Afghanistan 2001: Operation Enduring Freedom

Photographs from northern Afghanistan at the beginning of the U.S.-led war and the fall of Taliban rule.

This photo collection is part of the Oleg Klimov Photo Archive and brings together photographs from northern Afghanistan in 2001, at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The photographs were made in territory controlled by the Northern Alliance — officially the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan — a coalition of anti-Taliban forces that had fought the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. Formerly led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the alliance controlled parts of northern Afghanistan and became a key local partner of the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

With U.S. airpower and special operations support, Northern Alliance forces advanced against the Taliban and entered Kabul on November 13, 2001. The fall of Kabul marked a decisive moment in the first phase of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Twenty years later, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The final U.S. military aircraft left Kabul shortly before midnight on August 30, 2021, ending America’s military presence in the country and returning Afghanistan to Taliban control.

For Oleg Klimov, this collection is part of a wider body of work on war, post-Soviet territories, borders and the lives of people caught inside geopolitical collapse. These photographs look not only at military events, but at the human landscape of a country entering another long and uncertain chapter of war.

Public viewing is available online. High-resolution files are not available for direct public download, but access can be requested for editorial, research, exhibition or publishing purposes.

Related publication

A related publication about this work is available on Oleg Klimov’s assignment website: