Timeline prepared by Rayne and subject to change.
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01/27/17 |
Trump’s Muslim ban executive order targeted Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen which have substantive Shiite populations; the ban didn’t target countries with substantive/ majority Sunni populations; |
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01/29/17 |
The first U.S. military action authorized by Trump was a raid on Yakla, Yemen, linked to Iran; Trump continued increasing attacks on Yemen into 2018; |
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02/20/17 |
Trump nominated H.R. McMaster to be National Security Advisor; McMaster had been commander of Task Force Shafafiyat (Transparency) for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2012. He became a lieutenant general in 2014. |
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03/15/17 |
Senate confirmed McMaster this date. |
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04/18/17 |
As of this date, Iran in compliance with JCPOA nuclear deal |
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04/19/17 |
Trump admin reviewed policy on Iran |
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05/17/17 |
Trump admin imposes sanctions on Iran, but kept nuclear deal |
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07/17/17 |
Trump admin certified Iran’s compliance with nuclear deal, but imposed new sanctions |
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08/22/17 |
Influence operation including a smear campaign and tweets by Russian bots targeted McMaster to have him removed. |
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09/14/17 |
Trump admin extended sanctions relief, but imposed new sanctions |
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09/19/17 |
In speech to U.N., Trump called nuclear deal an embarrassment |
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09/26/17 |
IAEA asked for clarification of a portion of JCPOA’s nuke deal |
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10/13/17 |
Trump decertified nuclear deal, but declined to leave the agreement or re-impose sanction |
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01/12/18 |
Trump kept nuclear deal in place; imposed new sanctions |
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01/14/18 |
John Bolton advocated discussing regime change in Iran with other Middle Eastern leaders |
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03/22/18 |
Trump tweeted McMaster’s departure as NSA and John Bolton’s nomination. |
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04/09/18 |
Trump ditched H.R. McMaster as NSA to select anti-Iran John Bolton, though even Bolton wasn’t aggressive enough for Trump’s taste; |
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04/09/18 |
H.R. McMaster resigned as Trump’s National Security Advisor; he would officially retire from the military in May. |
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04/30/18 |
Pompeo discussed documents detailing Iran’s nuclear weapons program |
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05/08/18 |
Trump announced U.S. to exit JCPOA nuclear deal |
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05/08/18 |
Trump exited the P6+1 JCPOA with Iran and promised to enact new sanctions on Iran; |
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08/06/18 |
Trump reimposed some of the sanctions lifted by the JCPOA |
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09/25/18 |
Trump emphasized U.S. sovereignty in U.N. speech; criticized Iran nuclear deal |
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10/03/18 |
U.S. ended 1955 Treaty of Amity with Iran; won’t comply with U.N. court’s ruling |
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11/04/18 |
Trump reimposed yet more of the sanctions lifted by the JCPOA; |
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1Q2019 |
Exact date TBD: A year earlier than reported, at least as early as March 2019 the Trump White House was aware Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban for killing Americans, based on classified intelligence. This assessment was included in at least one Presidential Daily Briefing; John Bolton also briefed Trump on this matter. Bolton said in an interview that Trump claimed “ignorance of Russia’s provocations to justify his administration’s lack of a response…’He can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it,’ Bolton said.” https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-john-bolton-politics-russia-425e43fa0ffdd6e126c5171653ec47d1 |
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04/08/19 |
Three U.S. Marines were killed by an IED detonated as their convoy returned to Bagram Airfield. The attack was believed to have been one spurred by bounties. |
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05/19/19 |
WaPo: “Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”” |
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05/24/19 |
Trump ordered 1500 troops to middle east because of Iran |
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05/27/19 |
Trump said he’s not pressing for regime change in Iran |
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07/15/19 |
Trump formally nominates Mark Esper for Secretary of Defense |
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07/23/19 |
Esper was confirmed by the Senate as Secretary of Defense |
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08/28/19 |
Russia offered to oversee an agreement between the U.S. and Afghanistan; negotiations were in their ninth round when the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested it could be “a guarantor in the agreement” if the two sides wished. https://www.newsweek.com/russia-help-trump-withdraw-afghanistan-1456634 |
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08/30/19 |
Trump unexpectedly declassified U.S. satellite capability with a fucking tweet after a failed missile test launch in Iran, taunting Iran about the failure; |
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09/01-02/2019 |
US Special Rep. for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad met with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in Kabul where the Taliban, Afghan government and the U.S. had “reached an agreement in principle” toward an eventual “total and permanent cease-fire.” https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-second-attack-kunduz-baghlan-afghanistan-khalilzad-qatar/30140207.html |
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09/03/19 |
Russian media outlet Tass reported that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said the U.S. and Taliban “insist that Russia must be present in one capacity or another at the possible signing of the agreements that the parties are working on now.” https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1170513749100437504 |
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09/04/19 |
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to sign the agreement with the Taliban. https://www.businessinsider.com/pompeo-didnt-sign-a-taliban-deal-us-wouldnt-get-anything-2019-9 |
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09/05/19 |
Suicide blast in Kabul killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Morovis, Puerto Rico. |
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09/06/19 |
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani postponed a trip to the U.S. |
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09/07/19 |
Over several tweets Saturday evening, Trump canceled the meeting with Ghani at Camp David. [see tweet https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1170469618177236992] |
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09/07/19 |
Via Julia Davis: “#Russia’s state media: Draft peace agreement between the Taliban and the Trump admin said that U.S. forces will leave five bases in Afghanistan within 135 days of signing the document, the U.S. & the Taliban insist that Russia be present at the possible signing of the agreements.” https://x.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1170513749100437504 Via Prof. Michael McFaul: “What? TASS has these details but USG has not released them? This is very strange. And why does Russia need to be present at signing? We’re they fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and I just missed that?” https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1170580543412613120 |
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09/09/19 |
CNN broke story of a CIA asset extracted from Russia in 2017; followed by NYT on the 9th (and then NBC’s Ken Dilanian appears at the asset’s house…) [This may be unrelated but its timing can’t be ignored] |
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09/09/19 |
Trump asked for Bolton’s resignation and tweeted about it the next morning. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1171452880055746560 |
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09/10/19 |
John Bolton exited Trump admin |
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09/10/19 |
Bolton tells Fox’s Brian Kilmeade by text that he quit. https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1171457601923506178 |
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09/10/19 |
“They’re dead. They’re dead. As far as I’m concerned, they’re dead,” Trump told the media about the peace talks with Afghanistan. https://apnews.com/bf2b42d5e86d466ab5f434d0f646bc72 |
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09/13/19 |
AP: “A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia, a representative told The Associated Press, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared dead a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan.” https://apnews.com/article/8c285a3bcaac4c978b5378db54ed9166 |
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09/15/19 |
Small arms fire in central Warduk province killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin, 40. |
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11/20/19 |
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kirk Fuchigami Jr., 25, and Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 David C. Knadle, 33, died in a helicopter crash in eastern Logar province. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the crash; Trump visited Dover AFB on Nov. 21 when the soldiers’ bodies were returned. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/11/21/pentagon-ids-two-soldiers-killed-in-afghanistan-helicopter-crash/ |
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11/28/19 |
Trump traveled to eastern Afghanistan to visit U.S. troops and meet with President Ashraf Ghani. |
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12/11/19 |
Unknown number of U.S. personnel were injured during a large bombing of Bagram Airfield. |
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12/23/19 |
Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Goble, 33, was killed in a roadside bombing in northern Kunduz province. |
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12/31/19 |
A total of 22 service members were killed in Afghanistan in 2019. It’s not clear how many U.S. contractors may have been killed because the military doesn’t track them. |
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01/03/20 |
Trump assassinated Iran’s top military officer Qasem Soleimani by drone, for which Iran’s clerics issued a fatwa. |
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01/11/20 |
Two U.S. service members were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. Taliban claimed responsibility. |
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01/17/20 |
The Taliban offered a proposal to reduce violence and restart peace negotiations. |
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01/27/20 |
Two U.S. Air Force crew members were killed when an E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node aircraft crashed. Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting the plane down. |
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02/08/20 |
Sgt. Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, 28; and Sgt. Antonio Rey Rodriguez, 28 were killed and six other service members were injured in an insider attack in Nangarhar province. |
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02/09/20 |
WaPo reported: “On Sunday, Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban spokesman in Qatar, where talks have been held, said Khalilzad met with Taliban representatives and Qatar’s foreign minister to discuss “some important issues on the results of the negotiations and the next moves,” according to a statement posted to Twitter.” |
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02/20/20 |
Trump replaced Joseph Maguire as Acting Director of National Intelligence; Richard Grenell was named Maguire’s replacment. |
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02/21/20 |
U.S.-led coalition, Afghan forces, and the Taliban militia began a seven-day “reduction in violence” ahead of anticipated agreement. |
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02/28/20 |
Trump nominated John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence. |
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02/29/20 |
U.S. and Taliban sign agreement addressing counterterrorism and the withdrawal of U.S. and international troops from Afghanistan. |
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03/XX/2020 |
Exact date TBD: The Trump administration learned that Russia offered secret bounties on U.S. troops. The officials said administration leaders learned of reported bounties in recent months from U.S. intelligence agencies, prompting a series of internal discussions, including a large interagency meeting in late March. According to one person familiar with the matter, the responses discussed at that meeting included sending a diplomatic communication to relay disapproval and authorizing new sanctions. |
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03/01/20 |
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani objected to terms in agreement requiring release of 5000 Taliban fighters in a 5-to-1 prisoner exchange. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afghan-government-questions-aspects-of-us-taliban-peace-deal/2020/03/01/0a973228-5a68-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html |
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03/03/20 |
Trump spoke by phone with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a Taliban leader and co-founder stationed in the Taliban’s Doha, Qatar offices. |
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03/04/20 |
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley testified before Senate Armed Services Committee, describing conditions to which the Taliban agreed including not attacking US troops and coalition personnel. The Taliban violated the agreement with an attack on Afghan forces in Helmand province; the US launches an air strike in response. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-taliban/u-s-carries-out-air-strike-on-taliban-calls-for-halt-to-needless-attacks-idUSKBN20R12R/ |
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03/10/20 |
President Ghani caved into pressure from the US and ordered the phased release of 1500 Taliban fighters from detention at a rate of 100 per day. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/world/asia/taliban-prisoner-release.html |
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03/23/20 |
After meeting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. would cut $1 billion in aid in 2020 and threatened to cut another $1 billion in 2021 because Ghani and Abdullah had not formed a unity government. Pompeo then met with the Taliban’s chief negotiator at Al Udeid Air Base, Doha, Qatar where he asked the Taliban to continue to adhere with the February agreement. |
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03/30/20 |
Trump phone call with Putin. |
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04/03/20 |
Trump fired Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson, claiming he “no longer” had confidence in Atkinson. Atkinson was then on leave until the effective date of his termination 03-MAY-2020. As IG he notified Congress of the whistleblower’s report regarding the Ukraine quid pro quo, going around Joseph Maguire to do so. |
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04/07/20 |
The Taliban pulled out of talks with the Afghan government after discussions over the unrealized prisoner exchange cratered. Under the February agreement, prisoners were to be exchanged at the end of March; the exchange was called off on March 30. |
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04/07/20 |
Trump fired Acting Inspector General of the Department of Defense Glenn Fine; Fine had also been named Chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee on 30-MAR. Fine’s termination made him ineligible to continue as chair of that committee. |
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04/09/20 |
Trump phone call with Putin. |
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04/10/20 |
Trump phone call with Putin (unclear if call was before/after Gen. Miller’s meeting). |
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04/10/20 |
Gen. Austin Miller met with Taliban leaders in Qatar: “… The meeting between Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller and Taliban leaders came as both sides accuse each other of ramping up violence since signing a peace deal on Feb. 29, which could see all international troops withdraw from Afghanistan in 14 months. … The meeting, which focused on curbing violence, was part of a military channel established in the U.S.-Taliban deal, the U.S. military’s press office in Kabul told Stars and Stripes. … Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said night raids and other operations in noncombat areas were discussed at the meeting, and Taliban officials “called for a halt to such attacks.” …” |
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04/12/20 |
Trump phone call with Putin. |
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04/25/20 |
Trump made a joint statement with Putin observing the 75th anniversary of Elbe Day. |
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05/07/20 |
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met members of the Taliban in Qatar along with the Special Envoy of Qatari Foreign Ministry for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution, Mutlaq Al-Qahtani. They discussed the prisoner exchange and intra-Afghan talks. |
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05/07/20 |
Trump phone call with Putin; topics of discussion were reported to be COVID-19, arms control including Russia and China, and the oil market. |
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05/26/20 |
NYTimes: “Trump Wants Troops in Afghanistan Home by Election Day. The Pentagon Is Drawing Up Plans” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/world/asia/afghanistan-troop-withdrawal-election-day.html |
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05/19/20 |
DOD inspector general’s office released its quarterly report documenting US troop reduction by 4000 in spite of increased attacks by the Taliban. Total troop number dropped from 13000 to 8600. https://www.dodig.mil/reports.html/Article/2191020/lead-inspector-general-for-operation-freedoms-sentinel-i-quarterly-report-to-th/ |
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05/26/20 |
John Ratcliffe approved by the Senate and sworn in as DNI. |
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05/30/20 |
Trump delays G7 meeting and invites Russia https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/politics/trump-g7-russia.html |
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06/01/20 |
Trump phone call with Putin; delayed G7 meeting and oil market stabilization discussed. |
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06/08/20 |
Trump orders permanent draw down of 25% of U.S. troops stationed in Germany; he did not consult with NATO before this order. |
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07/XX/20 |
Exact date TBD: Olivia Troye resigned from the Trump administration. |
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08/18/20 |
DOD inspector general’s office released its 2Q2020 report, noting the Taliban’s violations of the US-Taliban agreement: ““The Taliban did not appear to uphold its commitment to distance itself from terrorist organizations in Afghanistan. UN and U.S. officials reported that the Taliban continued to support al-Qaeda, and conducted joint attacks with al-Qaeda members against Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.” https://www.dodig.mil/reports.html/Article/2316028/lead-inspector-general-for-operation-freedoms-sentinel-i-quarterly-report-to-th/ |
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09/03/20 |
The last 400 Taliban fighters were released from detention by the Afghan government. https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/afghan-prisoner-swap-ends-peace-talks-finally-begin |
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01/15/20 |
Acting Secretary Christopher Miller announced troop levels in Afghanistan had been drawn down to 2500. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2473337/statement-by-acting-defense-secretary-christopher-miller-on-force-levels-in-afg/ Afghanistan’s government tells the Trump administration it has made too many concessions to the Taliban, that violence has increased just as they had warned it would after the 5000 Taliban fighters were released. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55666152 |
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09/12/20 |
Afghanistan government and Taliban met in Qatar for peace talks which have been delayed repeatedly since the U.S. signed an agreement with the Taliban in February. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/12/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban.html |
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09/16/20 |
VOA: “Taliban attacks in three provinces across northern Afghanistan since Tuesday killed at least 17 people, including six civilians, and wounded scores of others even as a Taliban political team was negotiating peace with Afghan government representatives in Doha, Qatar.” https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/taliban-attacks-continue-peace-negotiations-progress |
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09/18/20 |
Trump, at press conference: “We’re dealing very well with the Taliban. They’re very tough, they’re very smart, they’re very sharp. But, you know, it’s been 19 years, and even they are tired of fighting, in all fairness.” https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-briefing-september-18-2020/ |
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11/XX/20 |
Exact date TBD: Esper “sent a classified memo to the White House this month expressing concerns about additional cuts, according to two senior U.S. officials familiar with the discussion. Conditions on the ground were not yet right, Esper wrote, citing the ongoing violence, possible dangers to the remaining troops in the event of a rapid pullout, potential damage to alliances and apprehension about undercutting the negotiations.” The memo had been spurred by Trump’s tweet which insisted U.S. troops in Afghanistan would be “home by Christmas!” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-pentagon-afghan-war/2020/11/13/5ac54c7e-25cb-11eb-8599-406466ad1b8e_story.html |
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11/09/20 |
Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet. |
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11/16/20 |
Republicans in Congress expressed concern that the Trump administration’s plans to withdraw from Afghanistan relying on rapid draw downo f troops could lead to a “Saigon-type of situation.” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/16/mcconnell-trump-afghan-troop-reduction-436821 |
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11/17/20 |
Acting Secretary Christopher Miller announced troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq will by January 15, 2021 reduced to 2,500 troops in each of the two countries. https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/2418641/ |
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12/02/20 |
Afghanistan government and Taliban agreed to a framework for peace talks. |
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01/15/21 |
Acting Secretary Christopher Miller announced troop levels in Afghanistan had been drawn down to 2500. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2473337/statement-by-acting-defense-secretary-christopher-miller-on-force-levels-in-afg/ Afghanistan’s government tells the Trump administration it has made too many concessions to the Taliban, that violence has increased just as they had warned it would after the 5000 Taliban fighters were released. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55666152 |
