US President Donald Trump has unilaterally canceled peace talks with the Taliban. Although then both sides were on the verge of an agreement.
But why is the United States fighting in Afghanistan and it has been so long.
September 11 attack
The September 11, 2001 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.
Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been blamed.
The Taliban is an Islamic extremist group that has ruled Afghanistan and protected bin Laden.
They refused to hand him over.
One month after 9/11, the United States launched airstrikes in Afghanistan.
More countries joined the war and the Taliban quickly withdrew from power.
But they did not disappear. Rather they are back.
Since then, the United States and its allies have been fighting to prevent the fall of the Afghan government and the Taliban's bloody offensive.
President George W. Bush announced the airstrikes on October 7, 2001.
"The mission is to stop using Afghanistan as a base for terrorists and to undermine the Taliban's military capabilities," he said.
Initially, the Taliban's military bases were targeted.
Al Qaeda training camps were also hit.
Then 17 years passed. Debate continues over whether the US mission has been successful.
Rather, the Taliban could be part of the Afghan government again if their talks with the United States succeed.
The Taliban first took control of Kabul in 1996 and then took control of the entire country within two years.
They follow a radical Islamic approach and openly resort to punishment.
They fell within two months of the start of the US invasion and many of their fighters fled to Pakistan.
In 2004, a US-backed government took power in the country. Although there was widespread support for the Taliban in the Pakistan border area.
They make hundreds of millions of dollars from drug trafficking, mining control, and tax evasion.
As the Taliban carried out a series of suicide attacks, international forces began to work together with Afghan forces against the Taliban.
In 2014, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) completed its mission and handed over responsibility for fighting the Taliban to Afghan forces.
But that gives the Taliban a chance and they take control of different areas and target government forces and civilians.
Last year, the BBC learned that the Taliban were active in 80 percent of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has witnessed war for almost twenty years before the US invasion.
In 1969, the Soviet Army invaded the country to support the communist government. The Soviets left in '69, but the civil war continued. In the midst of this anarchy, the Taliban was formed, which in Pashto means student.
They first established a position on Pakistan's northern border and in 1994 moved to southwestern Afghanistan.
To the war-torn Afghans, they pledged to fight corruption and improve security.
They became vocal in religious schools, mainly with Saudi funding.
Introduces its own Sharia law. The cruel method of punishment by effective.
Television, movie music are banned. Men are required to wear beards and women are required to wear burqas.
However, due to the limitations of the Afghan government and forces and the reluctance of other countries to keep troops for a long time, the Taliban got a chance to regain power.
The Taliban have been on the back foot for the last 16 years.
But in 2009, President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of troops and the withdrawal of 100,000 troops from Afghanistan.
It provides an opportunity for energy recovery in southern Afghanistan.
When international forces withdrew from the fight and Afghan forces took over, the task became easier for the Taliban.
They make about 1.5 billion a year. Much of it is from drugs. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium. Most of which are used to make heroin.
They have also earned huge amount of money through tax collection in their controlled areas. And there are businesses with mining, telecommunications and electricity.
Pakistan and Iran have denied allegations of funding, but some in the region are believed to have helped the Taliban
There is no accounting for how many Afghan soldiers have died.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in January 2019 that 45,000 members of the security forces had been killed since 2014.
Three and a half thousand international troops have died, including 2,300 Americans.
Afghan civilian casualties are even greater. In a report this year, the United Nations says 32,000 civilians have been killed.
The Watson Institute at Brown University says 42,000 fighters have been killed.
The conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan have cost about 5.9 trillion since 2001.
The United States is still attacking. Donald Trump is the third president to look into the matter now.
He also wants to reduce the number of troops ahead of the 2020 elections.
