[4] 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.

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).

[6] After the 9/11 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.

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.

[4] In January 1921, after the Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed between Afghanistan and British India, the Afghan mission visited the United States to establish diplomatic relations.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations, the U.S. policy of helping developing nations raise their standard of living was an important factor in maintaining and improving U.S. ties with Afghanistan.

Colonel Gordon B. Enders of the United States Army was appointed the first military attaché to Kabul and Cornelius Van Hemert Engert represented the U.S. Legation from 1942 to 1945 followed by Ely Eliot Palmer from 1945 to 1948.

Prince Mohammed Naim, King Zahir Shah's cousin, became the Chargé d'affaires in Washington, D.C. At that time, U.S. President Harry S. Truman commented that the friendship between the two countries would be "preserved and strengthened" by the presence of senior diplomats in each capital.

For three thousand years it has been Asia's highway [...]However, Fletcher also noted the difficulties of forming relations, amid tense Afghan-Pakistani border skirmishes:[11] Handicapped by a lack of area specialists, deficient intelligence service, and chronic Afghan suspicion nurtured by a century of being a buffer state, American diplomats have faced a series of problems.

Later, American aid shifted from infrastructure projects to technical assistance programs to help develop the skills needed to build a modern economy.

Vice President Spiro Agnew, accompanied by Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan, visited Kabul during an eleven-nation tour of Asia.

At a formal dinner hosted by the Royal Family, the American delegation presented the King with a piece of lunar rock, a small Afghan flag carried on the Apollo 11 flight to the Moon, and photographs of Afghanistan taken from space.

While the Democratic Republic regime remained officially nonaligned and opened diplomatic relations with the U.S. by June 1978, as time went on Afghanistan's increasing bond in the Soviet orbit was a cause of concern.

Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said at the time "We need to take into account the mix of nationalism and communism in the new leadership and seek to avoid driving the regime into a closer embrace with the Soviet Union than it might wish.

Following Amin's rise as General Secretary, he publicly expressed his desire for friendly relations with the U.S.[16] As the rebellion spread and the security situation deteriorated, U.S. authorities decided on July 23, 1979, to evacuate the families of American nationals in Afghanistan.

This cross-border humanitarian assistance program aimed at increasing Afghan self-sufficiency and helping resist Soviet attempts to drive civilians out of the rebel-dominated countryside.

During the period of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. provided about 3 billion US dollars in military and economic assistance to the Mujahideen groups stationed on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.

After Operation Infinite Reach, Mullah Mohammed Omar made a telephone call to the U.S. State Department demanding that President Bill Clinton resign.

[19] Following the September 11 attacks in the United States, believed to be orchestrated by Osama bin Laden who was residing in Afghanistan under asylum at the time, the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom was launched.

This major military operation was aimed at removing the Taliban government from power and to capture or kill al Qaeda members, including Osama bin Laden.

[9] On 1 March 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush along with his wife Laura made a visit to Afghanistan where they greeted American soldiers, met with Afghan officials and later appeared at a special inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Embassy.

Although many American politicians have praised Afghan President Hamid Karzai's leadership,[20] he came under fire in 2009 from the Obama administration for his unwillingness to crack down on government corruption.

[31] In January 2017, the U.S. decided to send 300 Marines to Afghanistan's Helmand province to assist Afghan security forces to battle Taliban insurgents in intelligence and logistics matters.

But Secretary Clinton reiterated on July 7, 2012, that Washington did envision keeping American troops in Afghanistan, where they would provide the kind of air power and surveillance capabilities needed to give Afghan forces an edge over the Taliban.

[37] Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, told the investigators in a 2016 interview, "You just cannot put those amounts of money into a very fragile state and society, and not have it fuel corruption.

"[38] On February 29, 2020, Khalilzad (U.S. envoy) and Taliban's Baradar signed a conditional peace agreement that paved a path for a significant drawdown of the U.S. military in Afghanistan before May 2021.

[39] The deal explained intra-Afghan negotiation must start the following month, Ghani, the Afghan president, said the Taliban should meet his own conditions of government before entering the talks.

[42] However, less than a week after the US-Taliban peace agreements violence in Afghanistan continued, with two ISIL gunmen killing 32 civilians and wounding at least 58 in crowd of people attending a political event hosted by the opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah on 6 March, and a Taliban ambush attack on the police and army outpost in Zabul Province killing 24 Afghan security forces on March 20, 2020.

[61] According to a BBC poll conducted from 2005 to 2006, the U.S. was the most favored country in Afghanistan, in a field also consisting of Iran, China, Russia, France, Japan, EU, Britain and India.

After a recent U.S. terrorism intervention in central Kabul, killing al Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the U.S. abandoned earlier talks with the Taliban because of international security reasons.