On the morning of 11 September 2001, two airplanes were flown by al~Qaeda operatives into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; one airplane was likewise flown into the Pentagon in Washington, DC; and a fourth airplane, believed to be headed toward the White House, was forced to crash to earth in Somerset County, Pennsylvania as a result of passenger takeover from its al~Qaeda hijackers.
In response to those attacks, the Global War On Terror was launched by President George W. Bush. The GWOT had two goals: 1.) to destroy al~Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist groups that had made Afghanistan their base of operations, and 2.) to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, believed to be a major sponsor of such terrorist groups. Intelligence agencies provided U.S. President Bush the information that Hussein was stockpiling WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) throughout Iraq. Assuming that the information fed to him was accurate, President Bush acted decisively and sent troops into Iraq (see Operation Iraqi Freedom).
Fifty-eight countries joined the United States of America in a coalition against the Taliban and al~Qaeda in Afghanistan. Although some countries contributed more to the effort than others, they included: Afghanistan, Australia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Belgium, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Canada, People's Republic of China, Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. The primary terrorist groups that made their base of operations in the hills of Afghanistan consisted of the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic movement also known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; and al~Qaeda, a Suni Islamic group founded by Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, among others, in 1988 to confront the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The movements of the terrorist groups were directed by Osama bin Laden, who evaded capture for years by hiding out in caves. His leadership came to an end in 2011. On 02 May 2011, a U.S. Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land Team), Robert J. O'Neill discovered and killed Osama bin Laden at Bilal Town, a suburb of Abbottabad, in Pakistan.
The Global War On Terrorism also struck at terrorist groups in the Philippines, Somalia and the Sahara. In the Philippines there was Abu Sayyaf, a Jihadist militant group based on Sunni Islamic principles; Jemaah Islamiyah; and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front organized to secure an autonomous state for the Moro people. In Somalia there were two groups: Harakat al~Shabaab al~Mujahideen, a jihadist fundamentalist group; and Hizbul Islam, a group formed by four Islamist groups aimed at fighting the legitimate Somali government. In the Sahara, the single terrorist group was the AQIM, the al~Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, organized to overthrow the government of Algeria.
Operation Enduring Freedom was begun on 07 October 2001. The United States launched airstrikes against the military presences located at Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan. The war quickly progressed into a stalemate in which the Taliban and al~Qaeda groups avoided direct battle with the Coalition forces while moving from one hideout to another in the mountainous terrain that makes up the Afghanistan landscape.
The number of U. S. troops assisting in the struggle peaked in November 2007, with 170,300 troops on the ground. But then U. S. President Barack Obama, in order to achieve a presidential campaign promise, announced in public that most of the United States troops would be withdrawn and returned home by August 2010. Only between 35,000 and 50,000 would be left in the war-torn country to assist in training the Iraqi army to take over its operations. By announcing its plans, and especially the date for the troop withdrawal, the Obama administration paved the way for ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) to move in and take over the territory that the Coalition had gained through the previous ten years of fighting.
A total of 1,369 troops were killed in action during the duration of Operation Enduring Freedom. Four hundred and seventy-two individuals died of wounds, and two died of terrorist activities. A total of 502 individuals died of non-hostile causes. The total number of troops wounded amounted to 20,093.
Despite the continuing minimal U.S. presence of peace-keeping troops in Afghanistan, active combat operations were ended on 31 December 2014.
The War in Afghanistan would continue until a chaotic and disastrous withdrawal by the Biden Administration on 30 August 2021. [See Operation Freedom's Sentinel]
From Bedford County, D. Scott McCune and his brother, Sean McCune both served in Afghanistan. Clint R. Matthews died in 2004 in the Afghanistan War. Gennifer E. Washington served in the U. S. Air Force from April 2001 to July 2004. Ben Yothers, of Breezewood, served in 2011. Benjamin Lieb served as a sergeant in the National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan during 2014 and 2015.
