After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US under President George W. Bush made a request to the Taliban leadership to hand over Osama bin Laden, who was the prime suspect in the attacks. The Taliban refused to hand bin Laden over, demanding evidence of his participation in the attacks. Consequently, the US, together with its NATO allies, launched the United States invasion of Afghanistan, code-named Operation Enduring Freedom, on October 7, 2001. By December 17 that year, the US and its allies had driven the Taliban from power and begun building military bases near major cities across the country. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was later created by the United Nations Security Council to train Afghan National Security Forces to oversee military operations in the country so as to prevent any resurgence of the Taliban group. The Taliban launched numerous attacks on the Afghan forces, government facilities, and any organization that they believed were in alliance with the US.