Georgia joined the war in Afghanistan in 2004 and the country had become the largest non-NATO and the largest per capita troop contributor to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan by late 2012, with over 1,560 personnel on the ground as of May 2013. At its peak deployment, Georgia provided two full infantry battalions serving with the United States forces in the Helmand province. Since the beginning of their mission, more than 11,000 Georgian soldiers have served in Afghanistan.
The Georgian mission in Helmand ended in July 2014. In December 2014, Georgia pledged about 750 troops to the new NATO-led non-combat, training, advisory, and assistance Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. At various times, the country has also deployed an infantry company serving with the French contingent in Kabul, medical personnel within the Lithuanian Provincial Reconstruction Team in Chaghcharan, and some individual staff officers.
Since 2010, 32 Georgian servicemen have died, all in the Helmand campaign, and 435 wounded, including 35 amputees, as of July 2014.
As of May 2016, Georgia was the third largest contributor, after the United States and Germany, to the Afghanistan mission. It had 861 troops on the ground, deployed in Kabul, at the Bagram Air Field, and Camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif. In total, more than 20,000 Georgian service members served in Afghanistan. The country's deployment ended completely on 21 June 2021.
Initial involvement, 2004–2009
Georgia, aspiring to accede to the NATO membership, first joined the coalition war efforts in Afghanistan in 2004, when 50 servicemen of the 16th Mountain Battalion were deployed for 100 days under the German command as part of security efforts during the Afghan presidential election in October 2004. In November 2007 Georgian medical personnel joined the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Chaghcharan in the Ghor province of central Afghanistan.
On 2 March 2005, the Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer signed an agreement in Brussels regarding the provision of Georgia's support to and transit of NATO forces and NATO personnel bound to Afghanistan.
Troops deployment, 2009–2014
Georgia became more energetically involved in the coalition campaign in 2009, when, on 16 October, 173-strong company of the 23rd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade, was sent under the French command to the Camp Warehouse in Kabul. With the planned withdrawal of the French from Afghanistan, in June 2013, this unit, then consisting of 50 soldiers, was redeployed to Camp Phoenix, maintained by the United States Army and used for training of the Afghan military.
Georgia increased its presence to a battalion-size contingent of 749 troops deployed in the volatile Helmand province of south Afghanistan for service with the United States Marines in April 2010, and doubled its contribution to 1,571 soldiers in October 2012. Beyond this, Georgian artillery instructors served with the French contingent in the Kandahar province from April 2011 to April 2012, and two liaison officers were attached to the Turkish staff in Kabul from January 2010 to January 2011. Thereby, by October 2012, Georgia had become one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the ISAF operation together with Australia, whose contribution was an annual average of 1,550.
The Georgian troops deployed in Afghanistan had been trained with the help of the U.S. military within the frame of the Georgia Deployment Program – International Security Assistance Force (GDP–ISAF), launched in 2009, at the Krtsanisi National Training Centre in Georgia and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
On 15 July 2014, the Georgian troops serving under the Regional Command Southwest ended their four-year deployment in the Helmand province with a flag-lowering ceremony at the Camp Leatherneck. About 50 Georgian troops continue to serve in Kabul and a special mountain battalion is deployed in Kandahar.