+ Congress Authorizes Military Response
Congress passes resolution authorizing President Bush "to use all necessary and appropriate force" against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks, their sponsors, and those who protected them. The bill passes the Senate by a vote of 98-0 and the House by a vote of 420-1.

+ National Security Team Plans for War
Bush assembles a meeting of the national security principals at Camp David. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz argues that it is the perfect time to move against additional state sponsors of terrorism, including Saddam Hussein. The president ultimately decides that the primary focus of the war will be on Afghanistan, and that the question of Iraq will be reconsidered later.

Bush agrees to adopt a plan proposed by CIA Director George Tenet: a covert war in which CIA paramilitary officers would link up with anti-Taliban guerrillas inside Afghanistan. They would later be joined by small special operations forces teams which would call in precision airstrikes on Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The next day, Bush signs the official Memorandum of Notification allowing the plan to proceed.

+ Bush Addresses Congress
Bush outlines his war plan to a joint session of Congress. Just before he delivers his speech, he instructs the military to begin planning for war.

+ "Operation Enduring Freedom"
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announces that the military action against terrorism will be called "Operation Enduring Freedom."

+ U.S. Troops to Uzbekistan
Shortly after Uzbekistan announces its agreement to allow U.S. troops and aircraft to base humanitarian and search-and-rescue operations there, 1,000 U.S. troops from the 10th Mountain Division are dispatched to the former Soviet republic.

+ Bombing Campaign Begins
U.S. and Britain begin airstrikes against Taliban government installations and Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. For the first several days, the strikes are intensive, but their effectiveness is questioned. The training camps had already been largely abandoned, and much of the Taliban infrastructure targeted by the strikes had been destroyed by decades of war. There were also civilian casualties.

+ Karzai Sneaks into Afghanistan
Exiled Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai decides to return in secret to Afghanistan in the hopes of leading an anti-Taliban uprising. He arrives at a small Pashtun village on the outskirts of Kandahar. Within days of his arrival, he finds himself surrounded by Taliban forces, and calls for help. America rushes in an airdrop of weapons. U.S. officials say that at his request, Karzai was airlifted out of Afghanistan with some of his senior supporters. Karzai has since denied that he left Afghanistan.

+ Beginning the Ground War, Special Forces Arrive in Afghanistan
In Operation Rhino--a highly publicized nighttime raid--Army Rangers and Delta Force operatives strike a Taliban compound in Khandahar and an airfield south of the city, and then promptly withdraw.

Meanwhile, two A-teams from the Army's 5th Special Forces Group are helicoptered in to join forces with Northern Alliance. One A-team joins General Rashid Dostum, whose forces are positioned 55 miles outside the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Further south, at Bagram airbase outside Kabul, another team joins General Fahim Kahn.

[Click here for a map.]

+ Taliban Executes Opposition Leader Abdul Haq
Abdul Haq, a Pashtun leader who had fought in the 1980s war against Soviet occupation, is captured and executed by the Taliban after he returns to Afghanistgan from exile in Pakistan. Considered to be one of a handful of Pashtun leaders who could form a unified post-Taliban government, Haq had been leading a small band of Pashtun warriors into the south of Afghanistan, hoping to spark an anti-Taliban rebellion.

+ Rumsfeld Acknowledges Ground Troops
For the first time, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld publicly acknowledges that there are "a very modest number" of ground troops in Afghanistan.

+ More Special Forces Arrive
Another A-team from the U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group arrives and meets up with Northern Alliance General Mohammed Atta. They plan to join with ODA 595 and General Dostum's forces to wage an assault on the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

+ U.S. Uses "Daisy Cutter" Bombs
The Pentagon confirms that the U.S. used two "daisy cutter" bombs against Taliban frontlines. These are the largest conventional bombs in the U.S. military arsenal, weighing 15,000 pounds.

+ Fall of Mazar-e-Sharif
In their first major victory, Northern Alliance forces, led by Dostum and Atta with American Special Forces, capture Taliban stronghold Mazar-e-Sharif. Thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda flee east to Kunduz. The fall of Mazar triggers the collapse of Taliban positions throughout the north.

[Click here for a map.]

+ Northern Alliance Takes Kabul and Herat
After weeks of American airstrikes around Bagram airbase, just north of Kabul, have weakened the Taliban's defense of the capital, Northern Alliance commander Fahim Kahn's forces sweep into the city, despite U.S. requests to stop short of the city gates.

Northern Alliance forces led by Ismail Khan also capture the key western city of Herat.

[Click here for a map.]

+ A-team joins Karzai
Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 574, a Special Forces A-team of eleven soldiers led by Capt. Jason Amerine, arrives in the Oruzgan province to join Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai. They hope to move south to take over Kandahar, the last Taliban stronghold. Karzai, his troops, and the A-team move into the regional capital of Tarin Kowt, where the local townspeople had recently overthrown the Taliban.

[Click here for a map.]

+ Bin Laden Lieutenant Believed Killed
U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld announces that he has authoritative intelligence reports indicating that Muhammad Atef, a senior deputy of Osama bin Laden, has been killed by U.S. airstrikes near Kabul.

+ Battle of Tarin Kowt
The Taliban sends a convoy of 1,000 soldiers north from Kandahar towards Tarin Kowt, where Karzai is based with his few dozen fighters and Special Forces ODA 574. For four hours U.S. warplanes attack the Taliban convoy, with assistance from Special Forces soldiers on the ground. The Taliban eventually retreat back to Kandahar.

+ Fall of Kunduz
After a two week siege by Northern Alliance forces and U.S. airstrikes, the Taliban-controlled city of Kunduz falls. It is the last major Taliban stronghold in Northern Afghanistan. Thousands of Taliban are taken prisoner. Those suspected of being Al Qaeda are transferred to American custody, and the remaining are turned over to Dostum and his troops.

[Click here for a map.]

+ Alleged Atrocities
In late August, 2002, Newsweek magazine reported on its investigation of claims that many of Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners were killed as they were being transported by the Northern Alliance from Kunduz to the nearby Sheberghan prison. Because U.S. Special Forces were rarely far from Dostum's side, it raises the question of whether they knew or could have prevented these alleged atrocities. The U.S. team with Gen. Dostum denies having any involvement in or knowledge of human rights abuses of prisoners.

+ Hundreds Killed at Prison Uprising
Taliban prisoners revolt at the Qala Jangi prison west of Mazar-e-Sharif. The prisoners gain access to Northern Alliance weapons, and a bloody battle ensues. Johnny "Mike" Spann, a CIA agent sent to question the prisoners, becomes the first American to die in combat in the war in Afghanistan when he is beaten to death. Eventually, U.S. airstrikes are called in to bomb the prison fortress. Hundreds are killed in the three-day uprising, including several Northern Alliance soldiers.

+ Marines Take Airbase
U.S. Marines seize an airstrip southwest of Khandahar which will become the first base in the country for regular U.S. troops.

+ Karzai Moves On Kandahar
Karzai's troops and his Special Forces A-Team begin to advance south towards Kandahar, the Taliban's last holdout. Simultaneously, forces led by commander Gul Agha Sherzai move toward the city from the south.

+ Alliance Leaders Announce Tora Bora Offensive
Commanders Hazrat Ali and Mohammed Zaman announce that the Northern Alliance will begin a ground offensive on the mountainous Tora Bora region, where it is believed Osama bin Laden is hiding, along with Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. The region has been under fire by heavy U.S. airstrikes for four days.

+ Worst Friendly Fire Incident
As they move south toward Kandahar, Karzai's forces meet strong resistance from the Taliban at the village of Shawali Kowt. U.S. Special Forces call in airstrikes, and a misdirected U.S. bomb explodes near Karzai's position, killing 3 U.S. soldier and at least 23 of Karzai's Afghani fighters. Dozens more, including all the members of A-Team 574 and Karzai himself, were wounded in the worst friendly fire incident of the war. As of September, 2002, an official investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing.

[Read accounts of the incident, and military commanders' responses.]

+ Omar Escapes Before Surrender of Kandahar
Marking the final collapse of the Taliban regime, Hamid Karzai, led by U.S. Special Forces, enters Kandahar, the last remaining Taliban stronghold in the country. Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, including Mullah Omar, have fled.

[Read accounts of the push towards Kandahar, and the final surrender, from Special Forces troops who were there.]

+ No Sign of Bin Laden at the End of Tora Bora Offensive
After two weeks of heavy U.S. bombing and ground fighting between Northern Alliance and Taliban forces in Tora Bora, Afghan commanders proclaim victory, as the last Al Qaeda troops retreat from their fortified mountain caves towards Pakistan.

Bin Laden himself remains unaccounted for. Hundreds of Al Qaeda operatives have been killed in the offensive; around 60 are captured and transferred to a U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many, including possibly bin Laden, have slipped across the border into Pakistan.

The bombing at Tora Bora also results in numerous civilian casualties. The U.S. and Afghan governments have made no official casualty estimates; news organizations say they have documented more than 400. Some groups suggest the actual number may be much higher.

[ Read first hand accounts of the Tora Bora offensive and military commanders' assessments of the operation.]