Sacrifice, sorrow: 20 years of war in Afghanistan

President Joe Biden has announced a withdrawal of all remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September, about 20 years after the start of a war provoked by the deadliest terror assault on the United States.

Biden’s plan, announced Wednesday, is to pull out all the American forces — now numbering 2,500 — by Sept. 11, the anniversary of the attacks on the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon that were coordinated from Afghanistan by the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

There were 2,500 to 3,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when Biden took office, the smallest number since early in the war. The number peaked at 100,000 during President Barack Obama’s first term. 

Associated Press photographers have recorded the two-decade conflict from every angle. So many of their images have conveyed the drama and grim reality of battle: U.S. Marines nearly swallowed in clouds of swirling sand as they returned fire on Taliban shooters; a Marine with shrapnel wounds to his face and body peering out from behind bloodied bandages; an Air Force paramedic draping an American flag over the remains of two U.S. soldiers killed by an improvised explosive device; Marines rushing a comrade who had been shot in the chest to a waiting medevac helicopter.

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Injured U.S. Marine Cpl. Burness Britt reacts after being lifted onto a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off," Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment on June 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

They also have captured the unexpected — such as when a soldier roused from sleep during an attack rushed to a defensive position in Restrepo wearing his bright red-and-white “I Love New York” boxer shorts — and the poignant, including a frame of a soldier sitting on his top bunk after hanging a hand-drawn American flag sent by friends with the message “We Support Our Troops!” 

As U.S. war casualties have declined, the American public has lost interest in the Afghanistan conflict and the withdrawal of troops is likely to be politically popular. But some are warning that it could lead to another power grab by the Taliban and an undoing of the democratic gains the country has made over the past 20 years. The move is also likely to spark criticism from Republicans — even though former President Donald Trump also said he wanted a full troop withdrawal.

A U.S. Marine walks to pick up food supplies after they were dropped off by small parachutes from a plane outside Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan on June 9, 2011. The smoke in the background comes from burning parachutes the Marines destroy after they reached the ground. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

A child looks on as military vehicles of 5th Striker Brigades drive past his village on the outskirts of Spin Boldak, about 100 kilometers (63 miles, File) southeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Aug. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

Lance Cpl. Blas Trevino of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, shouts out as he is rescued on a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment after he got shot in the stomach outside Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan on June 11, 2011. The Army's 'Dust Off' crew needed two attempts to get him out, as they were fired upon and took five rounds of bullets into the tail of their aircraft. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry fire mortars from the Korengal Outpost at Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province on May 12, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade rest inside a tent at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan's Helmand province on June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

U.S. Marine Cpl. Russell pays his respects to Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard during a memorial service at a forward operating base with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, 2nd MEB, 3rd MEF, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, in Now Zad in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Bernard was killed during a Taliban ambush on Aug. 14. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Spc. Paul Pickett, 22, of Minden La., right, of the U.S. Army's Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., covers an injured U.S. soldier as a helicopter lands to evacuate the wounded after their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Marines rest along a tree line after arriving in an overnight air assault near the Taliban stronghold of Nawa in Afghanistan's Helmand province on July 2, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

U.S. Marines rush Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua T. Twigg, 21, of Indiana, Pa., with a severe gunshot wound to the upper chest, which was fatal, to a waiting U.S. Army Task Force Shadow medevac helicopter to be taken to a field hospital, in southern Afghanistan on Sept. 2, 2010. Despite the efforts of medics on the ground and in the air, Twigg's wounds were too severe, and he was pronounced dead by doctors shortly after arrival at an advanced Role 3 U.S. Army field hospital located minutes by helicopter from the battlefield. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

A CH-47 Chinook helicopter from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade flies along the edge of red sand dunes where they collide with a river and farmland on its way to retrieve British soldiers after a 5-day mission in the Helmand province in Afghanistan on June 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

During a rescue mission by a team from a U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, army medics carry a wounded Afghan Army soldier to an evacuation helicopter, in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, on Aug. 2, 2010. U.S. Air Force Pararescumen and helicopter aircrews work together to evacuate wounded combatants and civilians from battlefields in southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

A tattoo on the back of U.S. Army Sgt. James Wilkes of Rochester, N.Y., is seen through his torn shirt after a foot patrol with 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, of the 5th Styker Brigade on May 8, 2010, in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. The full tattoo reads, "Sacrifice. Without fear there is no courage." (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Wounded U.S. Marine Sgt. Shane Hanley, center, a squad leader from Easy Company, 2-2 Marines, receives treatment by U.S. Army flight medic Sgt. Michael G. Patangan while airborne in an army Task Force Pegasus medevac helicopter, shortly after Hanley was wounded, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan on Feb. 9, 2010. Sgt. Hanley, of Punxsutawney, Pa., who agreed to have photos of himself published, sustained shrapnel injuries to the left side of his body, face and eye when an improvised explosive device detonated below him while he was on a foot patrol. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry take defensive positions at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province on May 11, 2009. Spc. Zachary Boyd of Fort Worth, TX, far left was wearing 'I love NY' boxer shorts after rushing from his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members. From far right is Spc. Cecil Montgomery of Many, LA and Jordan Custer of Spokan, WA, center. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

United States Marine LCpl. Franklin Romans of Michigan, from the 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines "Warlords" searches a house during an operation in the Garmsir district of the volatile Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on Dec. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Upon landing after a helicopter rescue mission, Tech. Sgt. Jeff Hedglin, right, an Air Force Pararescueman, or PJ, drapes an American flag over the remains of the first of two U.S. soldiers killed minutes earlier in an IED attack, assisted by fellow PJs, Senior Airman Robert Dieguez, center, and 1st Lt. Matthew Carlisle, in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan on July 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

U.S. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit try to take shelter from a sand storm at forward operating base Dwyer in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan on May 7, 2008. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

1st Lt. Nikesh Kapadia, 24, center, of Queens, N.Y., with the U.S. Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., stands in the rain while waiting to go through customs at the Transit Center in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, on the way home after completing a deployment in Afghanistan on Aug. 10, 2011. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A U.S. soldier arrives at the scene where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 16, 2013. A Muslim militant group, Hizb-e-Islami, claimed responsibility for the powerful explosion that killed and wounded many and rattled buildings across Kabul. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines sleep in their fighting holes inside a compound where they stayed for the night, in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province, on July 8, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Spc. Dallas Purdy from Hockley, Texas, hangs a message of support from friends Ashley and Katie Daniels while serving with the 1-320th Alpha Battery, 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division at COP Nolen, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, Kandahar, Afghanistan on July 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Air Force Airman 1st Class Tyler Hitter stands by the transfer cases of Army Warrant Officer Joseph L. Schiro of Coral Springs, Fla., right, and Army Staff Sgt. Justin C. Marquez of Aberdeen, N.C., left, as they wait to be lowered from a cargo plane after arriving at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Oct. 8, 2012. According to the Department of Defense, Schiro and Marquez died in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

U.S. Marines, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, return fire on Taliban positions near the town of Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan on May 2, 2008. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Sgt. Joshua Engbrecht, 28, of Riverside Calif., left, and Pfc. Jack Shortridge, 21, of Long Beach Calif., of the U.S. Army's 1st Platoon Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., give each other haircuts under the stars at Combat Outpost Tangi in Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Tyson Hicks, 2, holds an American flag while in the arms of his father, Sgt. 1st Class Gabriel Hicks, who had just returned from a deployment to Afghanistan with the Georgia National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team on Sept. 16, 2014, in Macon, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: Sacrifice, sorrow: 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

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