Editing Operation Enduring Freedom (section)

===Combat operations start===
[[File:Fleet 5 nations.jpg|thumb|right|300px|5-country multinational fleet, during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Oman Sea. In four descending columns, from left to right: {{ship|Italian frigate|Maestrale|F570|2}}, {{ship|French frigate|De Grasse|D 612|2}}; {{USS|John C. Stennis}}, {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Charles de Gaulle|R91|2}}, {{ship|French frigate|Surcouf|F711|2}}; {{USS|Port Royal|CG-73|6}}, {{HMS|Ocean|L12|6}}, {{USS|John F. Kennedy|CV-67|6}}, {{HNLMS|Van Amstel|F831|6}}; and [[Italian destroyer Luigi Durand de la Penne (D 560)|Luigi Durand de la Penne]]]]

On Sunday 7 October 2001, American and British warplanes began fighting Taliban forces and al-Qaeda. Cruise missiles were fired from warships.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/07/ret.attack.bush/|title=Bush announces opening of attacks – October 7, 2001|publisher=CNN|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028004104/http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/07/ret.attack.bush/|archive-date=28 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Afghan Northern Alliance|Northern Alliance]], aided by [[Joint Special Operations Command|Joint Special Operations]] teams consisting of Green Berets from the [[5th Special Forces Group (United States)|5th Special Forces Group]], aircrew members from the [[160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)|160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment]] (SOAR), and [[United States Air Force Combat Control Team|Air Force Combat Controllers]], fought against the Taliban. Aided by U.S. bombing and massive defections, they captured [[Mazar-i-Sharif]] on 9 November. They then rapidly gained control of most of northern Afghanistan, and took control of Kabul on 13 November after the Taliban unexpectedly fled the city. The Taliban were restricted to a smaller and smaller region, with [[Kunduz]], the last Taliban-held city in the north, captured on 26 November. Most of the Taliban fled to Pakistan.

The war continued in the south of the country, where the Taliban retreated to [[Kandahar]]. Whilst in Kandahar the Taliban agreed to surrender but the deal was rejected by Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]] as it would have provided amnesty to Taliban leader [[Mullah Mohammed Omar]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Knowlton|first=Brian|date=December 7, 2001|title=Rumsfeld Rejects PlanTo Allow Mullah Omar 'To Live in Dignity' : Taliban Fighters Agree to Surrender Kandahar|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/news/rumsfeld-rejects-planto-allow-mullah-omar-to-live-in-dignity-taliban.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/06/afghanistan.markoliver|title=Taliban leader to surrender Kandahar|website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date=6 December 2001}}</ref> After Kandahar fell in December,<ref>{{Cite book|title=From 9/11 to terror war : the dangers of the Bush legacy|last=Kellner|first=Douglas|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2003|isbn=0585463255|location=Lanham|pages=145|oclc=52802017}}</ref> remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda continued to [[Taliban insurgency|mount resistance]]. Meanwhile, in November 2001 the U.S. military and its allied forces established their first ground base in Afghanistan to the south west of [[Kandahar]], known as [[Camp Rhino|FOB Rhino]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/operation-enduring-freedom-the-first-49-days-8/|title=MEU(SOC)s in OEF-A – Special Operations Forces and Operation Enduring Freedom {{!}} Defense Media Network|work=Defense Media Network|access-date=2018-05-21|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620002020/https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/operation-enduring-freedom-the-first-49-days-8/|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Battle of Tora Bora]], involving U.S., German, British and Northern Alliance forces took place in December 2001 to further destroy the Taliban and suspected al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. In early March 2002 the United States military, along with allied Afghan military forces, conducted a large operation to destroy al-Qaeda in an operation code-named [[Operation Anaconda]].

The operation was carried out by elements of the United States [[10th Mountain Division (United States)|10th Mountain Division]], [[101st Airborne Division]], the [[U.S. special forces]] groups TF 11, TF Bowie, TF Dagger, TF K-Bar, British [[Royal Marines]], the Norwegian ''[[Forsvarets Spesialkommando]]'', ''[[Hærens Jegerkommando]]'' and ''[[Marinejegerkommandoen]]'', Canada's 3rd Battalion [[Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry]], Canada's [[Joint Task Force 2]], the German [[Kommando Spezialkräfte|KSK]], and elements of the [[Australian Special Air Service Regiment]] and of the [[Special Air Service of New Zealand|New Zealand Special Air Service]] and the [[Afghan National Army]].

After managing to evade U.S. forces throughout the summer of 2002, the remnants of the Taliban gradually began to regain their confidence. A U.S. and Canadian led operation (supported by British and Dutch forces), [[Operation Mountain Thrust]] was launched in May 2006 to counter renewed Taliban insurgency.

Since January 2006, the [[NATO]] [[International Security Assistance Force]] undertook combat duties from Operation Enduring Freedom in southern Afghanistan, the NATO force chiefly made up of British, Canadian and Dutch forces (and some smaller contributions from Denmark, Romania and Estonia and air support from Norway as well as air and artillery support from the U.S.) (''see the article [[Coalition combat operations in Afghanistan in 2006]]''). The United States military also conducts military operations separate from NATO as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in other parts of Afghanistan, in areas such as Kandahar, Bagram, and Kabul (including [[Camp Eggers]] and [[Camp Phoenix]].)