page_title: Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration
section_title: Afghanistan
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration / Middle East and Central Asia / Afghanistan
caption_attribution_description: English: President George W. Bush addresses the media at the Pentagon on Sept. 17, 2001, following a meeting with his national security team and leaders of the National Guard and Reserve forces. Seated at the left is National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
context_page_description: The foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration was the foreign policy of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. Bush's main foreign policy advisors were Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and Vice President Dick Cheney.
  Interactions with foreign nations during this period included diplomatic and military initiatives in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere. Critical geopolitical developments that occurred during Bush's presidency include the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent Global War On Terror. The administration also concluded several free-trade agreements during its tenure in office.
context_section_description: On September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes were flown into and destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane was aimed at the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after being averted by passengers from its target, believed to be the U.S. Capitol. These attacks were carried out by the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization led by mastermind Osama Bin Laden
  On September 14, 2001, Congress passed legislation titled Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, which was signed on September 18, 2001 by President Bush. It authorized the use of US Armed Forces against those responsible for the 9/11 attacks and those who harbored them.
  In a September 20, 2001 address to a joint session of congress, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and his organization Al-Qaeda, and issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, to "hand over the terrorists, or ... share in their fate".
  On October 7, 2001, the US led a NATO invasion of Afghanistan, instigating the "Global War on Terror" and what became the early phase of the US led-coalition War in Afghanistan. President Bush confirmed the strikes in his address to the nation, Bush stated that "Taliban military sites and terrorist training grounds would be targeted". "Food, medicine and supplies would be dropped to the starving and suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan". NATO forces scoured the region for 9/11 alleged mastermind Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist network Al-Qaeda and drove the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban regime, which was sheltering and providing sanctuary for Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, from power. However once Bin Laden left Afghanistan and took up sanctuary in Pakistan, Bush said that he was "not that concerned about him" as the Al-Qaeda leader continued to plot attacks against America.
  The main goals of the war were to defeat the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key al-Qaeda leaders. In December 2001, the Pentagon reported that the Taliban had been defeated, but cautioned that the war would go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Later that month the UN had installed the Afghan Transitional Administration chaired by Hamid Karzai. the U.S. under the Bush administration supported the new government of Karzai by maintaining a high level of troops to establish the authority of his government as well as combat Taliban insurgency. Both Afghanistan and the United States resumed diplomatic ties in late 2001. In 2002, based on UNICEF figures, Nicholas Kristof reported that "our invasion of Afghanistan may end up saving one million lives over the next decade" as the result of improved healthcare and greater access to humanitarian aid.
  Efforts to kill or capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden failed as he escaped a battle in December 2001 in the mountainous region of Tora Bora, which the Bush Administration later acknowledged to have resulted from a failure to commit enough U.S. ground troops. It was not until May 2011, two years after Bush left office, that bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces under the Obama administration. Bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remains at large.
  Despite the initial success in driving the Taliban from power in Kabul, by early 2003 the Taliban was regrouping, amassing new funds and recruits. The 2005 failure of Operation Red Wings showed that the Taliban had returned. In 2006, the Taliban insurgency appeared larger, fiercer and better organized than expected, with large-scale allied offensives such as Operation Mountain Thrust attaining limited success. As a result, in March 2007, the Bush Administration deployed another more than 3,500 troops to Afghanistan to expand the fight against the Taliban.
  In June 2004, United States Forces began Drone strikes in Pakistan during the administration of President Bush, along the Federal Tribal Areas against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
  Major criticisms started to emerge from international human rights organizations about the United States policy of detaining alleged Taliba
caption: President Bush addressing the media at the Pentagon, September 17, 2001
exif: {}