Afghanistan War Ten Year Anniversary: Troop Locations By Country (MAP)

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan. On October 7, 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks on the twin towers in New York City, the United States launched a military campaign to capture Osama bin Laden and overthrow the Taliban regime. In December 2001, NATO joined the operations and created the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Ten years into the war, Osama bin Laden has been killed and health care and education in Afghanistan are reported to have significantly improved.

Yet the security situation in the country remains precarious. Political assassinations, corruption and warlord rivalries threaten political stability. "You know right now we have no idea who to be afraid of. We are afraid of everyone. Every street has its own ruler, own thugs," said Rangina Hamidi, the daughter of Kandahar mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi, to the Associated Press. "I don't feel safe going out of my house. To be honest I have no idea what will happen."

The map of Afghanistan below shows the presence of ISAF troops by regional command, as well as current troop presence by country. NATO currently has 130,670 troops in Afghanistan from 49 contributing nations.

The chart below lists the number of troops per country. It does not include the U.S., which currently contributes 90,000 troops.

Data is from NATO-ISAF.

Comments

[mamacat]

01:41 PM on 10/08/2011

German military leaders are reported in Der Spiegel ( a major German news outlet ) as saying that they reckon that the Taliban will re-seize power within about two months of the NATO forces pulling out of Afghanistan.

Back in 2001 we should have left the Taliban government in power, but told them that we were going into Tora Bora with our troops to get Osama and his followers. After that was completed we should have either left the country, or kept a base in those mountains to keep track of Al Qaeda, if we needed to. The Taliban did not have the conventional military capability to mount serious resistance to an operation targeted at Osama bin Laden.

Interestingly, the American commander on the ground at the time has appeared on TV, and wrote a book, telling his story. He says he asked the GOP controlled White House for 5,000 troops, already stationed on ships in the Gulf, to be flown in to surround and kill Osama and his forces. He also says that overheard telecommunications between Osama and his forces reveal that Osama expected us to do exactly that, and he was heard apologizing to his forces for not evacuating them before the likely operation. However, the same White House which so often demonstrated their incompetence over their eight years in office refused to commit American troops to killing the man behind 9/11. The rest, as they say, is history.

[MMRDO]

03:38 PM on 10/08/2011

You clearly don't understand Pashtun culture if you think that.

[noam4prez]

11:39 AM on 10/09/2011

The occupation of Afghanistan was planned before 9/11 happened.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/preplanned.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm

It was never about "getting the terrorists". Obviously you don't invade a nation to capture individuals. They would just leave during the months it takes to complete the invasion.

Bin Laden was just the excuse. The purpose was, and is, ten years later, to control the resources of the middle east, for the profit of the American oligarchs. The US will continue to occupy Afghanistan unless and until it is forced out.

In Iraq, the excuse was more of a mishmash of more obvious falsehoods, so everyone knows we invaded under false pretenses. But with Afghanistan, it is surprising how many people believe the false narrative, that we went there to "get Bin Laden".

[hungryaardvark]

11:35 AM on 10/07/2011

Does this smell of empire?

How many foreign troops are permanently based on their own bases in the US?

In answering this question, we might want to include the terrorist trainees we have at the School of the Americas right here in the good ol' USA.

[MMRDO]

01:46 PM on 10/07/2011

These are guys who are in Afghanistan with us, it doesn't account for foreign bases.

That being said, we lease the property and have their permission to be there.

[hungryaardvark]

08:33 PM on 10/07/2011

It's still empire, plain and simple.

[mamacat]

01:23 PM on 10/08/2011

Is not the permission that we have to be there granted by a regime that we helped install?

[Marcus047]

11:27 AM on 10/07/2011

Well, this is a useful map. The most common entry being "Additional countries: ".

I guess if it's not american troops, it doesn't really exist or matter. And this is why all the other NATO countries are abandoning afghanistan to the US. Between the numerous friendly fire incidents of allied troops and the general disregard and unappreciation for allied assistance.

[MMRDO]

01:49 PM on 10/07/2011

Have you been drinking? They aren't, everyone is starting to wind down. The German area and the Italian area are both friendly to the ISAF because they keep the Pashtuns at bay, they've served as a buffer, the North especially where people are more literate and educated thanks to the Soviet presence has built up a lot over these past years.