Harvest of NATO's war in Afghanistan

After the Taliban consolidated their grip on swathes of Afghanistan in the past few months, here are some facts about NATO's military intervention to support the US in its war in the country.

Taliban fighters have tightened their grip on large swathes of Afghanistan in the past few months and have accelerated their offensive in the past week.

On the other hand, the remaining foreign forces in the country are preparing to complete their withdrawal by the end of August, leaving the Afghan government forces to fight alone.

Here are some facts about NATO's military intervention in support of the United States:

- On September 12, 2001, the allies in NATO resorted to activating the common defense clause for the first time in the history of the Western alliance to fight the war in Afghanistan, after the attacks launched by Al-Qaeda on the United States on September 11, 2001.

- After US-led forces defeated Taliban leaders who were providing support to al-Qaeda, NATO took over the leadership of an international coalition in 2003. The goal was to restore peace in Afghanistan and strengthen the Afghan security forces.

In 2015, the mission that was known as the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) was changed to the current Resolute Support training operation. As of last April, it had about 10,000 soldiers from 36 countries.

- The international military coalition has incurred more than 3,500 deaths since 2001, including about 2,400 Americans, according to data from the US Congress, and more than 

Thousands of dead and billions of dollars... Learn about the harvest of NATO's war in Afghanistan

After the Taliban consolidated their grip on swathes of Afghanistan in the past few months, here are some facts about NATO's military intervention to support the US in its war in the country.

20,000 US soldiers have been wounded. A site concerned with counting the number of victims estimates that the number of dead is 3,577.

NATO troop strength reached its peak in Afghanistan in 2011, when the number of foreign troops increased to more than 130,000 foreign troops from 51 allied and partner countries in Afghanistan. Since 2003, the alliance has trained hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers, including the creation of an Afghan Air Force.

Germany has deployed the second largest military force in Afghanistan after the United States. In Kunduz province, the stronghold of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, Germany has lost more soldiers in battle than anywhere else in the world since the end of World War II.

The United States alone has spent more than $140 billion in aid to Afghanistan since 2002, according to congressional data. The Pentagon estimated the cost of US combat operations, including supporting Afghan forces, at more than $820 billion in the same time period.

Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. It ranks 169 out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index published by the United Nations Development Program with a life expectancy of 64 years and a GNI per capita of $2,200.