
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was an Islamic republic that governed most of Afghanistan from 26 January 2004 to 15 August 2021, with Kabul serving as its capital. The Islamic Republic was established with United States support following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the US-led coalition and Afghan Northern Alliance's overthrow of the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Islamic Republic was led by President Hamid Karzai from 2004 to 2014 and by President Ashraf Ghani from 2014 to 2021, and the government suffered from rampant corruption as warlords exerted great political and military power, and leading Afghan government figures purchased multi-million-dollar villas outside Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with embezzled money. The Afghan government was effectively a US client state, as it was dependent on American military and financial support, and the withdrawal of US troops from the Afghanistan War in 2021 and a concurrent Taliban offensive led to the collapse of the Afghan National Army and the surrender of several provincial capitals due to secret deals between the Taliban and local politicians. On 15 August 2021, Kabul itself fell to the Taliban, who declared the abolition of the Islamic Republic and the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.