change from the Obama administration’s initial plan to reduce the number to 5,500. A military withdrawal is set be completed by end of the 2016.
The war was deadliest for the U.S. in 2010
The September 11, 2001, attacks led the United States to invade Afghanistan. The United States quickly dislodged the Taliban government that had sheltered Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, which orchestrated the terrorism. A U.S.-led coalition battled the Taliban for years after a new Afghan government took charge.
Nearly seven in 10 coalition military members killed in Afghanistan were Americans, though the United Kingdom also lost several hundred service members. Also killed: Military men and women from Canada, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
Some parts of the country are more dangerous
Southern Afghanistan has been home for much of the deadliest of fighting. That’s not too surprising: The Taliban had set up headquarters there in Kandahar. The U.S. ground war began there in 2001, and the Taliban capitulated Kandahar shortly after the Marines landed and took control of the airport.
The Taliban just won their biggest victory since 2001
The Taliban made headlines recently by capturing the northern city of Kunduz, the group’s biggest military victory since 2001. The group didn’t hold it for long, but the news took many by surprise. Experts who follow Afghanistan more closely say one reason for the Taliban’s resurgence is pervasive corruption in the Afghan government — ranked among the worst by Transparency International, a group that monitors global corruption.
Attack on hospital renews attention on the war
On October 3, not long after the Afghan military recaptured Kunduz from the Taliban, a U.S. gunship launched an airstrike and accidentally struck a Doctors Without Border hospital in that city, the U.S. military said.
The attack killed 12 medical staff members, seven adult patients and three children patients.
The bombardment of the Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian group’s outpost amounted to what the American said was a tragic mistake. It also put a sudden spotlight on how the United States remains rooted in Afghanistan despite popular perceptions to the contrary.