Crisis Chronology

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TALIBAN

08/14/2021

Taliban takes over economic center Mazar-i-Sharif and several other regional capitals. US Pres Biden sends thousands of troops to Kabul to facilitate evacuation of US personnel and those who have worked with them.

08/13/2021

Taliban takes Kandahar, Herat, Helmand, Uruzgan, and Ghor. They now control most of the country. US plans to evacuate embassy personnel in Kabul.

08/12/2021

Afghan government offers to share power with the Taliban in return for a cessation of violence. Taliban continues its acquisition of territory.

08/12/2021

Afghan government offers to share power with the Taliban in return for a cessation of violence. Taliban continues its acquisition of territory.

08/11/2021

Taliban continues to advance, securing the borders with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Afghan government sketches plan to fight the Taliban by organizing and arming local forces in coordination with the army.

08/10/2021

Taliban captures another provincial capital. Taliban fighters reportedly being told not to harm Afghan security forces. US negotiator Zalmay Khalilizad in Doha said to warn the Taliban not to capture Kabul, lest they risk international isolation.

08/09/2021

Taliban takes another provincial capital, Samangan of Samangan Province. Afghan government says it is trying to retake Kunduz. Substantial refugee flight to neighboring countries.

08/08/2021

Taliban capture capital of Kunduz province in the north, although the government says fighting is continuing. Taliban also captures capitals of Sar-e-Pol and Takhar provinces. Taliban spokesman says they have always had the capability of capturing major cities, but hoped that the government would negotiate. But when bombing increased, they decided to proceed militarily. They have shown little interest in recent negotiations.

08/07/2021

Taliban capture Sheberghan, provincial capital of Jawzjan. There are reports of US heavy bombing of Taliban positions elsewhere.

08/06/2021

Taliban capture Zaranj, provincial capital of Nimruz, the first major city they have reclaimed, also an important border crossing.

07/24/2021

Government imposes nighttime curfew in 31 of 34 provinces to curtail Taliban activity.

07/16/2021

Abdullah Abdullah leads negotiating group going to Qatar to talk with the Taliban. A separate group will go to Pakistan on 7/17.

05/03/2021

Taliban launch new wave of attacks now that US has missed a deadline for withdrawal.

03/31/2021

At a regional summit meeting in Tajikistan, Ghani says he will step down if elections are held. However, the Taliban feels it has won the war, with some justification, and shows no interest in negotiating away power. While it may have difficulty controlling warlords around the country, there seems little doubt that it will control the central government if a peace deal is reached.

03/31/2021

03/25/2021

US says it is unlikely to meet the 5/1 deadline for complete withdrawal of forces, but will probably withdraw all forces by 2022.

03/09/2021

US considering a draft peace plan that calls for the current government to be replaced with an interim administration and a joint commission to monitor a ceasefire until a new constitution is written and elections are held. It would allow for members of the Taliban to run for parliament and forbid terrorist activity of any kind and protect the rights of women. The Taliban would also have to give up their safe havens in other countries.

12/02/2020

Afghan government and Taliban agree on principles or procedures for peace negotiations.

10/19/2020

Taliban accuses the US of violating the agreement between. In dispute is a series of airstrikes in Afghanistan, which the US says was in defense of allied troops.

09/02/2020

Afghanistan releases two hundred more Taliban prisoners in an effort to resume peace talks. The Taliban releases six Afghan soldiers.

08/25/2020

Taliban claims responsibility for a bombing in the north. A Taliban official is in Pakistan for talks of an unspecified nature.

08/19/2020

Fourteen rockets strike the international Green Zone in Kabul. The Taliban denies responsibility for the attack.

05/24/2020

Afghan government agrees to Taliban proposal for a cease-fire during Eid, which begins on 5/25. Both also agree on new prisoner exchanges.

05/20/2020

Taliban peace negotiation leader Haibatullah Akhunzada, in an Eid message, says the Taliban is still committed to the peace deal with the US, despite its numerous attacks in Afghanistan.

05/10/2020

Retired general and former police chief Abdul Jalil Bakhtawar changes allegiance to support the Taliban.

04/13/2020

Taliban releases twenty prisoners in response to Afghan government’s release.

04/08/2020

Afghan government releases 100 Taliban prisoners.

04/07/2020

Taliban recalls its negotiators from Afghanistan, saying there has been no progress, and says that violence will increase.

04/01/2020

Taliban delegation arrives in Kabul to discuss prisoner exchange. A bombing in Helmand province kills 8. No group claims responsibility.

03/11/2020

Taliban rejects Afghan prisoner release, saying that the agreement specfies five thousand to be released without any conditions.

03/10/2020

Government announces it will release 1500 Taliban prisoners over the next fifteen days on condition that the Taliban release government soldiers and stop new incidents of violence.

03/02/2020

Taliban refuses to agree to a cease-fire or to negotiate with the Afghan government until Afghanistan releases 5000 prisoners.

03/02/2020

US says it will continue to withdraw military despite any violence by the Taliban.

03/01/2020

Ghani says that Afghanistan will not release any Taliban prisoners until the Taliban negotiates that and other points of contention directly with the Afghan government

02/28/2020

Afghan peace agreement

US and Taliban sign peace agreement that provides for withdrawal of all allied troops from Afghanistan, release of prisoners, and talks with the Afghan government. The US is to withdraw all of its roughly 12,000 remaining troops by April 2021 and will work with the UN to lift sanctions on the Taliban. About two-thirds of those troops are to leave within six months. In return, the Taliban have promised to cut ties with global terrorist groups and begin substantive power-sharing talks with the Afghan government. Crucially, the deal envisions the release of some 5,000 Taliban fighters currently imprisoned in Afghan jails in exchange for about 1,000 Afghan prisoners held by the rebel group.

02/21/2020

Reduction in violence for seven days begins. Five thousand prisoners are to be released as part of it, and the Taliban says it means complete withdrawal of all international forces in Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Pompeo says the Taliban will sign the larger agreement on 2/29 if the reduction holds.

02/13/2020

US announces an agreement for a seven-day reduction in Afghanistan with the Taliban. No date for its imposition is announced.

01/18/2020

Peace negotiations begin in Doha. Taliban offers 10-day truce. Afghan government demands complete cease-fire. Taliban had offered a cease-fire with US troops, a reduction in attacks on Afghan troops, and discussions with the Afghans if the Taliban reaches an agreement with the US in negotiations.

12/29/2019

Taliban confirms that it will resume negotiations with the US about Afghanistan.

11/29/2019

Taliban confirms that it has resumed negotiations with the US about Afghanistan.

09/16/2019

Explosion at a rally for Ghani, but he is unhurt. Taliban claims responsibility.

07/08/2019

At talks in Qatar, Afghan and Taliban officials agree to reduce violence.

05/30/2019

Taliban says that progress has been made in talks in Moscow with Afghan officials.

04/07/2019

Afghan government names a council to appoint negotiators with the Taliban and set a mandate for the talks. An informal meeting is scheduled for mid-April, and the Taliban announces that anyone who attends the meeting from their side would be going as a private individual.

03/15/2019

Afghan government officials warns against an agreement between the US and the Taliban that doesn’t “end in peace.” Afghans are concerned that an agreement might allow the Taliban to carry out further attacks. A Taliban representative says that the talks are aimed at a “solution in the future.”

03/12/2019

Negotiators in US-Taliban talks report progress, but no substantive accomplishment.

02/25/2019

Senior Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and US begin fifth round of peace talks in Doha.

02/05/2019

Taliban leaders meet with some Afghan politicians, including former president Hamid Karzai and Atta Mohammad Noor, a former governor and one of the leaders of Jamiat-e-Islami, a major political party, but no members of the current government.

01/31/2019

Afghan military and security losing ground to the Taliban. US military reports that the government controls about 54% of its territory and 64% of its population as of 10/18. The size of its military is also decreasing.

01/28/2019

US and Taliban agree to a general framework for negotiations for a peace agreement. Taliban requires a complete US troop withdrawal before a ceasefire; US wants to see that the ceasefire is holding before a complete withdrawal.

01/28/2019

01/25/2019

Progress in US-Taliban talks. Taliban reportedly agrees not to allow militant Islamist training camps in areas it controls.

01/22/2019

US and Taliban meet in Qatar while Taliban attacks continue in Afghanistan.

01/05/2019

Taliban says it will not be able to participate in peace talks in Saudi Arabia scheduled for next week because it cannot meet with the Afghan government.

12/17/2018

Taliban meeting with US in UAE.

08/10/2018

Taliban launches fierce attack on Ghazni, a strategically important city south of Kabul and north of Kandahar.

08/02/2018

Taliban reported to have eliminated the Islamic State in northern Afghanistan. Also, US forces have been told to restrict their operations to the more populated and strategically important areas of Afghanistan, in a strategy that has been employed in previous years.

07/19/2018

Taliban confirms that it has halted attacks on Afghan civilians since the recent ceasefire.

07/16/2018

There are reports that the US has said it is open to direct talks with the Taliban, with or without the Afghan government, though the latter is preferable.

06/30/2018

Afghan government ends ceasefire with Taliban but calls for peace talks.

06/18/2018

Taliban rejects Afghan government offer to extend ceasefire.

06/06/2018

Government orders a ceasefire with Taliban for Ramadan until 6/20.