2021 Taliban offensive

Significance

The 2021 Taliban offensive ended the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan by bringing down the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and restoring Taliban control of the country. Despite a substantial numerical disadvantage in recorded force sizes, the Taliban achieved a decisive strategic outcome, in part through a continuation of negotiated and paid surrenders that had begun following the February 2020 US–Taliban deal. This bottom-up process of capitulation, proceeding from the village level upward, eroded the republic's territorial coherence before conventional resistance could consolidate. The Taliban victory carried widespread domestic and international consequences, including concerns over human rights and the potential proliferation of terrorism, marking a definitive conclusion to the U.S.-led intervention that had begun in 2001.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (24)