On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced that airstrikes against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had begun in Afghanistan.

[16][17] The codename was also used for counter-terrorism operations in other countries targeting Al Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban, such as OEF-Philippines, OEF-Trans Sahara, and possibly in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge,[18] primarily through government funding vehicles.

[25] In September 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush's remark that "this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while," which prompted widespread criticism from the Islamic world, may also have contributed to the renaming of the operation.

[27] In response to the September 11 attacks, the early combat operations that took place on 7 October 2001 to include a mix of strikes from land-based B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress bombers, carrier-based F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet fighters, and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from both U.S. and British ships and submarines signaled the start of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The stated goals of the operation were to provide humanitarian aid and patrol the Horn of Africa to reduce the abilities of terrorist organizations in the region.

Similar to OEF-P, the goal of humanitarian aid was emphasized, ostensibly to prevent militant organizations from being able to take hold amongst the population as well as reemerge after being removed.

Their extreme interpretation of Islamic law prompted them to ban music, television, sports, and dancing, and enforce harsh judicial penalties (See Human rights in Afghanistan).

[39] On 22 September 2001 the United Arab Emirates and later Saudi Arabia withdrew their recognition of the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan, leaving neighboring Pakistan as the only remaining country with diplomatic ties.

On 4 October 2001, it was reported that the Taliban covertly offered to turn bin Laden over to Pakistan for trial in an international tribunal that operated according to Islamic shar'ia law.

[43] The UN Security Council, on 16 January 2002, unanimously established an arms embargo and the freezing of identifiable assets belonging to bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining Taliban.

Meanwhile, in November 2001 the U.S. military and its allied forces established their first ground base in Afghanistan to the south west of Kandahar, known as FOB Rhino.

[48] The Battle of Tora Bora, involving U.S., German, British and Northern Alliance forces took place in December 2001 to further destroy the Taliban and suspected al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

While military forces interdicted insurgents and assured some form of security, Provincial reconstruction teams were tasked with infrastructure building, such as constructing roads and bridges, assisting during floods, and providing food and water to refugees.

[25][56][57][58][59] AFP, reporting on a news story in the Sunday, 3 April 2004, issue of The New Yorker,[60] wrote that retired Army Colonel Hy Rothstein, "who served in the Army Special Forces for more than 20 years [and was] commissioned by the Pentagon to examine the war in Afghanistan, concluded the conflict created conditions that have given 'warlordism, banditry and opium production a new lease on life.'

Some Pakistani scholars, such as Masood Ashraf Raja, editor of Pakistaniaat, have also provided a more specific form of criticism that relates to the consequences of the Global War on Terrorism on the region.

Specifically, it is an Islamist separatist group based in and around the southern islands of the Republic of the Philippines, primarily Jolo, Basilan, and Mindanao.

[62] Since inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion in their fight for an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.

Also, it is suspected of carrying out the Bali car bombing on 12 October 2002, in which suicide bombers attacked a nightclub killing 202 people and wounding many more.

[65] The desired result was for the AFP to gain sufficient capability to locate and destroy the ASG, to recover hostages and to enhance the legitimacy of the Philippine government.

In October 2002, the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) was established at Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier, taking over responsibilities from the CJSOTF.

The coalition force consists of ships from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, India, Italy, Pakistan, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The primary goal of the coalition forces is to monitor, inspect, board and stop suspected shipments from entering the Horn of Africa region.

[67] CJTF-HOA has devoted the majority of its efforts to train selected armed forces units of the countries of Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency tactics.

The program expands as part of the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative as CJTF personnel also assist in training the forces of Chad, Niger, Mauritania and Mali.