what was the purpose of the war in afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present) The U.S. in their 2001 invasion was supported initially by the United Kingdom and Canada[52] and later by a coalition of over 40 countries, including all NATO members. The war's public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda and to deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power.[53] The War in Afghanistan is the longest war in United States history.[54][55][56][57][58]
Taliban's rise to power The first major military activity of the Taliban was in Octoberâ€“November 1994 when they marched from Maiwand in southern Afghanistan to capture Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces, losing only a few dozen men.[14] Starting with the capture of a border crossing and a huge ammunition dump from warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a few weeks later they freed "a convoy trying to open a trade route from Pakistan to Central Asia" from another group of warlords attempting to extort money.[15] In the next three months this hitherto "unknown force" took control of twelve of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, with Mujahideen warlords often surrendering to them without a fight and the "heavily armed population" giving up their weapons.[16] By September 1996 they had captured Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.