Afghanistan 

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February of 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan," an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires." He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May of 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war. On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date; this withdrawal took place in July of 2011. In February of 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.

In May of 2014, President Obama announced that, for the most part, U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan were over. Although a residual force of 9,800 soldiers will remain to continue training the Afghan army, the plan was that by 2016, all U.S. troops will have left the country, except for a small number to defend U.S. diplomatic posts. 

Iraq

On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces. On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the U.S. combat mission in Iraq was over. On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be home for the holidays. 

The United States officially withdrew from the country in 2011 but became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition. In May of 2014, the coalition led by then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was able to win 92 of the 328 seats in parliament, and he seemed poised to begin another term as the country’s ruler. The elections, however, did not stem the tide of violence in the country. In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a radical Islamist militant group consisting of mostly Sunni Muslims and once affiliated with al-Qaeda, launched a military offensive in Northern Iraq and seized control of Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq and Syria. On June 29, 2014, it proclaimed the formation of the Islamic State with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph, the state’s political and religious leader. This elicited another military response from the United States and its allies, and the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue.

Death of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011 by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune's Spear, was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan. U.S. military officials said that after the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried him at sea within 24 hours of his death in accordance with Islamic tradition. 

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden being interviewed by Hamid Mir, circa March 1997 – May 1998.

Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs. The operation on May 1, 2011 resulted in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives, and disks from the compound.

Operation Neptune's Spear, 2011

President Barack Obama along with members of the national security team, receive an update on Operation Neptune's Spear, in the White House Situation Room, May 1, 2011. 

Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, vowing to avenge the killing. Other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U.S. and against Pakistan for not preventing the operation. The raid was supported by over 90% of the American public and was welcomed by the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, and a large number of governments; however, it was condemned by others, including two-thirds of the Pakistani public. Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as his not being taken alive despite being unarmed, were questioned by others, including Amnesty International. Also controversial was the decision not to release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden's death to the public. 

Effects of War

The years of warfare have brought the United States few rewards. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and thousands of military casualties; in the U.S. alone, 4,475 American soldiers died and 32,220 were wounded. In Afghanistan as of 2015, tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war. Over 15,000 Afghan national security forces members have been killed, as well as nearly 20,000 civilians; the toll of American soldiers through February 2013 was 2,165 dead and 18,230 wounded. By some estimates, the total monetary cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could easily reach $4 trillion, and the Congressional Budget Office believes that the cost of providing medical care for the veterans might climb to $8 billion by 2020.