is just an hour’s drive south of Tajikistan, a former Soviet state that has remained in Russia’s orbit.

“The idea of transition changed the way Afghanistan’s neighbors thought about the U.S. role,” said James Schwemlein, a former State Department official.

That same year, militant cells across Afghanistan began pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS that had swept across Iraq and Syria the year before. Unlike the Taliban, which was focused exclusively on dominating Afghanistan, the Islamic State had international ambitions. The group would go on to recruit thousands from majority-Muslim countries in Central Asia.

Together, the events represented a “first warning call” for Russia, said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and a former Russian army colonel. “The Russian military was veryare stationed in Afghanistan. 1989-1992

Afghan civil war. Kabul is razed by warlords jostling for power. 1991

The Soviet Union collapses. 1994

Mohammad Omar, the Muslim cleric who fought the Soviets, establishes the Taliban movement. 1996

The Taliban captures Kabul. Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s leader, returns to Afghanistan. 1996-1997

The State Department conducts talks with the Taliban about an oil pipeline going through Afghanistan. September 2001

The 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington leave thousands dead. Al-Qaeda claims responsibility. November 2001

U.S.-backed Afghan forces overthrow the Taliban. December 2001

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is established in Afghanistan. 2009-2011

During President Barack Obama’s surge, 140,000 foreign troops are stationed in Afghanistan. 2014

NATO-led combat forces withdraw from Afghanistan.



President Vladimir Putin expresses concern over the Islamic State threat in Afghanistan. 2015

The Taliban seize the strategic northern