Kabul
21st century

In November 2001, the Northern Alliance captured Kabul after the Taliban had abandoned the city following an American invasion. A month later, a new government began to assemble under President Hamid Karzai. A NATO -led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed in Afghanistan and many expatriate Afghans returned to the country. Kabul's population grew from about 500,000 in 2001 to over 3 million. Foreign embassies re-opened. In 2008, responsibility for security began to shift from NATO to Afghan forces. In 2001 rebuilding began and many of the city's damaged landmarks were rebuilt or restored, including the Gardens of Babur in 2005, the arch of Paghman, the Mahmoud Khan Bridge clock tower in 2013 and the Taj Beg Palace in 2021. Local community efforts repaired homes and dwellings.

With an increasing population the city experienced rapid urbanisation, and many informal settlements were built. Numerous modern housing complexes were built after the late 2000s, many of them gated and secured, to serve a growing Afghan middle class. These included the Aria City (in District 10) and Golden City (District 8). Complexes were built out of town, such as the Omid-e-Sabz township (District 13), Qasaba/Khwaja Rawash township (District 15), and Sayed Jamaludin township (District 12).

A high-security " Green Zone " was formed in the centre of the city. In 2010, a series of guarded checkpoints called the Ring of Steel was put into operation. Concrete blast walls appeared throughout Kabul in the 2000s.

The city continued to develop despite frequent terrorist attacks, mainly by Taliban insurgents, and Kabul was the fifth fastest-growing city in the world in 2012. Until August 2021, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) were in charge of security in and around the city. Kabul was periodically the scene of deadly bombings, carried out mostly by the Taliban and its wing the Haqqani network. Government employees, soldiers and ordinary civilians were targets of attacks. The Afghan government called the actions of the terrorists war crimes. The deadliest attack was a truck bombing in May 2017.

The city was seized during the 2021 Taliban offensive on August 15, 2021. Under Taliban rule the city and the country experienced relative calm, although terrorist attacks continued to be committed by the regional ISIL branch.
language:response_language[Latin], detectable_content:number_placeholders[3]