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A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter lands with its troops on a base in eastern Afghanistan.

of that year, and the Bonn Agreement was signed in Germany, set- ting up an interim government and calling for the ratification of a new constitution. Hamid Karzai was sworn in as interim president, and he would go on to be popularly elected in Afghanistan’s first democratic election of the twenty-first century.The newconstitution was ratified in January 2004, with presidential and parliamentary elections soon occurring. Meanwhile, the overthrow of the Taliban did not mean peace for Afghanistan. Foreign peacekeepers of the NorthAtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO) led the International SecurityAssistanceForce, marking the beginning of a long-term fight against theTaliban. By 2006,NATO assumed responsibility for security acrossAfghanistan, but militant groups and the rise of various terrorist organizations plagued the effectiveness of coalition and peacekeeping efforts. NATO implemented a withdrawal plan in 2012, beginning the pro- cess of turning over security responsibility to Afghan forces. The United States delayed troop withdrawal in 2015, citing concerns by newly elected president Ashraf Ghani. Since 2015,Afghanistan continues to face insurgency and instabil- ity as militant groups vie for power against theAfghan government.

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