War on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is a global counterterrorist military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks of 2001, and is the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. Some researchers and political scientists have argued that it replaced the Cold War.

The main targets of the campaign are militant Islamist movements like Al-Qaeda, Taliban and their allies. Other major targets included the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed in an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency. After its territorial expansion in 2014, the Islamic State militia has also emerged as a key adversary of the United States. As for Al-Qaeda in its current status, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued an official statement on January 12, 2021, stating: "Al-Qaeda has a new base of operations: it is the Islamic Republic of Iran." Al-Qaeda 's de facto leader, Saif al-Adel, is currently believed to be living in Iran. Between late 2023 and 2024, following the spillover of the Israel-Hamas war and the eventual Red Sea crisis, the Houthis have been re-designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The Houthi aggression in the Red Sea is alleged to mark the most serious threat to shipping and trade in decades.

The "war on terror" uses war as a metaphor to describe a variety of actions which fall outside the traditional definition of war. U.S. president George W. Bush first used the term "war on terrorism" on 16 September 2001, and then "war on terror" a few days later in a formal speech to Congress. Bush indicated the enemy of the war on terror as "a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them". 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 ". 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. While "war on terror" was never used as a formal designation of U.S. operations, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal was and is issued by the U.S. Armed Forces.

As of 2023, various global operations in the campaign are ongoing, including a U.S. military intervention in Somalia. Although the major wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have ended, the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the ongoing Red Sea crisis and Iran's status as a state sponsor of terrorism have led to renewed questions about a new chapter of the war on terror. Some have commented that these wars have reignited the rhetoric of the war on terror in a way not seen since the 2000s.

According to the Costs of War Project, the post-9/11 wars of the campaign have displaced 38 million people, the second largest number of forced displacements of any conflict since 1900, and caused more than 4.5 million deaths (direct and indirect) in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Philippines, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. They also estimate that it has cost the US Treasury over $8 trillion.

While support for the "war on terror" was high among the American public during its initial years, it had become deeply unpopular by the late 2000s. Controversy over the war has focused on its morality, casualties, and continuity, with critics questioning government measures that infringed civil liberties and human rights. Critics have notably described the Patriot Act as " Orwellian " due to its substantial expansion of the federal government's surveillance powers. Controversial practices of coalition forces have been condemned, including drone warfare, surveillance, torture, extraordinary rendition and various war crimes. The participating governments have been criticized for implementing authoritarian measures, repressing minorities, fomenting Islamophobia globally, and causing negative impacts to health and environment. Security analysts assert that there is no military solution to the conflict, pointing out that terrorism is not an identifiable enemy, and have emphasized the importance of negotiations and political solutions to resolve the underlying roots of the crises.
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