15 years on, war still defies US timelines

Victory is illusive and success or failure cannot be measured by the number of boots on the ground

Fifteen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, President Barack Obama and the American military have dug in for a long campaign that defies rigid timelines and easy barometers of victory.

On Oct 7, 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks, President George W Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom to dislodge the Taliban and capture or kill al-Qaeda militants they were harboring.