Afghanistan

Motives for Invasion

The U.S. wanted to invade Afghanistan for 3 main reasons.

Launch the War on Terror.
Remove the Taliban-controlled government from power.
Greatly weaken remaining Al-Qaeda forces taking refuge in Afghanistan by capturing high-value targets.

On October 7, 2001, the United States launched the War on Terror by conducting Operation: Enduring Freedom.

Operation: Enduring Freedom

On October 7, 2001, American forces rolled into Afghanistan and dismantled the Taliban-controlled Afghani government. The U.S. forces then captured all major Afghani cities. Losing these cities greatly weakened the remaining Al-Qaeda force inside of Afghanistan.

Operation: Enduring Freedom was able to accomplish its key objectives, and the operation concluded on December 31, 2014.

Operation: Freedom's Sentinel

On January 1, 2015, Operation: Freedom's Sentinel replaced Operation: Enduring Freedom. OEF's main goal was to invade Afghanistan and greatly weaken the remaining Al-Qaeda forces. Operation: Freedom's Sentinel shifted the focus of U.S. forces from combat operations to secure and stabilize operations. Operation: Freedom's Sentinel is a two-fold operation.

The first part of the operation, the U.S. did not take on alone, but rather worked with N.A.T.O. to train the Afghani forces to secure their country. The second part of the operation is to continually conduct counter-terrorism missions until the remaining Al-Qaeda forces are completely defeated.

Operation: Freedom's Sentinel is still being conducted to the present day.