<Li> U.S.--Afghan Strategic Agreement </Li> <P> The United States invasion of Afghanistan occurred after the September 11 attacks in late 2001, supported by close allies . The conflict is also known as the U.S. war in Afghanistan . Its public aims were to dismantle al - Qaeda, and to deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power . The United Kingdom was a key ally of the United States, offering support for military action from the start of preparations for the invasion . It followed the Afghan Civil War's 1996--2001 phase between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance groups, although the Taliban controlled 90% of the country by 2001 . </P> <P> U.S. President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden and expel al - Qaeda; bin Laden had already been wanted by the FBI since 1998 . The Taliban declined to extradite him unless given what they deemed convincing evidence of his involvement in the 9 / 11 attacks and ignored demands to shut down terrorist bases and hand over other terrorist suspects apart from bin Laden . The request was dismissed by the U.S. as a meaningless delaying tactic and it launched Operation Enduring Freedom on 7 October 2001 with the United Kingdom . The two were later joined by other forces, including the Northern Alliance troops on the ground . The U.S. and its allies rapidly drove the Taliban from power by 17 December 2001, and built military bases near major cities across the country . Most al - Qaeda and Taliban members were not captured, escaping to neighboring Pakistan or retreating to rural or remote mountainous regions during the Battle of Tora Bora . </P> <P> In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), to oversee military operations in the country and train Afghan National Security Forces . At the Bonn Conference in December 2001, Hamid Karzai was selected to head the Afghan Interim Administration, which after a 2002 loya jirga (grand assembly) in Kabul became the Afghan Transitional Administration . In the popular elections of 2004, Karzai was elected president of the country, now named the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan . In August 2003, NATO became involved as an alliance, taking the helm of ISAF . One portion of U.S. forces in Afghanistan operated under NATO command; the rest remained under direct U.S. command . Taliban leader Mullah Omar reorganized the movement, and in 2002, it launched an insurgency against the government and ISAF that continues to this day . </P>

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