War in Afghanistan (2015–present)

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This article is about the war in Afghanistan from 2015 to the present. For U.S.-led phase of the conflict, see War in Afghanistan (2001–14). For other phases of the conflict, see War in Afghanistan (1978–present).
War in Afghanistan
Part of the war in Afghanistan (1978–present),
the NATO-led war in Afghanistan
Presentation of the Resolute Support Colors.jpg
ISAF troops changing mission and beginning the Resolute Support Mission
For a map of the current military situation in Afghanistan, as of 18 November 2015: see here.
Date 1 January 2015 – present (10 months, 3 weeks and 1 day)
Location Afghanistan
Status
  • Security and control of Afghanistan taken over by Afghan security forces
  • NATO implements a support mission
  • Continued counter-terror operations being conducted by NATO forces
  • ISIL establishes presence in Afghanistan and begins to recruit fighters[12]
  • U.S. halts withdrawal and prolongs presence in Afghanistan[14]
Belligerents

Afghanistan Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Allied militias

Coalition:

Afghanistan Taliban

Supported by:
 Pakistan[5][6]

 Iran[8][9] (Disputed)[10]

Allied groups

Taliban splinter groups

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant[12]

Allied groups
Commanders and leaders

Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani
(President of Afghanistan)
Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah
(CEO of Afghanistan)
Afghanistan Abdul Rashid Dostum
(Vice-President of Afghanistan)
Afghanistan Mohammad Mohaqiq
(Deputy CEO of Afghanistan)
Afghanistan Atta Muhammad Nur
(Governor of Balkh Province)
Afghanistan Bismillah Khan Mohammadi
(Defense Minister of Afghanistan)
Afghanistan Sher Mohammad Karimi
(Chief of Army Staff)
Coalition:

Afghanistan Akhtar Mansoor
(Supreme Commander)
[15]
Afghanistan Sirajuddin Haqqani
(Deputy of the Taliban)
[16]
Afghanistan Haibatullah Akhunzada
(Deputy of the Taliban)
[4]
Afghanistan Jalaluddin Haqqani
(Leader of Haqqani Network)
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
(Leader of HIG)
Flag of Jihad.svg Ayman al-Zawahiri
(Emir of al-Qaeda)

Afghanistan Mansoor Dadullah
(Commander of the Dadullah Front)[17][18]

Haji Najibullah
(Commander of Fidai Mahaz)[19]

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Hafiz Saeed Khan (ISIL Emir of Wilayat Khorasan)[20]
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Mullah Abdul Rauf †
(Deputy Emir)[21][22][23]
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost
(Top Wilayat Khorasan commander)[24][25]

Usman Ghazi[26][13]
Strength

Afghanistan ANSF: 352,000[27]

RSM: 13,000+[28]

Afghanistan Taliban: 60,000
(tentative estimate)[29]

HIG: 1,500 - 2,000+[33]
Flag of Jihad.svg al-Qaeda: 50–160[34][35][36]

Fidai Mahaz: 8,000[19]		  ISIL: 2,000+[37]
Casualties and losses

Afghan forces:

Coalition

  • 16 American soldiers killed[39]
  • 5 Nato/ISAF soldiers killed[39]

Taliban

Al Qaeda

ISIL

- 15 executed by the Taliban[44]

Civilians killed: 58 (2015–present)[45][46]

Further information: Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan (2001–14)

The War in Afghanistan (2015–present) refers to the period of the war in Afghanistan following the 2001–2014 phase led by the United States of America. The U.S.-led war followed the September 11 attacks, and it aimed to dismantle al-Qaeda by denying it a safe basis of operation in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power.[47][48] After 2001, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) became increasingly involved, eventually running combat operations, under the direction of a U.S. commander. On 28 December 2014, NATO formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan and transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government via a ceremony in Kabul, marking the beginning of the new phase of the conflict.[49][50]

The planned partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, as well as NATO troops, and the transfer of many combat roles from NATO forces to the Afghan security forces occurred between 2011 and 2014. A bilateral security agreement was signed between the US and Afghanistan that would allow NATO troops to remain after the withdrawal date in an advisory and counter-terrorism capacity.[51] The NATO troop presence would amount to approximately 13,000 troops including 9,800 Americans.[52]

Background[edit]

Withdrawal of Western troops[edit]

Further information: Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan

As early as November 2012, the U.S. was considering the precise configuration of their post-2014 presence in Afghanistan.[53][54] On 27 May 2014, President Barack Obama announced that U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan would end in December 2014. A residual force of 9,800 troops would remain in the country, training Afghan security forces and supporting counterterrorism operations against remnants of al-Qaeda. This force would be halved by the end of 2015, and consolidated at Bagram Air Base and in Kabul. Obama also announced all U.S. forces, with the exception of a "normal embassy presence," would be removed from Afghanistan by the end of 2016.[55] These plans were confirmed with the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement between the United States and Afghanistan on 30 September 2014.[56]

The Special Operations Joint Task Force – Afghanistan, the remnant U.S./NATO special forces organisation, includes a counter-terrorism task force. In the words of the U.S. Special Operations Command Factbook for 2015, this task force '..[c]onducts offensive operations in Afghanistan to degrade the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and the Haqqani Networks in order to prevent them from establishing operationally significant safe havens which threaten the stability and sovereignty of Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United States.'[57] This task force is similar to previous forces such as Task Force 373.

Conflict history[edit]

2015: Afghan forces take the lead[edit]

Further information: 2015 in Afghanistan

On 5 January, a suicide car bomber attacked the HQ of EUPOL Afghanistan in Kabul, killing 1 person and injuring 5. The Taliban claimed responsibility.[58] On January 15, Afghan security officials arrested five men in Kabul in relation to their suspected involvement in the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in Pakistan.[59] In mid-January 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant established a branch in Afghanistan called Wilayah Khorasan and began recruiting fighters[12] and clashing with the Taliban.[60][22] However, an Afghan military officer stated that he believed the Afghan military could handle any threat that the group presented in the country.[12]

American forces have increased raids against "Islamist militants", moving beyond counter-terrorism missions. This is partially due to improved relations with the United States due to the Ghani presidency. Reasoning used for these raids include protecting American forces, which has been broadly interpreted.[61] One raid, a joint raid by American and Afghan forces arrested six Taliban connected to the 2014 Peshawar school massacre.[62] American Secretary of Defense Ash Carter traveled to Afghanistan in February 2015;[63] during a period when it was discussed that the U.S. would slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan.[64]

In February 2015, the headquarters element of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division began to deploy to Afghanistan.[65] It will serve as the Resolute Support Mission's Train Advise Assist Command - South headquarters. It will be joined by 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.[66]

On 18 March 2015, Hafiz Wahidi, ISIL's replacement deputy Emir in Afghanistan, was killed by the Afghan Armed Forces, along with 9 other ISIL militants who were accompanying him.[43]

On 19 March 2015, it was reported by Reuters that the U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, a senior U.S. official said, as the Federal Government of the United States considers slowing its military withdrawal to help the new government fight the Taliban. The anticipated policy reversal reflects U.S. support of Afghanistan's new and more cooperative president, Ashraf Ghani, and a desire to avoid the collapse of local security forces that occurred in Iraq after the U.S. withdrawal there.

On 25 March, the Afghan National Army killed twenty-nine insurgents and injured twenty-one others in a series of operations in the Daikundi, Ghazni, and Parwan provinces.[40] 50 people, including one U.S. service member, died in a Taliban attack on Camp Integrity in Kabul in August.[67]

Kabul Parliament attack[edit]

Main article: 2015 Kabul Parliament attack

On June 22, 2015, the Taliban detonated a car bomb outside the National Assembly in Kabul, and Taliban fighters attacked the building with assault rifles and RPGs.[68][69] A Taliban fighter driving a car loaded with explosives managed to get though security checkpoints before detonating the vehicle outside the parliament's gates. Six Taliban insurgents with AK-47 rifles and RPGs took up positions in a construction site nearby.[70] Members of Parliament were evacuated to safety, while security forces battled the insurgents in a two-hour gun battle. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said all seven attackers were killed by police and no MPs were wounded.[71] The UN mission in Afghanistan said a woman and a child were killed in the attack, and forty civilians were injured.[72]

Taliban negotiations[edit]

Chinese officials have declared that Afghan stability affects separatist movements in the region, including in China's West[73] as well as the security of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.[74] China and Pakistan have been involved in negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.[73][75][76][77][78]

The bombing of the Kabul parliament has highlighted fractures within the Taliban in their approach to peace talks.[79][80]

Kunduz Offensive[edit]

Main article: Battle of Kunduz

Heavy fighting has occurred in the Kunduz province,[81][82] which was the site of clashes from 2009 onwards. In May, flights into the Northern city of Kunduz were suspended due to weeks of clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban outside the city.[83] The intensifying conflict in the Northern Char Dara District within the Kunduz province led the Afghan government to enlist local militia fighters to bolster opposition to the Taliban insurgency.[84] In June, the Taliban intensified attacks around the Northern city of Kunduz as part of a major offensive in an attempt to capture the city.[85][86][87] Tens of thousands of inhabitants have been displaced internally in Afghanistan by the fighting. The government recaptured the Char Dara district after roughly a month of fighting.[88]

In late September, Taliban forces launched an attack on Kunduz, seizing several outlying villages and entering the city. The Taliban stormed the regional hospital and clashed with security forces at the nearby university. The fighting saw the Taliban attack from four different districts: Chardara to the west, Aliabad to the south-west, Khanabad to the east and Imam Saheb to the north.[89][90] According to the Guardian the Taliban had taken the Zakhel and Ali Khel villages on the highway leading south, which connects the city to Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif through Aliabad district. The Taliban reportedly made their largest gains in the south-west of Kunduz, where some local communities had picked up weapons and supported the Taliban.[89] Taliban fighters had allegedly blocked the route to the Airport to prevent civilians fleeing the city.[91] One witness reported that the headquarters of the National Directorate of Security was set on fire.[92]

Taliban Infighting[edit]

On the 11th November 2015 it was reported that infighting had broken out between different Taliban factions in Zabul province. Fighters loyal to the new Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor fought a Pro-ISIS splinter faction led by Mullah Mansoor Dadullah. Even though Dadullah's faction enjoyed the support of foreign ISIS fighters including Uzbecks and Chechens it was reported that Mansoor's Taliban loyalists had the upper hand. According to Ghulam Jilani Farahi, provincial director of security in Zabul, more than 100 militants from both sides were killed since the fighting broke out.[93]

Afghan Security Forces[edit]

Further information: Afghan National Army § Current status

Afghan National Army[edit]

U.S. policy called for boosting the Afghan National Army to 134,000 soldiers by October 2010. By May 2010 the Afghan Army had accomplished this interim goal and was on track to reach its ultimate number of 171,000 by 2011.[94] This increase in Afghan troops allowed the U.S. to begin withdrawing its forces in July 2011.[95][96]

In 2010, the Afghan National Army had limited fighting capacity.[97] Even the best Afghan units lacked training, discipline and adequate reinforcements. In one new unit in Baghlan Province, soldiers had been found cowering in ditches rather than fighting.[98] Some were suspected of collaborating with the Taliban.[97] "They don't have the basics, so they lay down," said Capt. Michael Bell, who was one of a team of U.S. and Hungarian mentors tasked with training Afghan soldiers. "I ran around for an hour trying to get them to shoot, getting fired on. I couldn't get them to shoot their weapons."[97] In addition, 9 out of 10 soldiers in the Afghan National Army were illiterate.[99]

In early 2015, Philip Munch of the Afghanistan Analysts' Network wrote that '..the available evidence suggests that many senior ANSF members, in particular, use their positions to enrich themselves. Within the ANSF there are also strong external loyalties to factions who themselves compete for influence and access to resources. All this means that the ANSF may not work as they officially should. Rather it appears that the political economy of the ANSF prevents them from working like modern organisations – the very prerequisite' of the Resolute Support Mission.[100] Formal and informal income, Munch said, which can be generated through state positions, is rent-seeking – income without a corresponding investment of labour or capital. 'Reportedly, ANA appointees also often maintain clients, so that patron-client networks, structured into competing factions, can be traced within the ANA down to the lowest levels... There is evidence that Afghan officers and officials, especially in the higher echelons, appropriate large parts of the vast resource flows which are directed by international donors into the ANA.[101]

Afghan National Police[edit]

The Afghan National Police provides support to the Afghan army. Police officers in Afghanistan are also largely illiterate. Approximately 17 percent of them tested positive for illegal drugs in 2010. They were widely accused of demanding bribes.[102] Attempts to build a credible Afghan police force were faltering badly, according to NATO officials.[103] A quarter of the officers quit every year, making the Afghan government's goals of substantially building up the police force even harder to achieve.[103]

Allied militias[edit]

Main article: Jamiat-e Islami
Main article: National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan
Further information: Northern Alliance

Anti-Taliban militias[edit]

The two largest anti-Taliban militias are the mainly Tajik-led Jamiat-e Islami and the Uzbek-led Junbish-i-Milli. Jamiat-e Islami was active during the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the following civil war in Afghanistan.[104] Junbish-i-Milli was also involved in the civil war in Afghanistan. Both groups were members of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

Junbish-i-Milli is led by former General and current Vice President, Abdul Rashid Dostum. Atta Muhammad Nur, the Governor of Balkh province in Afghanistan serves as a prominent leader within Jamiat-e Islami, and has been responsible for mobilizing Jamiat forces against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. He has been joined by Dostum to form a coalition to fight the Taliban in the north.[105][1]

See also[edit]

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References[edit]

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