<P> On November 11, in the central north of Afghanistan, ODA 586 was advising General Daoud Khan outside the city of Taloqan and coordinating a batch of preparatory airstrikes when the General surprised everyone by launching an impromptu massed infantry assault on the Taliban holding the city . Before the first bomb could be dropped, the city fell . </P> <P> On the night of 12 November, Taliban forces fled Kabul under cover of darkness . Northern Alliance forces (supported by ODA 555) arrived the following afternoon, encountering a group of about twenty fighters hiding in the city's park . This group was killed in a 15 - minute gun battle . After these forces were neutralized, Kabul was in the hands of coalition forces . </P> <P> The fall of Kabul started a cascading collapse of Taliban positions . Within 24 hours, all Afghan provinces along the Iranian border had fallen, including Herat . Local Pashtun commanders and warlords had taken over throughout northeastern Afghanistan, including Jalalabad . Taliban holdouts in the north fell back to the northern city of Kunduz . By 16 November, the Taliban's last stronghold in northern Afghanistan was under siege . Nearly 10,000 Taliban fighters, led by foreign fighters, continued to resist . By then, the Taliban had been forced back to their heartland in southeastern Afghanistan around Kandahar . </P> <P> Elsewhere in Afghanistan UK and US special forces joined the Northern Alliance and other Afghan opposition groups to take Herat in November 2001 . Canada and Australia also deployed forces . Other countries provided basing, access and overflight permission . </P>

Us involvement in afghanistan which began in 2001 quizlet