Operation Freedom's Sentinel

Operation Freedom's Sentinel
Part of the War on terror, War in Afghanistan, Resolute Support Mission
A U.S. Army crew chief with 17th Cavalry Regiment surveys the area over Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Date 1 January 2015 – 30 August 2021 (6 years, 7 months and 2 weeks) Location Afghanistan Result Taliban victory Fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Taliban Evacuation of US citizens and at-risk Afghans from Kabul
Belligerents
NATO Resolute Support Mission  Islamic Republic of Afghanistan  United States (Part of Resolute Support Mission) DoD Contractor Personnel	Taliban  al-Qaeda  Islamic State ISIS–K
Commanders and leaders
CIC Joe R. Biden (2021) CIC Donald J. Trump (2017–2021) CIC Barack H. Obama (2014–2017) United States Central Command: Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., USMC (2019–2021) GEN Joseph Votel, USA (2016–19) GEN Lloyd Austin, USA (2015–16) Resolute Support Mission: GEN Austin S. Miller, USA (2018–2021) GEN John W. Nicholson Jr., USA (2016-18) GEN John F. Campbell, USA (2015–16) Coalition: RS[1] (2015–2021) Henri Xavier Bettel Borut Pahor Janez Janša Marjan Šarec Miro Cerar Jacinda Ardern Bill English John Key Katerina Sakellaropoulou Prokopis Pavlopoulos Karolos Papoulias Kyriakos Mitsotakis Alexis Tsipras Antonis Samaras Alexander Van der Bellen Heinz Fischer Sebastian Kurz Brigitte Bierlein Christian Kern Werner Faymann Volodymyr Zelensky Petro Poroshenko Denys Shmyhal Oleksiy Honcharuk Volodymyr Groysman Arseniy Yatsenyuk Milo Đukanović Filip Vujanović Zdravko Krivokapić Duško Marković Egils Levits Raimonds Vējonis Krišjānis Kariņš Māris Kučinskis Laimdota Straujuma Kersti Kaljulaid Toomas Hendrik Ilves Kaja Kallas Jüri Ratas Taavi Rõivas Stevo Pendarovski Gjorge Ivanov Zoran Zaev Oliver Spasovski Emil Dimitriev Nikola Gruevski Gitanas Nausėda Dalia Grybauskaitė Ingrida Šimonytė Saulius Skvernelis Algirdas Butkevičius Zuzana Čaputová Andrej Kiska Eduard Heger Igor Matovič Peter Pellegrini Robert Fico Harald V Erna Solberg Sauli Niinistö Pedro Sánchez Mariano Rajoy Sifet Podžić Marina Pendeš Sophie Wilmès Charles Michel János Áder Viktor Orbán Ilir Meta Bujar Nishani Zoran Milanović Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović Ilham Aliyev Nikol Pashinyan Karen Karapetyan Hovik Abrahamyan Mette Frederiksen Lars Løkke Rasmussen Rumen Radev Rosen Plevneliev Mark Rutte Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Aníbal Cavaco Silva Scott Morrison Malcolm Turnbull Khaltmaagiin Battulga Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Miloš Zeman Andrzej Duda Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Klaus Iohannis Victor Ponta Gabriel Oprea Sorin Cîmpeanu Dacian Cioloș Sorin Grindeanu Mihai Tudose Mihai Fifor Viorica Dăncilă Ludovic Orban Nicolae Ciucă Florin Cîțu Salome Zourabichvili Giorgi Margvelashvili Irakli Garibashvili Giorgi Kvirikashvili Mamuka Bakhtadze Giorgi Gakharia Maya Tskitishvili Giuseppe Conte Paolo Gentiloni Matteo Renzi Angela Merkel Boris Johnson Theresa May David Cameron John F. Campbell	Hibatullah Akhundzada Akhtar Mansour † Ayman al-Zawahiri Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (2019–2021) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi † (2014–19) Hafiz Saeed Khan † (2015–July 2016) Abdul Haseeb Logari †[2][3] (2016–April 2017) Abdul Rahman Ghaleb †[4][5] (April–July 2017) Abu Saad Erhabi †[6] (July 2017–August 2018) Abdullah Orokzai (POW)[7][8] (April 2019–April 2020) Qari Hekmat † Mufti Nemat  Dawood Ahmad Sofi † Mohamed Zahran † Ishfaq Ahmed Sofi †
Strength
Peak strength: Resolute Support Mission: 17,178 troops (on October 2019)[9] Afghan National Defense and Security Forces: 307,947 (on January 28, 2021)[10] DoD Contractor Personnel: 39,609 (1st quarter of 2015)[11]	Taliban: 58,000-100,000 (As of February 2021)[12]
Casualties and losses
See War in Afghanistan for full lists

Operation Freedom's Sentinel (OFS) was the official name used by the U.S. government for the mission succeeding Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in continuation of the War in Afghanistan as part of the larger Global War on Terrorism. Operation Freedom's Sentinel is part of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission, which began on January 1, 2015. OFS had two components: counterterrorism and working with allies as part of Resolute Support.^[13]

There were 16,551 NATO and non-NATO troops in Afghanistan around February 2020.^[14] Around June 2020, that number dropped to 15,937.^[15] In February 2021, there were 9,592 NATO and non-NATO troops in Afghanistan.^[16]

The self-reported strength of the Afghan National Security Forces consisted of more than 300,000 personnel during 2020.^[17][18] These forces surrendered or fled to neighbouring countries during the August phase of the 2021 Taliban offensive, leaving nearly all of the country under Taliban control.

Operation Freedom Sentinel was expected to formally end on August 31, 2021, but was de-facto completed one day earlier on August 30, as the last remaining troops withdrew and was officially terminated by the DoD on October 1, 2021 as it officially initiated its successor, Operation Enduring Sentinel.^[19][20]