The Iraq War (2003-2011)
In 2003, the United States and some other countries went to war with Iraq. They said they were trying to stop Iraq from using the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and wanted to remove its leader, Saddam Hussein, who was very strict and hurt a lot of people.
U.S. troops and their allies quickly defeated the Iraqi army, and people even helped pull down a big statue of Saddam in Baghdad. President George W. Bush said the big battles were over, but there was still a lot of fighting and problems afterward.
The U.S. made some big choices, like firing all the soldiers and government workers who had worked with Saddam. That left a lot of angry people without jobs, and some of them started fighting back.
Even though Iraq had elections and Saddam was captured and punished on December 14, 2003, the country has had a lot of violence and trouble ever since. Thousands of soldiers and many more Iraqi people died. And even today, Iraq still has struggles with peace and politics.
What happened during and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003?
In 1999, the United Nations Security Council made a rule called Resolution 1267. This rule said that two groups, al-Qaeda and the Taliban, were connected and both were dangerous. Because of that, the UN decided to punish them by freezing their money, stopping them from buying weapons, and not letting their leaders travel to other countries.
At that time, Osama bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaeda. He had moved his group from Pakistan to Sudan, and then back to Afghanistan. The Taliban was in control of Afghanistan and gave al-Qaeda a safe place to live and plan attacks. That’s why the UN treated them as a team and made these new rules to try and stop them.
In 2001, everything changed. The year began with the Taliban still in power in Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda using the country as a safe base. On September 9, al-Qaeda assassinated Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance and a major anti-Taliban force. Just two days later, on September 11, al-Qaeda launched the 9/11 attacks in the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people. This led President George W. Bush to declare a global war on terrorism and demand that the Taliban hand over bin Laden. When they refused, the U.S. began bombing Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan on October 7, starting the war known as Operation Enduring Freedom.
With help from U.S. airstrikes and special forces, the Northern Alliance quickly pushed the Taliban out of key cities, including Kabul, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif. By November, the Taliban were in full retreat. On December 5, Afghan factions (excluding the Taliban) met in Bonn, Germany, and agreed to form a new interim government led by Hamid Karzai, with support from the United Nations. Meanwhile, bin Laden escaped from U.S. and Afghan forces during the Battle of Tora Bora, likely fleeing into Pakistan.
By December 9, the Taliban surrendered Kandahar, marking the collapse of their regime. But though they were no longer in power, both the Taliban and al-Qaeda would continue to fight from the shadows in the years to come.
In 2002, there was still a lot of fighting going on in Afghanistan. In March, American and Afghan soldiers had a big battle with a group of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters hiding in the mountains. This was called Operation Anaconda. There were lots of soldiers, and they used helicopters, planes, and big weapons. The soldiers were trying to stop the bad guys from coming back after they had been kicked out of the cities the year before.
Later that year, people started working on making Afghanistan a safer and better place to live. In June, the country chose a new leader named Hamid Karzai during a big meeting with people from all over the country. He became the head of a new government. The United States and other countries said they wanted to help rebuild Afghanistan, fixing roads, schools, and homes. They made special teams to help towns stay safe and get the help they needed, but it wasn’t perfect, and some people said it was still messy and confusing. Still, it was the beginning of trying to build peace after the war.
What and how did the U.S. war in Afghanistan happen in 1999-2002?
On September 11, 2001, a terrible thing happened in the United States. A group of men who were part of a group called al Qaeda took control of four airplanes. They were not regular passengers they had a very bad plan. They used the planes as weapons to crash into places in America.
One plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City early in the morning. It caused a big fire and a lot of damage. People thought it was a terrible accident, but then a second plane hit the South Tower. That’s when everyone realized it wasn’t an accident — it was an attack.
The crashes caused huge explosions and fires. The buildings were so badly damaged that they fell down not long after. When the towers collapsed, they destroyed nearby buildings and filled the city with smoke and dust. A lot of people died, and many others were hurt or lost their loved ones.
Another plane hit the Pentagon, which is a big building in Virginia where the U.S. military makes important decisions. A fourth plane was also taken over, but the passengers on that plane fought back against the hijackers. The plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania instead of hitting another target.
The people who did this were part of al Qaeda, a terrorist group led by a man named Osama bin Laden. They were angry about America’s actions in the Middle East, but what they did was wrong and hurt a lot of innocent people. Some of the attackers had even lived in the U.S. and learned how to fly planes here.
The planes that were hijacked all took off from airports on the East Coast — in Boston, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey. They were headed to California, which meant they had lots of fuel. The attackers used this to cause bigger explosions. This day changed the world forever and led the U.S. to take big steps to try to stop future attacks.
How did the terrorist attacks happen?
The Persian Gulf War started in 1991 after Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, invaded the small nearby country of Kuwait in August 1990. He claimed Kuwait was stealing oil from a shared oil field and wanted them and Saudi Arabia to erase Iraq’s huge debt. When he refused to leave Kuwait, even after the United Nations told him to, countries like the U.S., Egypt, and Saudi Arabia stepped in. The U.S. led a military attack called Operation Desert Storm, which began in January 1991 with powerful air strikes.
This war had roots in an earlier fight between Iraq and Iran that lasted through the 1980s. That war had ended in 1988, but Iraq was still struggling financially and politically. Saddam Hussein had just given a speech blaming Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for Iraq’s problems, saying they were helping to keep oil prices low and hurting Iraq’s economy. Even though leaders from Egypt tried to stop things from getting worse, Hussein ignored them and invaded Kuwait anyway on August 2, 1990.
Hussein thought other Arab countries would support him or at least stay out of it, but he was wrong. Most of the Arab League spoke out against Iraq’s invasion. Saudi Arabia got nervous that Iraq might come after them next, so they asked for help from the United States and NATO. After weeks of bombing and ground attacks, the U.S. and its allies forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. By the end of February 1991, President George H.W. Bush announced a cease-fire, and the war was over.
How did the war happen?
In 1948, after Israel became a country, many Arab nations were very upset. They believed the land of Palestine should belong to Muslims, not to a new Jewish state. So, a group of countries called the Arab League, like Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and others, attacked Israel. The war caused a lot of people to leave their homes. Many Arab people ran away from the fighting and ended up in places called the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. At the same time, many Jewish people had to leave Arab countries and moved to Israel.
The fighting stopped in 1949 when both sides agreed to an armistice, which means they would stop fighting. After that, Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip, and Jordan controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But even though the fighting stopped, people were still angry, and peace didn’t last long.
When did the conflict between Israel and Palestine begin, and how?
In 2004, the U.S. government, led by President George W. Bush, said that Iraq had dangerous weapons. Things like poison gas, germs, and possibly nuclear bombs. These are called weapons of mass destruction, or WMDs. The U.S. used this claim as a main reason to go to war with Iraq in 2003.
But by 2004, the U.S. realized they had made a big mistake. They didn’t find any of those weapons. A man named David Kay, who was sent to search for them, told Congress “We were almost all wrong.” A year later, a big investigation confirmed that all the warnings and reports about Iraq’s weapons were false.
After the war started, Iraq became very chaotic. A terrorist group called al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) began doing terrible things like suicide bombings. These are attacks where someone purposely blows themselves up to kill others. They attacked places important to Shiite Muslims (one of the main groups of Muslims in Iraq), trying to cause hate and fighting between different religious groups in the country. It worked, and it made things even more violent.
In one city, Fallujah, things got really bad. Four Americans working there were attacked, killed, and their bodies were burned and hung from a bridge. This was shown on TV all over the world.
Then, something else terrible came out. Pictures and videos showing U.S. soldiers treating Iraqi prisoners very badly in a place called Abu Ghraib prison. Some of the prisoners were tortured. Some U.S. soldiers were sent to jail for this, but people were mad that the commanders and governments weren’t punished for this.
Later, a man named Nicholas Berg, an American, was kidnapped and killed by a group that said they were getting revenge for the prison abuse. The U.S. blamed a terrorist leader named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for this.
The U.S. and Iraqi soldiers then launched a huge attack on Fallujah, where many insurgents (people fighting against the government and U.S. troops) were hiding. It was a hard battle. Many soldiers died, and a lot of Iraqis were killed too, including civilians.
Even though there was so much violence, 2005 was a big year for Iraq. The people had a chance to vote on a new constitution and later for a new government. Many Iraqis, especially Shiite Muslims, proudly voted, hoping their country could move toward peace and a better future.
What were the major turning points in the Iraq War during 2004?
In May 2003, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared that the period of “major combat” in Afghanistan was over, saying the country was now moving into a phase of stabilization and rebuilding. This statement came as the U.S. also declared an end to combat in Iraq, showing how attention was starting to shift away from Afghanistan. Only around 8,000 U.S. troops were in the country, and it was hoped that aid organizations could now do more rebuilding work.
In August 2003, NATO officially took over leadership of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. This marked NATO’s first military mission outside of Europe. ISAF was originally tasked with protecting Kabul, but its role expanded over time, eventually growing to around 65,000 troops from 42 countries. The shift showed growing international involvement but also signaled how unstable the country still was.
In January 2004, Afghanistan approved a new constitution after a large assembly of delegates met in Kabul. The new document established a strong presidential system and was designed to bring together the country’s many ethnic groups. It was considered a step forward in creating democratic institutions.
Then on October 9, 2004, Afghans went to the polls for the first presidential election in their history. Hamid Karzai won the vote with 55% support, becoming Afghanistan’s first democratically elected president. The election was seen as a huge achievement, though it was marred by accusations of fraud and some violence.
In May 2005, Presidents Bush and Karzai signed a strategic partnership agreement. It confirmed long-term U.S. support for Afghanistan’s security and reconstruction. The agreement also gave the U.S. access to Afghan military facilities and reaffirmed America’s role in training Afghan security forces.
On September 18, 2005, Afghanistan held its first parliamentary elections in over 30 years. Over six million people voted, and nearly half of them were women. Seats were reserved in parliament for female representatives, signaling progress in women’s political participation in a very conservative society.
In July 2006, Afghanistan saw a sharp rise in violence. The number of suicide bombings jumped, and remotely detonated bombs more than doubled from the year before. Many blamed the rise in violence on a weak central government and poor public services, which allowed the Taliban to gain ground, especially in the south.
Later that year, in November, NATO leaders met and discussed the slow progress in Afghanistan. Some countries were hesitant to send more troops or remove restrictions on what their soldiers could do. The lack of unity and rising danger made it harder for NATO and Afghan forces to secure the country effectively.
In May 2007, a top Taliban commander named Mullah Dadullah was killed in a joint operation by Afghan, NATO, and U.S. troops. He was known for ordering suicide bombings and kidnappings and was a major figure in the Taliban’s southern insurgency. His death was seen as a blow to the Taliban, though they quickly replaced him.
Despite this success, 2007 saw the Taliban expand its attacks further across the country. They began operating more in the east and central regions, proving they were regaining strength. U.S. officials began realizing that the war would take longer than expected and that the Taliban had not been defeated, only weakened.
In August 2008, a U.S. airstrike in Herat Province mistakenly killed dozens of Afghan civilians, drawing outrage from Afghans and President Karzai. The Taliban used these tragedies in propaganda to claim that foreign troops couldn’t protect the people. Incidents like this hurt public trust in the international mission.
The U.S. military began to rethink its strategy. General Stanley McChrystal, appointed the following year, would later order changes to airstrike rules, trying to prevent more civilian deaths. Leaders realized that winning Afghan support was just as important as winning battles.
In February 2009, President Obama, newly in office, announced a troop increase of 17,000 soldiers for Afghanistan. He said the U.S. would focus more on Afghanistan than Iraq. The new plan aimed to fight the Taliban, train Afghan forces, and stop terrorists from crossing over from Pakistan.
Then, in March, Obama announced a new strategy linking Afghanistan’s success to Pakistan’s stability. The U.S. would give more aid to Pakistan, focus on fighting al-Qaeda, and add another 4,000 troops to train Afghan forces. The strategy included measuring progress and setting clearer goals for the war.
What major events happened in 2003-2009?
While people were watching the shocking news from New York, something just as terrible happened in Washington, D.C. Another hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, flew right over the city and then crashed into the Pentagon, which is where the U.S. military leaders work. The crash happened at 9:45 a.m. and caused a huge fire because the plane was full of jet fuel. The fire was so powerful that part of the building collapsed. 125 people inside the Pentagon were killed, along with all 64 people on the plane.
Back in New York, things got even worse. Just before 10:00 a.m., the South Tower of the World Trade Center suddenly collapsed. The fire caused by the plane crash had burned so hot that the steel inside the building couldn’t stay strong anymore. The whole tower fell down in a huge cloud of smoke, ash, and debris, shocking everyone who saw it.
A little later, the North Tower also collapsed at 10:30 a.m. The destruction was massive, and only 18 people inside the towers when they fell managed to survive. Most of the survivors were in a part of the building where the stairs didn’t completely break, and one woman made it out even though the stairs around her were falling apart.
Almost 10,000 other people were hurt that day — some with very bad injuries. Firefighters, police, and emergency workers rushed to help, risking their own lives to try and save others. It was one of the most tragic days in American history, and it changed the country forever.
What else happened during the terrorist attacks?
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and other world leaders quickly spoke out against it. The United Nations also demanded that Iraq leave Kuwait. Just days later, Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd asked the U.S. for military help to protect his country from a possible attack. Soon after, American fighter planes and troops arrived in Saudi Arabia in a mission called Operation Desert Shield. They were joined by forces from other NATO countries, Egypt, and several Arab nations, forming a large group to stop Iraq if needed.
On August 8, Iraq officially claimed Kuwait as part of its own country, calling it the "19th province." Iraq’s army in Kuwait grew to 300,000 soldiers. To try to get support from other Muslim countries, Saddam Hussein called for a jihad (a holy war) against the countries joining together to stop him. He also tried to gain sympathy by connecting his actions to the Palestinian cause, offering to leave Kuwait if Israel would leave areas it had occupied. But those ideas didn’t work, and instead, Hussein rushed to make peace with Iran so he could bring more troops into the fight.
As things got more serious, the United Nations gave Iraq a final warning to leave Kuwait by January 15, 1991, or face military force. By that time, the group of countries working together against Iraq had grown to include 750,000 troops, with most of them from the United States. Other nations like Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and even the Soviet Union joined in. Iraq did have a few supporters like Jordan, Algeria, Sudan, Yemen, Tunisia, and the PLO, but the majority of the world stood against Iraq’s invasion.
On January 17, 1991, when Iraq didn’t leave Kuwait, the war officially began. A huge air attack called Operation Desert Storm started early that morning. It hit Iraq’s air defenses first, then moved on to important targets like weapons factories, oil centers, and communication lines. The U.S. and its allies used advanced technology like Stealth bombers that were hard to detect, Cruise missiles, and smart bombs guided by lasers, along with special gear that let them see and attack at night.
When have the war begun?
In 1956, Israel joined with Great Britain and France to try to take back the Suez Canal in Egypt. This canal is very important because it connects two big seas, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Britain and France had controlled the canal before, but Egypt took it after becoming an independent country. Even though Israel and its friends were winning, the United Nations and the United States told them to stop. So they backed down, and Egypt kept the canal.
In 1967, another war started, called the Six-Day War, because it only lasted six days. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria all attacked Israel again. But Israel was very fast and strong. They won the war and took control of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and a place called the Golan Heights.
What happened next during the conflict?
In 2006, a holy Shiite mosque in Iraq was destroyed by Sunni extremists, which caused a lot of anger and fighting between Sunnis and Shiites all over the country. The violence got so bad that July became the deadliest month for Iraqi civilians.
Iraq held elections, and a Shiite group chose Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister. He tried to include all groups in his government, including Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds.
The U.S. killed a terrorist leader named Zarqawi, who had led many violent attacks. His death gave people some hope, but the fighting didn’t stop.
Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s former dictator, was found guilty of serious crimes and was lynched (hanged to death). His death caused more division. Some people celebrated, others were angry.
That same year, Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, stepped down after heavy criticism, and Robert Gates replaced him.
In 2007, President George W. Bush announced a “new plan” for the war in Iraq. He said the U.S. would send 20,000 more troops to try to make Baghdad and other places safer. This plan became known as “the surge.”
A top general named David Petraeus was put in charge. He had helped rewrite how the U.S. was fighting the war, focusing more on protecting people and winning their trust instead of just battling enemies.
At the same time, the U.S. started working with Sunni tribes, many of whom had once fought against them. These Sunnis formed “Awakening Councils” to fight against a terrorist group called al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). This new teamwork helped reduce some of the violence, especially in a place called Anbar Province.
But the war was still very dangerous. A horrible attack happened in northern Iraq when suicide bombers used trucks to blow up villages where a group called the Yazidis lived. It was the deadliest attack since the war began.
Also, the leader of the Sunni Awakening, Sheikh Abu Risha, was killed by a bomb just days after he met with President Bush. Many believed enemies targeted him because he had helped the U.S.
In the south, British soldiers gave control of Basra (Iraq’s second-biggest city) back to Iraqi forces. But after they left, the city became more dangerous, with gangs and militias taking over.
Even though some things improved, 2007 was the deadliest year for American troops in the war—900 U.S. soldiers died that year. By then, nearly 4,000 U.S. troops had died overall, and about 30,000 were wounded.
What major changes happened in the Iraq War during 2006 and 2007?
In June 2010, General Stanley McChrystal was removed from his role after a magazine article quoted him and his team criticizing U.S. leaders. President Obama replaced him with General David Petraeus, who had led the successful Iraq surge. The strategy in Afghanistan remained focused on counterinsurgency—clearing Taliban areas and building Afghan capacity.
Then, in November 2010, NATO announced a timetable for handing over security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. The first transition was set to begin in July 2011, along with a small drawdown of U.S. troops. While this gave Afghans hope for taking charge of their country, many worried that Afghan forces were not yet ready.
On May 1, 2011, U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, ending a nearly ten-year manhunt. Bin Laden was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his death led to growing calls in the U.S. to end the war in Afghanistan. Many in Afghanistan, including President Hamid Karzai, used the moment to argue that the true fight was in Pakistan, where many insurgents were hiding—not in Afghan villages.
On June 22, President Barack Obama announced a troop drawdown, stating that 33,000 “surge” troops would leave by mid-2012, starting with 10,000 by the end of 2011. Even as combat continued, the U.S. began preliminary peace talks with the Taliban. Meanwhile, the war hit its 10-year mark in October with 100,000 U.S. troops still deployed. The Bonn Conference in December aimed to map out Afghanistan’s future but failed to set a clear transition plan, especially after Pakistan boycotted the event.
In early 2012, there was hope for peace when the Taliban agreed to open an office in Qatar, but by March, they pulled out of the talks, accusing the U.S. of breaking promises. The situation worsened with multiple scandals, including a U.S. soldier murdering 16 Afghan civilians, and the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base. These incidents caused widespread protests and increased tensions between the Afghan public and international forces.
Amid the anger, Afghan President Karzai demanded that NATO troops pull back from villages and stay on bases. Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced it would end most combat operations by mid-2013. The year highlighted how difficult it would be to finish the war cleanly while trying to support Afghan forces and maintain public trust.
In June 2013, Afghan forces officially took over all security responsibilities across the country. NATO’s mission shifted to support and counterterrorism, and Afghan soldiers became the main line of defense. On the same day, it was announced that peace talks with the Taliban would resume in Qatar, but President Karzai quickly pulled out, believing the Taliban’s new office was acting like an embassy for a rival government.
Also in 2013, negotiations began for a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) to allow U.S. forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Karzai delayed signing the agreement, demanding new conditions. This created uncertainty for NATO and the Afghan military as they faced a growing Taliban insurgency with little clarity on long-term U.S. support.
On May 27, 2014, President Obama announced a plan to end America’s longest war. He said most U.S. forces would leave by the end of 2016, with only 9,800 troops staying after 2014 to train Afghan forces and fight al-Qaeda. While many welcomed the plan, others warned it might be too soon, given the Taliban’s growing strength and the fragile state of Afghan institutions.
Later that year, Ashraf Ghani became Afghanistan’s new president after a bitterly contested election. His opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, challenged the results and threatened mass protests. The U.S., led by Secretary of State John Kerry, brokered a power-sharing deal that made Ghani president and Abdullah chief executive. While the deal prevented violence, it created a divided and often dysfunctional government, just as the Taliban was regaining ground in rural areas.
What major events happened in 2010-2014?
United Flight 93 was the fourth plane hijacked on September 11, 2001. It took off from Newark, New Jersey, and was headed to California. Because the flight had been delayed, passengers onboard found out about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon through phone calls to their families. Once they realized their plane was also part of the terrorist plot, they decided to fight back against the hijackers.
Several passengers and flight attendants bravely planned to stop the hijackers from reaching their target. One man, Thomas Burnett Jr., told his wife they were going to do something. Another passenger, Todd Beamer, was heard saying “Let’s roll” before joining the effort. A flight attendant, Sandy Bradshaw, said she was preparing to throw boiling water at the hijackers. The group charged toward the cockpit, using anything they could as weapons.
During the struggle, the plane flipped and crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:10 a.m. All 44 people on board, including the hijackers, died. Even though we don’t know for sure where the hijackers were planning to go, many believe their target may have been the White House, the Capitol, or another important location in Washington, D.C.
In total, 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including the 19 terrorists. At the World Trade Center, 2,763 lives were lost, including hundreds of firefighters and police officers who were trying to save others. At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed, and all 44 people on Flight 93 died when the plane crashed during the passengers' brave attempt to stop the attack.
That evening, President George W. Bush spoke to the nation from the White House. He said that even though buildings were destroyed, the spirit of America was not broken. He promised that the United States would find those responsible and hold them and anyone who helped them accountable.
Less than a month later, the U.S. began Operation Enduring Freedom to fight back against the terrorists and the Taliban in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden was hiding. U.S. forces continued to search for him for almost 10 years. On May 2, 2011, he was finally found and killed in Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan went on for many years, and it wasn’t until August 2021 that all American troops were withdrawn.
What happened next during the terrorist attacks?
By the middle of February 1991, the air attacks were working well, so the coalition forces decided it was time to go in on the ground. On February 24, a huge group of soldiers from the U.S. and other countries launched a new part of the war called Operation Desert Sabre. They moved from Saudi Arabia into Kuwait and southern Iraq to push the Iraqi army out. The plan worked fast. In just four days, the coalition forces had beaten the Iraqi soldiers and freed Kuwait.
At the same time, American troops made a surprise move by going into Iraq from the west, sneaking around to attack from behind. This helped stop Iraq’s strong Republican Guard from fighting back too much. The last big battle happened near a city called Al-Basrah, but the Iraqi soldiers were defeated by February 27. Just like that, Kuwait was free again, and the ground war ended in only a few days.
What did the coalition forces do to defeat the Iraqi soldiers?
In 1973, Egypt and Syria tried to take back the land they had lost. They started their attack on a very special day for Jewish people, called Yom Kippur. But even with the surprise, Egypt couldn’t get back the Sinai Peninsula, and Syria couldn’t take the Golan Heights. Israel stayed stronger than its neighbors and kept the land.
Then in 1978, something big happened. The United States helped Egypt and Israel try to make peace. Egypt’s president and Israel’s leader went to a place called Camp David and talked with U.S. President Jimmy Carter. After 12 days, they agreed to stop fighting. This was called the Camp David Accords.
What did Egypt and Syria do when Israel took over?
In 2008, Iraq made a new rule that let some people who used to work for the old government come back to work again. But they still hadn’t figured out how to fairly share money from oil or hold local elections everywhere.
The leader of Iran, President Ahmadinejad, came to visit Iraq. This was a big deal because the two countries had a really bad war in the 1980s and no Iranian president had visited since then.
In Baghdad and Basra, two big cities in Iraq, fighting broke out. A group of fighters led by a leader named Muqtada al-Sadr attacked American and Iraqi soldiers. Iraq’s Prime Minister, Maliki, fought back hard against those fighters, which made some people think he was being fair to everyone, not just helping his own group.
President George W. Bush chose General Petraeus to be in charge of U.S. military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Another general, Raymond Odierno, took over Petraeus’s old job in Iraq.
In a place called Anbar, which used to be very dangerous, American soldiers handed over control to the Iraqi army. This was a sign that the U.S. was starting to leave.
Later that month, Iraq’s leaders passed a law to let most provinces vote for local leaders by January 2009.
In November, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. He said he wanted U.S. soldiers out of Iraq in 16 months.
A few weeks later, Iraq’s parliament agreed to a deal with the U.S. that said American troops would leave by 2011. Obama asked the current Defense Secretary, Mr. Gates, to keep doing his job, even though Gates had once been against setting a date to leave. But now, he said the new deal made it okay.
President Obama kept a promise he made during his campaign. He said U.S. combat troops would leave Iraq by August 2010. But some soldiers—between 35,000 and 50,000—would stay to help train and support Iraqi forces until the end of 2011. This was a big step toward ending the war, but some experts worried it might be happening too fast. Defense Secretary Gates said the U.S. might need to keep a small group of troops there after 2011 if Iraq asked.
By June 30, 2009, U.S. combat troops pulled out of Baghdad and other cities. This was part of an agreement between the U.S. and Iraq called SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement), which said U.S. troops had to leave the cities by that date and leave the country completely by 2011. Over 150 U.S. bases in the cities were closed. Prime Minister Maliki said it was a "great victory" and even made it a national holiday. But not everyone was sure Iraq’s own soldiers were ready to protect the country by themselves.
Some U.S. troops stayed behind in certain dangerous places, like parts of Baghdad and the city of Mosul, to help out longer.
In December 2009, something big happened. It was the first full month since the war started where no U.S. soldiers were killed in combat. Earlier that year, May had been the worst month, with 17 soldiers killed in fighting and 8 others dying from other causes. All together, 149 U.S. troops died in Iraq in 2009, which was the lowest number since the war began in 2003.
What major changes happened in the Iraq War during 2008 and 2009?
In April 2017, the United States dropped its biggest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat. It’s called the “MOAB,” which stands for “Massive Ordnance Air Blast,” but people call it the “Mother of All Bombs.” The U.S. dropped it on a network of caves in a part of Afghanistan called Nangarhar Province, where fighters from a group called ISIS were hiding. This happened not long after Donald Trump became president. He had given the military more power to make decisions without asking him every time. Even with this strong action, another group called the Taliban was still very powerful in Afghanistan. At the time, the U.S. had nearly 9,000 troops there, and many American contractors too. But despite all the help, the war wasn’t being won. The Taliban still controlled a large part of the country, and deadly suicide bombings were happening more often in the capital city, Kabul.
In August of that same year, President Trump made a big announcement about how the U.S. would handle the war in Afghanistan. Even though his first thought was to pull out the troops and end the war, he decided to stay instead. He said the U.S. would keep helping the Afghan government and military until the situation got better. He didn’t want to set a timeline, like saying “we’ll leave by this date,” because he thought it was better to wait and see how things went. He also asked India to do more to help rebuild Afghanistan and criticized Pakistan for secretly helping Taliban fighters hide. Trump said the U.S. military would be allowed to fight harder and with fewer restrictions. But even with these changes, there was no peace in sight, and the Taliban still refused to talk about ending the war.
By January 2018, the Taliban were launching even more deadly attacks, especially in the capital, Kabul. A series of bombings and shootings killed over 115 people. These attacks happened even though the U.S. had started sending more troops into rural areas to help Afghan soldiers fight better. The U.S. also began bombing drug-making labs because the Taliban were making money from selling illegal drugs like opium. At the same time, President Trump stopped sending military aid to Pakistan. He said Pakistan had been dishonest and was helping Taliban fighters instead of stopping them. Even though the U.S. was trying new ways to weaken the Taliban, the violence kept growing.
Inside Afghanistan, political troubles made things even harder. The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, was dealing with problems inside his own government. One big issue was a power struggle with a provincial governor, which distracted leaders from focusing on the war. Many Afghan people were frustrated, saying the leaders were more focused on fighting each other than protecting the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban kept getting stronger, and Afghan soldiers and police were suffering heavy losses. People began to feel like the war had no end in sight, even with more help from the U.S. military.
In 2019, there was finally a sign of possible peace. The U.S. started high-level talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar. The main U.S. negotiator was a man named Zalmay Khalilzad, and he met with a top Taliban leader named Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. They talked about making a deal: the U.S. would pull out its troops if the Taliban promised not to let terrorist groups like al-Qaeda or ISIS use Afghanistan as a base. President Trump was thinking about pulling out 7,000 U.S. troops, which would be half of what was left there. But the U.S. also wanted the Taliban to agree to a real peace deal with the Afghan government, and that was still a big challenge. No one was sure if the Taliban would really stop fighting once the Americans left.
Then in September, something surprising happened. President Trump suddenly canceled the peace talks. He had planned a secret meeting at Camp David with the Taliban and Afghan President Ghani, but he called it off after a U.S. soldier was killed in a Taliban attack. Trump tweeted that the Taliban couldn’t be trusted if they were still killing Americans while trying to make peace. The Taliban were disappointed and warned that stopping the talks would lead to more violence. Although the peace deal was almost done, trust between the sides was still very weak, and the fighting in Afghanistan continued.
What major events happened in 2017-2019?
After the 9/11 attacks, the United States decided to create a new department to help keep the country safe. This new group is called the Department of Homeland Security, and it was started in 2002. Its job is to protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks, help control who comes into the country, and be ready to help during disasters like hurricanes or big emergencies.
Right after the Department was made, another group was created to find out what really happened during the 9/11 attacks. This group, called the 9/11 Commission, studied the events that led to the attacks and shared what they learned in a big report in 2004. They said a man named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed helped plan everything. He worked with a group called al Qaeda and was caught in 2003. He was sent to a prison called Guantanamo Bay, where there were concerns about how he was treated when being questioned.
The attacks hurt America’s economy a lot. The stock market dropped a lot the first day it reopened, and New York City lost thousands of jobs. Many businesses, especially airlines and banks, had a hard time. The damage to the buildings and the clean-up cost billions of dollars, and it took a long time to get things back to normal.
Many brave people who helped during and after the attacks got sick later because they breathed in harmful dust and chemicals. By 2018, 10,000 people had been told they had cancer from that. To help these people and their families, the government gave billions of dollars in money to help pay for medical care and lost income.
At first, this help lasted only a few years. But in 2011, President Obama made sure more money was available for people who got sick. This new law was named after a police officer, James Zadroga, who died from a disease he got after helping at the crash site. In 2015, the help was extended again for five more years.
By 2019, the money was running low, and some people were getting less than they needed. But people like comedian Jon Stewart and sick first responders went to talk to Congress to get more help. President Trump signed a new law that made sure money would be available for them all the way until the year 2092. This way, anyone who gets sick from 9/11 can get help, even far into the future.
What happened after the terrorist attacks?
The Persian Gulf War ended on February 28, 1991, when President George H.W. Bush announced a ceasefire. Iraq’s army was falling apart, and Saddam Hussein agreed to the peace terms. That meant Iraq had to admit that Kuwait was its own country and promise to destroy dangerous weapons like nuclear bombs and poison gas. The coalition of countries had clearly won the war, with only about 300 of their soldiers lost, while thousands of Iraqi troops were killed. Even though the coalition won, Saddam Hussein stayed in power, and both Iraq and Kuwait were badly damaged.
The war was supposed to be short and not too costly, and while it ended quickly, it left behind problems that lasted for years. Right after the war, people in Iraq who didn’t like Hussein, like the Kurds in the north and Shi’ites in the south, tried to rise up against him. But Hussein crushed these uprisings with brutal force. The U.S. and its allies didn’t help those groups, because they were afraid that Iraq might fall apart completely and cause even more chaos.
After the war, the U.S. and Britain kept watch over Iraq from the skies. They made sure Iraq didn’t fly military planes in certain areas, which was called a no-fly zone. At the same time, U.N. inspectors tried to make sure Iraq was getting rid of its dangerous weapons like they had promised. But Iraq kept blocking those checks and made it hard for the inspectors to do their jobs.
By 1998, the situation got worse, and fighting broke out again for a short time. After that, Iraq refused to let in any more weapons inspectors. There were many small battles in the sky, as Iraqi forces fired at U.S. and British planes, and the planes fired back. So even though the war officially ended in 1991, the tension and fighting between Iraq and other countries continued for many years.
Who won the war?
In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty. That means they promised not to go to war again. As part of the deal, Israel gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt in 1982. Later, in 1994, Israel also signed a peace treaty with Jordan. So for a while, things seemed calmer with some of the countries.
Even though Israel made peace with Egypt and Jordan, there are still problems. Many Palestinian Arabs live in places like the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel controls. These people still want their own land and their own country. That’s why there are still arguments and sometimes fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.
What happened when the U.S. tried to make peace between Egypt and Israel?
In 2010, Iraq had elections. Many people voted even though it was dangerous. Maliki stayed as prime minister, but he didn’t share power like he was supposed to. He kept control of the army and police, which made people worry.
The U.S. said its fighting mission was over. About 50,000 troops stayed to help train Iraq’s army. President Obama said Iraq’s future was up to its people, but some U.S. leaders were worried things might not stay peaceful.
In 2011, President Obama said all U.S. soldiers would leave Iraq by the end of the year. The U.S. and Iraq couldn’t agree on letting some stay to help train because of rules about their safety. The last troops left after a ceremony in Baghdad. The war lasted almost nine years, cost a lot of money, and many people died. After the soldiers left, U.S. helpers stayed to support Iraq, which still had problems with safety and people not getting along.
What happened to the U.S. soldiers afterwards in 2010 to 2011?
In February 2020, the U.S. and the Taliban finally signed a peace agreement in Doha. It was a big moment after many years of war. The U.S. promised to slowly bring its troops home, and the Taliban promised that Afghanistan wouldn’t be used as a place for terrorists to plan attacks. The deal also said the Taliban should start talking to the Afghan government. But there were problems right away. Afghan President Ghani didn’t fully agree with all the terms, especially the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners. Also, the agreement didn’t call for an immediate cease-fire, so fighting broke out again quickly. Just days after the signing, the Taliban attacked Afghan soldiers, and the U.S. responded with airstrikes in southern Afghanistan.
Later that year, in September, peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban finally began. For the first time in nearly twenty years, leaders from both sides sat down together in Doha to talk about the future of the country. The talks had been delayed for months because of disagreements over the prisoner swap, but eventually, the Afghan government released 5,000 Taliban prisoners to move things forward. During the meetings, both sides said they wanted peace, but they also had very different ideas about what Afghanistan should look like. The Afghan government wanted a cease-fire and democratic values, while the Taliban wanted Islamic law to guide the future. Then in November, the U.S. announced it would reduce its troops to 2,500 by mid-January 2021, just before President-elect Joe Biden would take office. Some world leaders, like NATO's chief, warned that pulling out too early might let terrorist groups grow strong again.
In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced something very big: the United States would pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. That date was very symbolic because the 9/11 attacks had been the reason the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan in the first place. President Biden said that after nearly 20 years of fighting, it was time to end the longest war in U.S. history. He also said the U.S. had already done its main job—stopping terrorist groups like al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base—and now it was up to the Afghan people to take care of their own country. But many military experts and world leaders were worried that if U.S. and NATO troops left too quickly, the Taliban would try to take control again. And that's exactly what started to happen. Over the summer, as U.S. and NATO soldiers left their bases, the Taliban launched fast attacks across the country. They captured city after city, with barely any resistance in many places.
By August 2021, things moved shockingly fast. The Taliban reached Kabul, the capital, and took it over almost without a fight. The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country, and the Afghan government collapsed. It happened way faster than most people expected. The U.S. had to quickly send troops back in—not to fight, but to help evacuate American citizens, embassy staff, and thousands of Afghan people who had worked with the U.S. over the years. The evacuation happened at Kabul’s airport, and it was chaotic and emotional. Crowds of people tried to escape. One horrible moment came when a suicide bomber attacked near the airport gates, killing 13 U.S. service members and over 170 Afghans. On August 30, 2021, the last U.S. plane flew out of Kabul, officially ending the war. The Taliban were back in control, and Afghanistan was once again facing an uncertain future, especially for women and girls who feared losing their rights under Taliban rule.
What major events happened in 2020-2021?
On December 18, 2001, the U.S. government decided that every September 11 would be called “Patriot Day” to remember the people who died in the attacks. Later in 2009, they also made it a National Day of Service and Remembrance, encouraging people to help others and do good deeds in honor of that day. Right after the attacks, people around the world showed love and support, like lighting candles, bringing flowers, and even famous places like Buckingham Palace in England and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil honored America in touching ways.
In 2002, on the first anniversary of the attacks, New York City lit up two huge beams of light into the sky from where the Twin Towers had stood. This special event, called the “Tribute in Light,” became a yearly tradition, and on clear nights the lights can be seen from more than 60 miles away. Then, a big contest was held to design a permanent memorial for the victims, and a man named Michael Arad won. His design, called “Reflecting Absence,” includes two large pools with waterfalls where the towers once were, in a quiet, peaceful park.
Around the edges of the pools are bronze panels with the names of all 2,983 people who died in the 9/11 attacks, placed in a way that keeps coworkers, flight passengers, and friends together. This memorial opened to the public on the 10-year anniversary in 2011. Later, a museum telling the full story of 9/11 was built nearby and opened in 2014. That same year, a tall new building called the Freedom Tower was also finished on the site, showing that even after a great loss, the city and the country kept going and rebuilding.
What happened in the aftermath?
In 2002, the United States, now led by President George W. Bush (the son of the president from the first Gulf War), believed that Iraq still had dangerous weapons. The U.S. asked the United Nations to send inspectors back into Iraq to check. The inspectors returned in November, but not everyone agreed on whether Iraq was telling the truth or following the rules. So, the U.S. and Britain started sending troops near Iraq’s borders to prepare for war, just in case.
On March 17, 2003, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein a final warning to leave Iraq within 48 hours or face war. Hussein refused, so three days later, the second Persian Gulf War, called the Iraq War, officially began. U.S. forces captured Hussein in December 2003, and he was later executed (death penalty) in 2006 for serious crimes. Even though Hussein was gone, the war and its effects lasted for years. The U.S. military stayed in Iraq until they finally left in December 2011.
What happened when the war ended?
Many Palestinians feel that they were forced out of their homes when Israel became a country and during the wars that followed. They want to return to their land or have their own country where they can make their own rules and live freely. But Israel is worried about its safety and doesn't agree with some of the ideas the Palestinians have. This disagreement has caused a lot of anger, sadness, and even violence over the years.
Some groups of Palestinians have used attacks to try to fight back or scare Israel, and Israel has responded with strong military actions. These fights have hurt a lot of people on both sides. Sometimes there are rockets, airstrikes, or even battles in cities. Many innocent people, including families and kids, have been caught and killed in the middle of the fighting.
There have been more peace talks to try to solve the problem, but it’s very hard because both sides want different things and don’t fully trust each other. Some countries have tried to help, but the arguments and hurt feelings go back many years. Even today, people in the region are still hoping for a way to live in peace and share the land safely.
What happened in the aftermath?