Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan marked its 10th year Friday having passed two major milestones : The Taliban has been forced out of power and Osama bin Laden is dead . But there was little observance by U.S. troops in Afghanistan , where a month earlier many participated in commemorations to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks . `` We really celebrated the 10th anniversary of 9/11 , and we were out here in Afghanistan , '' Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John Toolan Jr. , commanding general of ISAF troops in southern Afghanistan , told reporters during a briefing on Thursday . `` I think that to us it was a far more significant date than 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan because , really , when you look at the 10 years , you 're looking at different levels of forces , different levels of attention given to Afghanistan . '' The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan began October 7 , 2011 , with an air campaign that was followed within weeks by a ground invasion . President Barack Obama has called it `` the longest-running war in the nation 's history '' . The aim was to oust the Taliban and dismantle al Qaeda 's leadership , though the leaders of both groups -- Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden -- managed to escape capture . Bin Laden was killed in May during a raid by U.S. commandos on his hideout in Abbottabad , Pakistan . The whereabouts of Mullah Omar is unknown , and he has not been seen in public in years . As the United States turned its attention toward Iraq , insurgent violence in Afghanistan flared against Afghan civilians and security forces as well as the U.S. and its coalition partners . More than 2,700 troops from the United States and its partners have died during the 10 years of war , according to a CNN count . Of those , 1,780 were American , 382 were British and 157 were Canadian . Since the conflict began , the number of casualties has risen by the year , with a significant jump from 2008 to 2009 . At least 296 coalition troops died in 2008 . It nearly doubled in 2009 when 517 coalition troops were killed . That year , President Barack Obama authorized a surge of 33,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan to combat the violence . Two years later , the United States outlined its plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan , beginning with pulling the 33,000 surge troops by the end of 2012 and the remaining 68,000 by the end of 2014 . The move was followed by withdrawal announcements by most of the NATO nations . On Thursday , defense ministers from the 49 nations that make up the International Security Assistance Force pledged their support to Afghanistan even as they make plans to withdraw troops by 2014 . `` Let there be no mistake : transition is not departure . We will not take our leave when the Afghans take the lead , '' NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters Thursday in Brussels , Belgium . The ministers are scheduled to meet again in May in Chicago where Rasmussen said they will `` need to decide what more we will do . '' While NATO has insisted that the transition of security for the country to Afghan forces is conditions-based rather than calendar-driven , the clock is ticking on the withdrawal deadline . The planned withdrawal has raised a number of questions about the stability of Afghanistan , which has been hit by a wave of high-profile attacks in recent months that have jeopardized the peace negotiations . Last month 's turban bomb assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani , revered by many as a father of the Mujahideen movement that ousted the Soviets in the 1980s , appears to have dealt the biggest blow to the peace process . Rabbani was the chairman of President Hamid Karzai 's High Council for Peace , which has been trying for a year to foster dialogue with the Taliban -- a strategy that Karzai publicly abandoned following Rabbani 's killing . The war in Afghanistan , once viewed by a majority of Americans as a must , has become widely unpopular as concerns have shifted to the economy and job losses . In a new Pew Research Center report on war and sacrifice released this week , half of post-9/11 veterans said the Afghanistan war has been worth fighting . Only 44 % felt that way about Iraq , and one-third said both wars were worth the costs . Robert Messel is among those veterans who question the war . Messel , who was a freshman in college and a ROTC student on September 11 , 2001 , said he remembers thinking that the war in Afghanistan would be over before he joined the Army . But as the war continued , Messel said he began to have mixed feelings . `` I joined to defend the country , and I feel that a lot of the things we were doing were not exactly that , '' he said in a CNN iReport . `` In my opinion , it basically should have been limited to what we initially were going in to do : Hunt down bin Laden and the architects of the attacks . '' Messel said it is very difficult to look back objectively on the experience . `` You lost friends and made sacrifices . You do n't want to ever think that everything that happened was in vain , '' he said . But Asmatullah Kohistani has a different perspective on the war , which he says gave his family back their home and their livelihoods . He was 13 when he and his family fled their home in Afghanistan 's Kapisa province amid a civil war that would see the Taliban take control of the country . Driven out by bombardments and fighting , his family crossed into Pakistan , making their home in Islamabad . Kohistani , 28 , said `` everything changed '' after the Taliban were forced from power . Kohistani , who worked for a U.S. business for two years upon his return to Afghanistan , founded media startup Afghan123.com last year . `` ( E ) veryone can have a job and go to school ( now ) , and I can have my business , '' he said in a CNN iReport .
The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan began October 7 , 2001 , with an air campaign . More than 2,700 NATO troops have died during the war , according to a CNN count . Of those killed , More than 2,700 are American , 382 are Canadian and 382 are American , according to the count . The U.S. and most NATO nations have announced plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by October 7 , 2001 .