War moments at a glance

Some turning points in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Iraq

- Fallujah, November 2004: The U.S. military begins in some of heaviest urban combat since Vietnam to recapture the city from insurgents making one of their first major stands against American forces.

- Samarra, Feb. 22, 2006: A blast blamed on Sunni insurgents ravages Shiite shrine to begin more than a year of nearly nonstop sectarian bloodshed.

- Anbar, late 2006: U.S. forces begin to make alliances with Sunni tribes turning against al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents.

n Baghdad area, January 2007: Beginning of the U.S. “surge” of more than 20,000 additional troops.

Afghanistan

- Tora Bora, December 2001: U.S. bombers and American-led ground forces stage assault on suspected mountain hideout of Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have slipped over border into Pakistan.

- Spin Boldak, early 2003: Resurgent Taliban forces begin offensives.

- Southern Afghanistan, July 2006: NATO forces take command of region of Taliban strongholds as battles increase.

- Washington: President Barack Obama weighs calls to increase U.S. troops presence in Afghanistan.

— Associated Press

Tags: nation and world, decades end, world, iraq, afghanistan