Introduction
Three days after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush stood before the ruins of the shattered World Trade Center and rallied his stunned and wounded nation: “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” The crowd responded with chants: “USA, USA, USA…” Within a month, America was at war in Afghanistan.
Thirteen years and more than 2,350 servicemember lives later, America is closing a chapter on the longest war in the nation’s history: Operation Enduring Freedom, the mission to rout al-Qaida and drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan.
During those long years, the U.S. military – along with its NATO partners – have battled insurgents and worked to establish and train Afghan security forces. Along the way, the military has changed the way it fights, first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq.
It has adopted tactics of counterinsurgency. It has faced threats including suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices and enemies who wear no uniforms and fight among civilians that the troops are pledged to protect.
At the height of the Afghan war, the U.S. fielded more than 100,000 ground troops. By the end of this year, the number will fall to fewer than 10,000. It has been a war with mixed results. A fledgling Afghan democracy is in place. The architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden is dead. But the Taliban remain bowed but not beaten. Going forward, the military’s primary mission is to advise and assist Afghan forces.
With the curtain coming down on combat operations, Stars and Stripes will spend the month of December looking back at the U.S. troops who have fought in the war, what they encountered, and how they coped.
On patrol
From the bitter cold winter at Valley Forge, to the mountains of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq, our soldiers have courageously answered when called, gone where ordered, and defended
our nation with honor.
-Solomon Ortiz
Weapons of War
After climbing a ridgeline, Pfc. Alexander Simpson, of 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment's Headquarters and Headquarters Troop reconnaissance platoon scans a nearby valley in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, shortly after sunrise July 13, 2007. (Mark St.Clair/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Colin Hankinson, of Richardson, Texas, left foreground, hustles from the belly of a Chinook helicopter during a July 18, 2007 air assault in Zabul Province, Afghanistan.(Monte Morin/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Troop C, 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment patrol in northeastern Konar province on Sept. 18, 2008. Commanders say they lack the troops to provide more than a fleeting presence in many parts of eastern Afghanistan, and with villages scattered across a rough, mountainous geography, searching for insurgents is difficult. (Michael Gisick/Stars and Stripes)
Second Lt. Seth Maldonado, of Long Island, N.Y., with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, walks through a poppy field during an April 9, 2009 patrol near the villages of Loy Kariz and Sawar Kariz, in Maiwand district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
First Lt. Ashton Ballesteros, of Grayson, Ga., with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, jumps over an irrigation ditch while on patrol near the village of Zangabad in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. April 27, 2009. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Tavon McAuley, of Durham, N.C. crouches as he runs for cover during a two-hour firefight between soldiers of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment and Taliban insurgents near the village of Zangabad in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. April 27, 2009. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
Staff Sgt. Dylan Lugibihl, of Napoleon, Ohio, with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, shouts orders during a firefight with Taliban insurgents near the village of Zangabad in Kanadahar province, Afghanistan. April 27, 2009. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Sal Prieto, of Kenosha, Wis., checks out a damaged grape hut after it was hit by a Hellfire missile near the village of Ashoque in Zhari district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Soldiers with Company B, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment had come under attack about three hours earlier at their outpost a short distance away. Dec. 3, 2009. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. paratroops kick in the door of a compound near a field where they'd just taken insurgent fire during a patrol on Feb. 22, 2010, in Bala Murghab. The soldiers have fought intense battles to win key terrain in this insurgent-controlled valley in Badghis province. (Dianna Cahn/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. soldiers are pelted by snow and debris as a Chinook helicopter lands to pick them up after a Feb. 24, 2010, mission in Wardak province.
(Heath Druzin/Stars and Stripes)
In the late winter slop of Wardak province, soldiers trudge through boot-sucking mud on their patrols on Feb. 26, 2010. The threat of roadside bombs and an opportunity to interact more with local Afghans has convinced soldiers in the province to reduce their driving to a minimum.
(Heath Druzin/Stars and Stripes)
Two Navy corpsmen shield Lance Cpl. Matthew W. McElhinney after he is hit in the lower back during an attack by the Taliban in Marjah province, March 10, 2010. McElhinney was airlifted to safety and survived. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
Staff Sgt. Christopher Whitman, of Clearwater, Fla., points out the location of the Taliban position and yells for his men to start firing on March 11, 2010 in Marjah, Afghanistan. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
Marines wade through an irrigation canal during a foot patrol to insert snipers who were to reconnoiter an area south of Patrol Base Mirage, headquarters of 3rd Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. (Matt MillhamStars and Stripes)
Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Timothy Gonski, front, and Sgt. Frank Iannaccone of Company C, 1st Battalion, 32 Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, inspect a wall after blowing an anti-personnel obstacle breaching system during Operation Steel Lion III on August 27, 2011, at Strong Point Alizi in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. (Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes)
Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, soldiers walk down Route Chicken to Checkpoint 1 to meet Afghan troops to start a search of Zardad village on Oct. 12, 2011. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Chris Ivy, 25, a team leader from 3rd Platoon, Troop A, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, lays on a mountain crest to provide overwatch for an element searching homes in a wash below, Sayed Kheyl, Afghanistan. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Pfc. Nathan Jackson with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment walks past a gas pump in the village of Danda Faqiran near the Pakistani border in eastern Afghanistan's Khost province.(Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment stationed at Combat Outpost Sabari, Khost province, Afghanistan scan the area after departing a CH-47 Chinook at the start of a multi-day air assault. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment patrol down a road near Combat Outpost Ghundy Ghar on Sept. 22, 2012, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. (Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Mario Davis, left, and Spc. Barry Josey of 2nd Brigade, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, watch a mountain pass on Feb. 19, 2004, as they try to intercept Taliban fighters. Davis is carrying an M-4 rifle, while Josey is equipped with an M-24. (Terry Boyd/Stars and Stripes)
An F-15E fighter jet takes off Sept. 5, 2007, from Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan in response to a call for air support from coalition forces in combat. (Bryan Mitchell/Stars and Stripes)
Senior Airman Justin Stoddard, a jet engine mechanic assigned to the 81st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, troubleshoots an A-10 at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on May 3, 2008. (Ben Bloker/Stars and Stripes)
A pilot from the 81st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron waits for the go ahead to taxi out for a combat mission from Bagram, Afghanistan, on May 4, 2008. (Ben Bloker/Stars and Stripes)
The first Apache helicopters to deploy to Afghanistan were up and running at the Kandahar Air Field on Jan 28, 2002. (David Josar/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Drew Wilkerson, top, looks through the scope of his M-14, while Sgt. Matthew Fillinger, scans the countryside after someone suspicious was seen on a hillside on March 24, 2005, in eastern Afghanistan. Both soldiers belonged to the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment's mortar section. (Michael A. Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A CH-47 Chinook helicopter with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, kicks up a huge swirl of dust July 31, 2009, as it touches down to drop off a 155 mm howitzer at a new base near the southern Afghan town of Spin Boldak, on the Pakistani border. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
The shadow of a Canadian Griffon escort helicopter skirts across the red sands of the Dasht-e-Margow, during a training mission south of Kandahar, Afghanistan on Jan. 30, 2009. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
Cpl. Igor Navarro, mans an M240 Bravo machine gun on a Canadian Griffon escort helicopter during a training mission over the red sands of the Dasht-e-Margow, south of Kandahar, Afghanistan on Jan. 30, 2009. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
A sniper team from the British 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment scans for enemy activity in Osman Kheyl, in Afghanistan's Kandahar province before an Aug. 7, 2008, meeting between village elders and Afghan and coaltion officials. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter flies over mountainous terrain in southeastern Afghanistan on Aug 28, 2008. The mountains and winter weather complicate the already formidable task of moving thousands of troops and their equipment in and out of Afghanistan. (Michael Gisick/Stars and Stripes)
Canadian soldiers with the Royal 22nd Regiment fire mortars at Taliban fighters shelling their fortified camp on Aug. 5, 2009, outside the village of Balanday, southwest of Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. (Drew Brown/Stars and Stripes)
An Afghan National Army soldier fires a 122 mm howitzer at Taliban positions during a clearing operation in Laghman province, Nov. 4, 2014.
(Josh Smith/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Zoellner, center, and Pvt. Joseph Kimsey, right, of Company F, 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, are dropped into the Registan Desert by Black Hawk helicopter for a mission south of Kandahar City, Afghanistan, on Oct. 5, 2011. (Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Alex Hatfield with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment test fires a mounted 50-caliber machine gun from a Stryker before leaving Forward Operating Base Pasab to conduct a partnered patrol with Afghan police in the local area north of the FOB in the Zhari southern Afghanistan's Kandahar Province on Oct. 21, 2013. (Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes)
Strykers -- some with mine rollers -- from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment sit silent at Forward Operating Base Zangabad in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar Province on Oct. 4, 2013. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
A soldier nicknamed ''Gizmo,'' from Germany's Platoon B, 2nd Infantry Company, Task Force Kunduz, Afghanistan, prepares for an Oct. 19, 2011 mission shortly after dawn. (Neil Shea/Stars and Stripes)
Afghan Special Forces soldiers sit in an Afghan Air Force Mil Mi-17 helicopter during a joint air assault exercise Jun 19, 2013, at Tarin Kowt in south-central Afghanistan. (Josh Smith/Stars and Stripes)
Czech Air Force 1st Lt. Miroslav Berger checks an Afghan Air Force Mil Mi-35 before a training flight at Kabul on July 1, 2013. (Josh Smith/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Ken Dicristofano, front, ducks away from a mortar blast at Combat Outpost Lybert in Nuristan Province, northeastern Afghanistan on Sept. 16, 2008. Commanders had told local villagers of plans to close the base before it was atttacked by insurgents on Sept. 11, killing one U.S. soldier. (Michael Gisick/Stars and Stripes)
Afghan soldiers conduct an exercise in the last remaining Soviet-era tanks in the Afghan army. Despite their age, they are deployed in small numbers against Taliban insurgents. (Josh Smith/Stars and Stripes)
Hearts and Minds