(pensive music) (text buzzing)
- [Narrator] May 1st, 2003.
The US declares war victory in Afghanistan.
- The bulk of this country today
is permissive, it's secure.
- [Narrator] The Taliban had been toppled only months
after 9/11, and there were some 13,000 NATO troops
in the country.
Fast forward nearly 20 years.
American soldiers have left, the Taliban have come back,
and the United Nations says civilian deaths
of women and children in Afghanistan
have hit record levels.
While it's difficult to map exactly
how much territory the group actually controls,
limited data suggests it's more than half of the country
with the insurgents claiming authority
over major border crossings and infrastructure.
- Many people, both inside and outside the country
have been surprised by the speed
and the scale of the Taliban's advances,
and by how fragile
the Afghan government's authority is looking.
- It's time to end America's longest war.
It's time for American troops to come home.
- [Narrator] Before Biden ordered America's troops to leave,
the US had been trying to exit for a while.
- And by the end of next year,
our war in Afghanistan will be over.
- [Narrator] But Taliban victories meant
that US soldiers remained
in the country much longer than intended.
- [Sune] And now the foreign troops have gone
and the Taliban is steadily taking over larger parts
of the country.
- [Narrator] Here's how the insurgent group
has expanded to become stronger than it's been in 20 years,
creating the conditions for potential chaos
as US troops leave behind a country
on the brink of civil war.
At the beginning of the war,
America's campaign in Afghanistan reached some milestones
in just a few months.
- When the US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan,
the Taliban had controlled the country for five years
after taking power following
an extremely violent civil war.
They'd imposed strick Islamic rule on Afghanistan.
All that changed after 9/11
when President Bush set out
to punish the group for harboring Al-Qaeda terrorists.
- The United States military has begun strikes
against Al-Qaeda terrorist training camps
and military installations
of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
- [Narrator] Bush deployed some 2,500 US troops
into the country,
causing the Taliban to abandon Kabul,
and soon thereafter Kandahar, their main stronghold.
- The Taliban were a broken force at that time.
They gave up barely without a fight
and melted back into society,
and retreated into villages.
Some Taliban commanders actually offered
to surrender in return for amnesty
but the US declined that offer
and wanted to keep fighting them.
They wanted to stamp out
every last terrorist from Afghanistan.
Instead, the Taliban regrouped in Pakistan
where they received shelter and support
with the aim of returning later.
- [Narrator] The Taliban began their resurgence
and by the middle of the decade,
they had launched hundreds
of suicide attacks and thousands of bombings,
killing hundreds of US soldiers.
(helicopter whirring)
So to counter their renewed presence,
Obama began deploying more forces in the region.
- The United States has conducted an operation
that killed Osama bin Laden,
the leader of Al-Qaeda.
- [Narrator] May 1st, 2011,
Osama bin Laden, the man held responsible
for the 9/11 attacks was killed
and around that period,
the number of US troops in Afghanistan hit a peak
of around 100,000.
(gun firing)
But policymakers and experts began
to question the effectiveness
of that large military presence.
- What became clear
was that the US counterinsurgency strategy
did not eradicate the Taliban.
In fact, some of the more controversial tactics
that the US used in Afghanistan,
such as night raids and arbitrary detentions,
and air strikes that sometimes killed civilians
created this contempt in local communities,
and actually helped the Taliban recruit more fighters.
- [Narrator] The Taliban's recruitment drive enabled them
to increase in numbers
and gain control of yet more territory,
launching near daily attacks
against the US and Afghan forces.
So with bin Laden dead and facing mounting pressure
from Democratic lawmakers in Congress,
Obama announced his plan to withdraw some 33,000 troops
from the region and transfer power
to the Afghan military.
- Our mission will change from combat to support.
By 2014, this process of transition will be complete,
and the Afghan people will be responsible
for their own security.
- That plan didn't work as intended.
The Afghan security forces were plagued
by problems that continued to haunt them,
such as corruption, which made them
an ineffective fighting force against the Taliban
who continued to fight,
allegedly armed and funded by Pakistan.
- [Narrator] The Afghan government has acknowledged problems
with effectiveness and corruption among its security forces
but told The Journal that corruption is decreasing.
And Pakistan's government has denied backing the Taliban
but says it has some limited influence over the group.
This map shows just how much territory
the Taliban had taken over in 2017.
- [Sune] The Taliban's gradual advances
across the country really began alarming people
in the capital.
- [Narrator] After NATO announced the end
of its combat mission,
(lively music)
the Taliban scored symbolic victory,
such as capturing the city of Kunduz.
(guns firing)
While mapping the Taliban's exactly presence
has been tricky in such a fluid situation,
some analysts have drawn maps based
on news reports and social media
that outline the group's territorial control from 2017.
At the time, the Afghan military
was already struggling to hold the Taliban back,
and Trump announced he was sending more troops.
- The security threats we face in Afghanistan,
and the broader region are immense.
- President Trump's announcement fueled the will
to fight among some fighters.
I remember speaking to young Taliban fighters
who said that they'd actually considered giving up the war
once the American troops left.
But once President Trump said he was gonna send more troops,
they said there was no way
they were gonna give up the fight.
- [Narrator] Around four years later, on July 4th, 2021,
US troops finally left Bagram,
their main base of operations in the country.
Meanwhile, the Taliban's expansion accelerated.
- We cannot continue this cycle of extending
or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan.
- [Narrator] As foreign troops pulled out,
insurgents took many districts
without having to fight.
The group has been trying to show a friendlier face,
posting propaganda videos purporting
to show Taliban fighters shaking hands
with Afghan soldiers
or guarding borders without disrupting trade.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] The Afghan government didn't respond
to a request for comment on these images.
Analysts say it's part of a campaign
to legitimize the insurgency
amid negotiations with the Afghan government.
While the Biden administration
says America's military campaign
has accomplished its objectives,
US air strikes against the Taliban
are expected to continue.
And America plans to keep monitoring terrorist threats.
People in Afghanistan question
what the Taliban's plans are,
and whether they can coexist with the Afghan government.
- The Taliban's gains raise two main risks for Afghanistan.
One, that the country might split possibly
along sectarian lines,
which could throw the country into another bloody civil war,
or that a fundamentalist Islamist group takes power
in Afghanistan again,
which would undermine the whole purpose of the war,
which was to eradicate terrorism risks from the country.
(dramatic music)