War on terror
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The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks.[31] The main targets of the campaign are militant Islamist and Salafi-Jihadist armed organisations such as Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and their international affiliates; which are waging military insurgencies to overthrow governments of various Muslim countries.[32][33]
| War on terror | |
|---|---|
Photographs, clockwise from top left: Aftermath of the September 11 attacks; American servicemen boarding an aircraft at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; an American soldier and Afghan interpreter in Zabul Province, Afghanistan; explosion of an Iraqi car bomb in Baghdad. Map: Countries with major military operations of the war on terror. | |
| Belligerents | |
| Main countries: Other NATO members: Other Arab League members: Other participant countries:
(note: most contributing nations are included in the international operations) | Terrorist groups:
Other groups:
Former groups:
|
| Commanders and leaders | |
| Joe Biden (President 2021–present) Rishi Sunak (Prime Minister 2022–present) Emmanuel Macron (President 2017–present) Élisabeth Borne (Prime Minister 2022–present) Vladimir Putin (President 2000–2008, 2012–present, Prime Minister 2008–2012) Mikhail Mishustin (Prime Minister 2020–present) Former leaders
Other leaders
Other former leaders
| Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden † (Founder and first Emir of al-Qaeda) Ayman al-Zawahiri † (2nd Emir of al-Qaeda) Saif al-Adel (al-Qaeda Military Chief) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi † (Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq) Ilyas Kashmiri † (Commander of Lashkar al-Zil) Qasim al-Raymi † (Emir of AQAP) Abdelmalek Droukdel † (Emir of AQIM) Mokhtar Belmokhtar (Emir of AQWA) Asim Umar † (Emir of AQIS)
Islamic State
Taliban
Tehrik-i-Taliban
Haqqani Network
East Turkestan Islamic Movement
|
| Casualties and losses | |
| 900,000+ people killed[29]At least 37 million people displaced (Per Costs of War)[30] | |
The "war on terror" uses war as a metaphor to describe a variety of actions which fall outside the traditional definition of war taken to eliminate international terrorism. 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush first used the term "war on terrorism" on 16 September 2001,[34][35] and then "war on terror" a few days later in a formal speech to Congress.[36][37] Bush indicated the enemy of the war on terror as "a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them."[37][38] The initial conflict was aimed at al-Qaeda, with the main theater in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region that would later be referred to as "AfPak".[39]
The term "war on terror" was immediately criticized by individuals including Richard Myers, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and eventually more nuanced terms came to be used by the Bush administration to define the campaign.[31] While "war on terror" was never used as a formal designation of U.S. operations,[40] a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal was issued by the U.S. Armed Forces.
On 23 May 2013, President Obama announced that the Global War on Terror was over,[41][42] indicating that the U.S. would not wage war against a tactic but would instead focus on a specific group of terrorist networks.[43][44] The rise of the Islamic State led to the global Operation Inherent Resolve, and an international campaign to destroy the terrorist organization.
The notion of a "War on Terror" was contentious, with critics charging that it has been used to reduce civil liberties and infringe upon human rights,[45] such as controversial actions by the U.S. including surveillance, torture, and extraordinary rendition, and drone strikes that resulted in the deaths of suspected terrorists but also civilians.[46][47][48] Many of the U.S.' actions were supported by other countries, including the 54 countries that were involved with CIA black sites,[49] or those that assisted with drone strikes.[50]
Criticism of the war on terror has focused on its morality, efficiency, and cost. According to a 2021 study conducted by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the several post-9/11 wars participated in by the United States in its war against terror have caused the displacement, conservatively calculated, of 38 million people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Philippines and Pakistan; 26.7 million people have returned home following displacement.[51] The study estimated these wars caused the deaths of 897,000 to 929,000 people, including over 364,000 civilians, and cost $8 trillion.[52][53] Critics accuse participating governments of using the "War on Terror" to repress minorities or sideline domestic opponents,[54][55] of mainstreaming Islamophobia,[56] and have criticized negative impacts to health and the environment, resulting from the "War on Terror".[57][58][59] Critics assert that the term "war" is not appropriate in this context (much like the term "war on drugs") since terror is not an identifiable enemy and it is unlikely that international terrorism can be brought to an end by military means.[60]
Etymology
The phrase war on terror was used to specifically refer to the military campaign led by the U.S., U.K. and their allies against organizations and regimes identified by them as a terrorist, and usually excludes other independent counter-terrorist operations and campaigns such as those by Russia and India. The conflict has also been referred to by names other than the War on Terror. It has also been known as:
- World War III[61]
- World War IV[62] (assuming the Cold War was World War III)
- Bush's War on Terror[63]
- The Long War[64][65]
- The Forever War[66]
- The Global War on Terror[67]
- The War Against al-Qaeda[68]
- The War of Terror[69] (From the perspective of individuals who experience the conflicts brought on by continual foreign and domestic intervention as the source of terror; also from Sacha Baron Cohen's deliberately mispronouncing "War on Terror" in the 2006 satire film Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.)
Use of phrase and its development
The phrase "war against terrorism" existed in North American popular culture and U.S. political parlance prior to the War on Terror.[70][71] But it was not until the 11 September attacks that it emerged as a globally recognizable phrase and part of everyday lexicon. Tom Brokaw, having just witnessed the collapse of one of the towers of the World Trade Center, declared "Terrorists have declared war on [America]."[72] On 16 September 2001, at Camp David, U.S. president George W. Bush used the phrase war on terrorism in an ostensibly unscripted comment when answering a journalist's question about the impact of enhanced law enforcement authority given to the U.S. surveillance agencies on Americans' civil liberties:
"This is a new kind of—a new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I'm going to be patient."[34][73]
The reference to Crusades became subject to heavy criticism due to its controversial connotations in the Muslim World and historical Muslim-Christian relations.[74] On 20 September 2001, during a televised address to a joint session of Congress, George Bush said, "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."[75][37]
Both the term and the policies it denotes have been a source of ongoing controversy, as critics argue it has been used to justify unilateral preventive war, human rights abuses and other violations of international law.[76][77] The political theorist Richard Jackson has argued that "the 'war on terrorism,' therefore, is simultaneously a set of actual practices—wars, covert operations, agencies, and institutions—and an accompanying series of assumptions, beliefs, justifications, and narratives—it is an entire language or discourse."[78] Jackson cites among many examples a statement by John Ashcroft that "the attacks of September 11 drew a bright line of demarcation between the civil and the savage".[79] Administration officials also described "terrorists" as hateful, treacherous, barbarous, mad, twisted, perverted, without faith, parasitical, inhuman, and, most commonly, evil.[80] Americans, in contrast, were described as brave, loving, generous, strong, resourceful, heroic, and respectful of human rights.[81]
Abandonment of phrase by U.S. government
In April 2007, the British government announced publicly that it was abandoning the use of the phrase "war on terror" as they found it to be less than helpful.[82] This was explained more recently by Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller. In her 2011 Reith lecture, the former head of MI5 said that the 9/11 attacks were "a crime, not an act of war. So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror."[83]
U.S. president Barack Obama rarely used the term, but in his inaugural address on 20 January 2009, he stated: "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."[84] In March 2009 the Defense Department officially changed the name of operations from "Global War on Terror" to "Overseas Contingency Operation" (OCO).[85] In March 2009, the Obama administration requested that Pentagon staff members avoid the use of the term and instead to use "Overseas Contingency Operation".[85] Basic objectives of the Bush administration "war on terror", such as targeting al Qaeda and building international counterterrorism alliances, remain in place.[86][87]
In May 2010, the Obama administration published a report outlining its National Security Strategy. The document dropped the Bush-era phrase "global war on terror" and reference to "Islamic extremism," and stated, "This is not a global war against a tactic—terrorism, or a religion—Islam. We are at war with a specific network, al-Qaeda, and its terrorist affiliates who support efforts to attack the United States, our allies, and partners."[88]
In December 2012, Jeh Johnson, the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, speaking at Oxford University, stated that the war against al-Qaeda would end when the terrorist group had been weakened so that it was no longer capable of "strategic attacks" and had been "effectively destroyed." At that point, the war would no longer be an armed conflict under international law,[89] and the military fight could be replaced by a law enforcement operation.[90]
In May 2013, two years after the assassination of Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama delivered a speech that employed the term global war on terror put in quotation marks (as officially transcribed by the White House): "Now, make no mistake, terrorists still threaten our nation. ... In Afghanistan, we will complete our transition to Afghan responsibility for that country's security. ... Beyond Afghanistan, we must define our effort not as a boundless "global war on terror," but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America. In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries." Nevertheless, in the same speech, in a bid to emphasize the legality of military actions undertaken by the U.S., noting that Congress had authorised the use of force, he went on to say, "Under domestic law, and international law, the United States is at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces. We are at war with an organization that right now would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first. So this is a just war—a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defense."[91][92]
Nonetheless, the use of the phrase "War on Terror" persists in U.S. Politics. In 2017, for example, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing "the opening salvo in a war that we have waged ever since—the global war on terror."[93]
Background
Precursor to the 11 September attacks
In May 1996 the group World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders (WIFJAJC), sponsored by Osama bin Laden (and later re-formed as al-Qaeda), started forming a large base of operations in Afghanistan, where the Islamist extremist regime of the Taliban had seized power earlier in the year.[94] In August 1996, Bin Laden declared jihad against the United States.[95] In February 1998, Osama bin Laden signed a fatwa, as head of al-Qaeda, declaring war on the West and Israel;[96][97] in May al-Qaeda released a video declaring war on the U.S. and the West.[98][99]
On 7 August 1998, al-Qaeda struck the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.[100] In retaliation, U.S. President Bill Clinton launched Operation Infinite Reach, a bombing campaign in Sudan and Afghanistan against targets the U.S. asserted were associated with WIFJAJC,[101][102] although others have questioned whether a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was used as a chemical warfare facility. The plant produced much of the region's antimalarial drugs[103] and around 50% of Sudan's pharmaceutical needs.[104] The strikes failed to kill any leaders of WIFJAJC or the Taliban.[103]
Next came the 2000 millennium attack plots, which included an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport. On 12 October 2000, the USS Cole bombing occurred near the port of Yemen, and 17 U.S. Navy sailors were killed.[105]
11 September attacks
On the morning of 11 September 2001, nineteen men hijacked four jet airliners, all of them bound for California. Once the hijackers assumed control of the jet airliners, they told the passengers that they had a bomb on board and would spare the lives of passengers and crew once their demands were met – no passenger and crew actually suspected that they would use the jet airliners as suicide weapons since it had never happened before in history, and many previous hijacking attempts had been resolved with the passengers and crew escaping unharmed after obeying the hijackers.[106][107] The hijackers – members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell[108] – intentionally crashed two jet airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both buildings collapsed within two hours from fire damage related to the crashes, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third jet airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth jet airliner crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the jet airliners, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington D.C., to target the White House or the U.S. Capitol. None of the flights had any survivors. A total of 2,977 victims and the 19 hijackers perished in the attacks.[109] Fifteen of the nineteen were citizens of Saudi Arabia, and the others were from the United Arab Emirates (2), Egypt, and Lebanon.[110]
On 13 September, for the first time ever, NATO invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state to be an armed attack against them all.[111] The invocation of Article 5 led to Operation Eagle Assist and Operation Active Endeavour. On 18 September 2001, President Bush signed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists passed by Congress a few days prior, the authorization is still active and has been used to justify numerous military actions.
U.S. objectives
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists or "AUMF" was made law on 14 September 2001, to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the 11 September attacks. It authorized the President to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on 11 September 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or individuals. Congress declares this is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
The George W. Bush administration defined the following objectives in the War on Terror:[112]
- Defeat terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and destroy their organizations
- Identify, locate and demolish terrorists along with their organizations
- Reject sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists
- End the state sponsorship of terrorism
- Establish and maintain an international standard of responsibility concerning combating terrorism
- Strengthen and maintain the international effort to combat terrorism
- Function with willing and able states
- Enable weak states
- Persuade reluctant states
- Compel unwilling states
- Intervene and dismantle material support for terrorists
- Abolish terrorist sanctuaries and havens
- Reduce the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit
- Establish partnerships with the international community to strengthen weak states and prevent (re)emergence of terrorism
- Win the war of ideals
- Protect U.S. citizens and interests at home and abroad
- Integrate the National Strategy for Homeland Security
- Attain domain awareness
- Enhance measures to ensure the integrity, reliability, and availability of critical, physical, and information-based infrastructures at home and abroad
- Implement measures to protect U.S. citizens abroad
- Ensure an integrated incident management capacity
Timeline
Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name used by the Bush administration for the War in Afghanistan, together with three smaller military actions, under the umbrella of the Global War on Terror. These global operations are intended to seek out and destroy any al-Qaeda fighters or affiliates. Originally, the campaign was named "Eternal Justice" but due to widespread controversy and condemnation in the Muslim World, the phrasing was changed to "Enduring Freedom".[113]
Afghanistan
On 20 September 2001, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, George W. Bush delivered an ultimatum to the Taliban government of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, to turn over Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda leaders operating in the country or face attack.[37] The Taliban demanded evidence of bin Laden's link to the 11 September attacks and, if such evidence warranted a trial, they offered to handle such a trial in an Islamic Court.[114]
Subsequently, in October 2001, U.S. forces (with UK and coalition allies) invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime. On 7 October 2001, the official invasion began with British and U.S. forces conducting airstrike campaigns over enemy targets. Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, fell by mid-November. The remaining al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants fell back to the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, mainly Tora Bora. In December, Coalition forces (the U.S. and its allies) fought within that region. It is believed that Osama bin Laden escaped into Pakistan during the battle.[115][116]
In March 2002, the U.S. and other NATO and non-NATO forces launched Operation Anaconda with the goal of destroying any remaining al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shah-i-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains of Afghanistan. The Taliban suffered heavy casualties and evacuated the region.[117]
The Taliban regrouped in western Pakistan and began to unleash an insurgent-style offensive against Coalition forces in late 2002.[118] Throughout southern and eastern Afghanistan, firefights broke out between the surging Taliban and Coalition forces. Coalition forces responded with a series of military offensives and an increase of troops in Afghanistan. In February 2010, Coalition forces launched Operation Moshtarak in southern Afghanistan along with other military offensives in the hopes that they would destroy the Taliban insurgency once and for all.[119] Peace talks were also underway between Taliban affiliated fighters and Coalition forces.[120]
In September 2014, Afghanistan and the United States signed a security agreement, which allowed the United States and NATO forces to remain in Afghanistan until at least 2024.[121] However, on 29 February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed a conditional peace deal in Doha which required that US troops withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months so long as the Taliban cooperated with the terms of the agreement not to "allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including Al Qaeda, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies".[122][123] The Afghan government was not a party to the deal and rejected its terms regarding release of prisoners.[124] After Joe Biden became president, he moved back the target withdrawal date to 31 August 2021.[125] On 15 August 2021, the Afghan capital Kabul fell to a surprisingly effective Taliban offensive, culminating in the fall of the Afghan government and the rise of the Taliban to power once more. On the same day, the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in secret, ultimately finding refuge in the United Arab Emirates.[126] The US military and NATO troops took control of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport for use in Operation Allies Refuge and the large-scale evacuation of foreign citizens and certain vulnerable Afghans.[127][128] On 19 August 2021, the Taliban redeclared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.[129]
Thus ended the War in Afghanistan between the Taliban insurgency and forces backed by NATO Resolute Support Mission. On 30 August 2021, the United States completed its hasty withdrawal of its military from Afghanistan, shortly before marking the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The withdrawal was heavily criticized both domestically and abroad for being chaotic and haphazard,[130][131] as well as for lending more momentum to the Taliban offensive.[132] However, many European countries followed suit, including Britain, Germany, Italy, and Poland.[133][134] Despite evacuating over 120,000 people, the large-scale evacuation has also been criticized for leaving behind hundreds of American citizens, residents, and family members.[135]