Countries involved
American and British forces were first to begin airstrikes apart of Operation Enduring Freedom. Australia, Canada, Germany and France soon committed to future assistance. This group of countries to form an alliance against terrorism is called NATO, which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. There are currently 28 countries as part of the intergovernmental military alliance, open to any country who is willing to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area. Australia called on the ANZUS (alliance between Australia, new Zealand and the united states) to join the forces of ’the coalition of the willing.’
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The NATO symbol. The original icon symbolised defence and protection, and the blue stripes represented the Atlantic ocean and the current 14 members in the organisation. Since then, the icon has been modernised.
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Casualties and Deaths
Over this long war in Afghanistan, over 3488 troops from countries such as the US, UK, Australia and many more have been killed. America has been worst affected in terms of loss of troops, followed by UK and Canada. Australia comes in 6th for the number of lost lives in the war in Afghanistan.