Georgia joined the war in Afghanistan in 2004 and the country had become the largest non-NATO^[1] and the largest per capita^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Since 2010, 32 Georgian servicemen have died,^[6] all in the Helmand campaign, and 435 wounded, including 35 amputees, as of July 2014.^[7][8]

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.^[9] In total, more than 20,000 Georgian service members served in Afghanistan. The country's deployment ended completely on 21 June 2021.^[10]

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.^[1] In November 2007 Georgian medical personnel joined the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Chaghcharan in the Ghor province of central Afghanistan.^[5][11]

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.^[12]

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.^[13]

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.^[1] 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.^[11] 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.^[14]

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.^[11][15]

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.^[7]

The Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania announced in July 2014 that Georgia would pledge 750 troops to the NATO-led post-2014 non-combat mission in Afghanistan; a company-size unit would be deployed under the German command at Mazar-i-Sharif and rest of the troops would serve under the U.S. command at Bagram.^[16] In October 2013, Georgia had also offered NATO to provide training to the Afghan military both in Georgia and on the ground in Afghanistan after the planned withdrawal of the NATO combat mission in 2014.^[1] Georgia had some 860 service members as part of the Resolute Support Mission by May 2021, when the Georgian troops began drawdown by withdrawing its company-size unit from Mazar-i-Sharif. On 28 June, the last remaining unit of the Bagram-based 32nd Infantry Battalion, Georgia's Western Command's 3rd Infantry Brigade, returned home.^[17]

The first Georgian fatality occurred on 5 September 2010. Overall, 32 Georgian soldiers have died and around 280 wounded in Afghanistan as of August 2017. The highest number of Georgian fatalities in a single incident was on 6 June 2013, when an explosive-laden truck hit an outpost of Georgian soldiers in Helmand, killing 7 and injuring 9.^[18] On 30 September 2010, when a mine blast killed four servicemen, the highest-ranking Georgian in Afghanistan, Colonel Ramaz Gogiashvili was killed. The largest attack on the area of responsibility of the Georgian forces occurred on 14 May 2013, when a suicide bombing with an explosives-laden truck at the ISAF base at Shir Ghazay, Helmand province, was followed by an attack by a group of insurgents. The Georgians killed all intruders and secured the territory, losing three killed and 27 wounded in the blast.^[1]

The Ministry of Defense of Georgia has shown some reluctance to release information about non-fatal casualties.^[19] According to the information obtained by the Tbilisi-based Institute for Development of Freedom of Information from the ministry, 23 Georgian servicemen were wounded in 2010, 62 in 2011, 45 in 2012, and 4 more were wounded as of 30 January 2013.^[20] The best known survivor is the highly decorated Lieutenant Colonel Alex Tugushi (born 1976), commander of the 31st Infantry Battalion, who lost both legs in a blast in December 2011.^[21][22][23]

• Role of Georgia in the Iraq War
• Georgian Kosovo contingent
• List of wars involving Georgia (country)