BOMBING CAMPAIGN: On Oct. 7, 2001, American B-52s began dropping bombs on Taliban positions in Afghanistan after they refused to turn over Osama bin Laden. Credit: Getty Images
- BOMBING CAMPAIGN: On Oct. 7, 2001, American B-52s began dropping bombs on Taliban positions in Afghanistan after they refused to turn over Osama bin Laden.
- BOMBING CAMPAIGN: Sayed Hassan sits with his 10-year-old nephew, Noor Mohammed, who lost his right arm, left hand, and both eyes on Dec. 2, 2001 in Nangarhar province.
- KABUL CAPTURED: Northern Alliance soldier celebrates as Taliban retreat from Kabul on Nov 13, 2001. Children began flying kites, men shaved their beards while all chanted: LONG LIVE AMERICA! Unfortunately, this sentiment would be a short-lived one.
- RETURN OF THE KING: Afghans hold posters of King Zahir Shah in 2002, who came home for the first time in decades. Although a majority of delegates at the Loya Jirga wanted the King to be head of state, the U.S. forced him aside and installed Karzai.
- ASSASSINATION: The blood-drenched car of Afghan VP Haji Abdul Qadir who was killed on July 6, 2002 in Kabul. It would be the first of many high-level political assassinations.
- STARVING THE TALIBAN: In 2002, the International Committee of the Red Cross began feeding nearly 1000 Taliban prisoners who were starving to death at Sheberghan prison.
- STAY THE COURSE: George W. Bush and President Karzai after a White House news conference on May 23, 2005. They discussed U.S. prisoner abuse and Karzai inability to address the burgeoning opium trade.
- BAGRAM PROTESTS: Protesters are watched over by armed police during a demonstration outside Bagram Air Base in July 2005, triggered by reports of prison abuse, as angry mobs chanted: DIE AMERICA!
- KORENGAL: U.S. Army mortars explode on suspected Taliban insurgent positions during a firefight in 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan.
- JAILBREAK: 400 insurgents and 1000 criminals broke free in June, 2008 from Sarposa Prison in Kandahar after a brazen Taliban operation. The incident reversed years of coalition efforts and raised doubts about the ability of Karzai to bring stability to Afghanistan.
- SURGE: President Barack Obama greets cadets after announcing his misguided surge strategy at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009.
- PAKTIKA: US soldiers shield their eyes from the powerful rotor wash of a Chinook cargo helicopter as they are picked up from a mission October 15, 2009 in Paktika Province.
- CIVILIAN CASUALTIES: NATO planes hit two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban insurgents, killing at least 90 people, with at least 40 of those being civilians.
- QURAN BURNING PROTEST: Afghans shout anti-U.S. slogans during a protest In Jalalabad in reaction to an American church's plan to burn copies of the Quran in Sept. 2010.
- WE GOT HIM: Afghan customers at a tea house in Kabul watch news of bin Laden's death on May 2, 2011. Although the mastermind of 9/11 is now dead - life hasn't changed a bit for the Afghans.
- PERPETUAL WAR: Rare photo of Jalaluddin Haqqani, head of the murderous Haqqani Network in Northwest Pakistan in 2001. Afghanistan will likely never see peace so long as Pakistan continues to aid and abet insurgents.
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