Afghanistan–United States relations

Relations between Afghanistan and the United States began in 1921 under the leaderships of King Amanullah Khan and President Warren G. Harding, respectively. The first contact between the two nations occurred further back in the 1830s when the first recorded person from the United States explored Afghanistan. The United States government foreign aid program provided about $500 million in aid for economic development; the aid ended before the 1978 Saur Revolution. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a turning point in the Cold War, when the United States started to financially support the Afghan resistance. The country, under both the Carter and Reagan administrations committed $3 billion dollars in financial and diplomatic support and along with Pakistan also rendering critical support to the anti-Soviet Mujahideen forces. Beginning in 1980, the United States began admitting thousands of Afghan refugees for resettlement, and provided money and weapons to the Mujahideen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The USSR withdrew its troops in 1989.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the new Taliban government to capture Osama bin Laden, although he was found in neighboring Pakistan. This invasion led to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and the reestablishment of its diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama declared Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally; however, Joe Biden revoked its designation in 2022 after the Taliban took control of Kabul. American involvement in the War in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history, ended after the withdrawal of American troops from the country by August 30, 2021. Concurrent with the U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban launched a major offensive in summer 2021 and overthrew the U.S.-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, forcing the evacuation of U.S. diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan. The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs handles American foreign policy on Afghanistan.