1 May–15 Aug 2021 Taliban Summer Offensive
▲
At the beginning of May 2021, as US and allied forces began their planned withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban launched its summer offensive and within three months had extended its control over the countryside from 73 to 223 districts. In the first weeks of August—and with a rapidity that surprised governments around the world—the Taliban secured the major cities, entering Kabul on the 15th just as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Having established their de facto rule, the Taliban reinstated the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan that same day.
in wikipedia
24 Feb 2022–pres. Russian invasion of Ukraine
▲
On 24 February 2022, after months of military buildup and rising tensions, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from Belarus, mainland Russia, the Donbas republics, and Crimea. The largest military assault on a European state since World War II, the invasion was internationally condemned and prompted massive sanctions on Russia by the United States and its allies. As a result of the invasion, millions of Ukrainians fled their homes, with over 8.2 million Ukrainians—almost a quarter of the total population—leaving the country by April 2023 in Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
in wikipedia
23 Jan 2025–pres. ICE raids under Trump
▲
By 2022 the total population of illegal immigrants in the United States was estimated at 11 million, with concern about the situation helping to return Donald Trump to the presidency in the 2024 elections. Almost immediately upon being sworn in, Trump directed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to mount raids on sanctuary cities—even including schools, hospitals, and places of worship—while also deploying the National Guard to a number of Democratic-led cities to target “criminal illegal aliens” and “the enemy within”. By the end of August ICE raids alone had deported nearly 200 thousand people, but the heavy-handed tactics involved and the raids’ minimal use of due process soon provoked widespread protests as the majority of public opinion turned against them.
in wikipedia
1 Feb 2025–pres. US trade war with Canada and Mexico
▲
In February 2025, arguing that the United States needed to reduce its trade deficit with its neighbors, US president Donald Trump signed an order imposing 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico except oil and energy, which would be taxed at 10%. In response, Canada and Mexico threatened to retaliate with their own tariffs and began boycotting US goods. However, in the following month Trump exempted goods compliant with the USMCA trade agreement from the tariffs, with the result that by August over 85% of Canada–US trade and 84% of Mexico–US trade remained tariff-free.
in wikipedia
12 Feb 2025–pres. Donald Trump and Ukraine
▲
Although the US had been a strong supporter of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of that country in 2022, when Donald Trump became president in early 2025 he quickly began pushing for the normalization of relations with Russia and a negotiated settlement of the Russo-Ukrainian War. To this end he voted against a UN General Assembly resolution to condemn the Russian invasion, suspended military aid to Ukraine, sideline US allies by conducting direct diplomacy with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and advocated for a number of ceasefires in the war. However, when Putin began disregarding the ceasefires, Trump reversed a previously suspended military aid package to Ukraine and later introduced a mechanism for NATO allies to buy US weapons packages on behalf of the Ukrainians.
in wikipedia
2 Apr 2025 Liberation Day
▲
On 2 April 2025—a date he dubbed “Liberation Day”—US president Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14257, Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices That Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits, declaring a national emergency over the US trade deficit and invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to authorize the imposition of a baseline 10% tariff on imports from almost all countries, with further country-specific tariffs on top of that. This act—the most significant of a series of tariffs the second Trump administration imposed on other nations—immediately triggered a nine-day stock market crash, although it also encouraged many countries to renegotiate their trade deals with the US in order to alleviate the tariffs. The following month the US Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the tariffs under the IEEPA, but further appeals allowed the tariffs to remain in effect.
in wikipedia
22 Jun 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer
▲
On 22 June 2025 the US Air Force and Navy intervened in the Iran–Israel War by entering Iranian airspace to attack three nuclear facilities—the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology/Research Center. The facilities were targeted by GBU-57A/B MOP “bunker buster” bombs carried by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers as well as Tomahawk missiles fired from a submarine, causing extensive damage and, according to the Pentagon, setting Iran’s nuclear program back two years. In retaliation, Iran attacked a US base in Qatar the following day.
in wikipedia
1 Sep 2025–pres. Operation Southern Spear
▲
In September 2025 the United States military began conducting airstrikes against alleged narco-terrorist vessels in the Caribbean Sea and by late November had amassed the largest military presence in the region since the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). The offensive’s main focus was the so-called “Cartel of the Suns”, which US President Donald Trump’s administration claimed was led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was in turn claimed to be backed by Russia and Colombia. After the initial attacks on shipping, the campaign shifted to a blockade of Venezuela’s oil tankers in December and the capture of Maduro himself in January 2026.
in wikipedia
22 Dec 2025–21 Jan 2026 Greenland Crisis
▲
In December 2025 US president Donald Trump began amplifying his demands that Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory, be annexed to the United States, and refused to rule out the use of economic or military force to do so. In January, in response to the increasing threats, Denmark and eleven other European NATO members initiated Operation Arctic Endurance—a military exercise in Greenland with the stated intent of “countering potential Russian activity”—prompting Trump to threaten tariffs on all the countries involved. Trump then wrote to the Norwegian prime minister, reiterating his demands on Greenland and noting that after being sidelined for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, he no longer felt an “obligation to think purely of Peace”. Despite this, the situation was largely defused a few days later at the 2026 Davos conference in Switzerland, when Trump ruled out the use of military force or tariffs to obtain Greenland.
in wikipedia
3 Jan 2026 Operation Absolute Resolve
▲
On 3 January 2026—after making military strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking operations in the Caribbean Sea in September and initiating a maritime blockade of Venezuela in December—the United States launched a 150 aircraft offensive against air defenses in northern Venezuela. Under cover of these attacks, helicopters landed Delta Force and FBI personnel at President Nicolás Maduro’s compound in Caracas, capturing the president and flying him out of Venezuela to New York to face charges related to narco-terrorism. Following this, Maduro’s successor Delcy Rodríguez opened up negotiations with the US, agreeing to free political prisoners, to crack down on the drug trade, and to sell $2 billion worth of oil to the US. As a result, US president Donald Trump called off further attacks on Venezuela and on 29 January announced the re-opening of Venezuelan airspace.
in wikipedia
