North America 2025: North America Today

Although Joe Biden’s administration made some initial gains against the COVID-19 pandemic, its efforts were soon undermined by new COVID variants and vaccine hesitancy. In August 2021 US prestige took a blow when the Taliban seized control in Afghanistan, bringing an ignoble end to the almost two-decades-old “War on Terror”.

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Main Events

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