Nearly twenty years after losing its grip on power, Taliban now recaptured Afghanistan — A country it once ruled with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001.

With the impending capture all but certain, the Taliban sweep of Afghanistan has undone the two-decades-long war effort of the US which began shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

2001: War on terror 

The Al-Qaida launched the deadliest terror attacks on US soil by crashing passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Close to 3,000 people died in the attacks.

Following the terror strikes, US President George W Bush declared a "war against terrorism" and zeroed in on al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Days after the attack, Bush signed into law a joint resolution authorising the use of force against those responsible was later cited by the Bush administration as legal rationale for its decision to take sweeping measures to combat terrorism, including it's invasion of Afghanistan.

2021 : US troop withdrawal and Taliban takeover

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country, hours after Taliban fighters showed up on the outskirts of Kabul and their chiefs demanded transfer of power to avoid bloodshed.

Meanwhile, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that Western diplomats have been evacuated from Kabul. “All Embassy personnel are located on the premises of Hamid Karzai International Airport, whose perimeter is secured by the US Military,” Price said.

More than 60 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Qatar and the UK, have issued a joint statement saying Afghans and international citizens who want to leave Afghanistan must be allowed to depart and added that airports and border crossings must remain open. The US has said that it would deploy as many as 6,000 of its troops at the Kabul airport to ensure safe departure of its citizens and those from its friends and allies from Afghanistan.