War on terror

The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is a global military campaign initiated by the United States following the <a href="/facts/September_11_attacks/PfWQcQNx">September 11 attacks</a> in 2001, and is the most recent <a href="/facts/Global_conflict/pEzjDFFs">global conflict</a> spanning <a href="/facts/List_of_military_conflicts_spanning_multiple_wars/SwFQ31GE">multiple wars</a>. Some researchers and political scientists have argued that it replaced the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>.
The main targets of the campaign were <a href="/facts/Militant_Islamism/4u3G2nEf">militant Islamist</a> movements such as <a href="/facts/Al-Qaeda/CIQSk3D7">al-Qaeda</a>, <a href="/facts/Taliban/VJC0WJlq">Taliban</a> and their allies. Other major targets included the <a href="/facts/Ba%27ath_Party_(Iraqi-dominated_faction)/EX661zeF">Ba'athist</a> regime in <a href="/facts/Ba%27athist_Iraq/lbHnSQBz">Iraq</a>, which was deposed in an <a href="/facts/2003_invasion_of_Iraq/V9zysaV1">invasion in 2003</a>, and various militant factions that fought during the <a href="/facts/Iraqi_insurgency_(2003%E2%80%932011)/mLrxhL2j">ensuing insurgency</a>. Following its territorial expansion in 2014, the <a href="/facts/Islamic_State/agpVzR4K">Islamic State</a> also emerged as a key adversary of the United States. 
The "war on terror" uses <a href="/facts/War_as_metaphor/eLhpubEf">war as a metaphor</a> to describe a variety of actions which fall outside the traditional definition of war. U.S. president <a href="/facts/George_W._Bush/mYSgM515">George W. Bush</a> first used the <a href="/facts/Slogans_and_terms_derived_from_the_September_11_attacks/Le9Dfdld">term</a> "war on terrorism" on 16 September 2001, and then "war on terror" a few days later in a formal speech to <a href="/facts/United_States_Congress/mJlU46K7">Congress</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Afghanistan/v63Auu1C">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="/facts/Pakistan/cbIsvJy1">Pakistan</a>, a region that would later be referred to as "<a href="/facts/AfPak/mjlGhgGS">AfPak</a>". The term "war on terror" was immediately criticized by individuals including <a href="/facts/Richard_Myers/bVfR8cTc">Richard Myers</a>, then <a href="/facts/Chairman_of_the_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff/Prqqf1xT">chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff</a>, and eventually more nuanced terms came to be used by the <a href="/facts/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush/n3TPjCeF">Bush administration</a> to define the campaign. While "war on terror" was never used as a formal designation of U.S. operations, a <a href="/facts/Global_War_on_Terrorism_Service_Medal/RnSXJ6BL">Global War on Terrorism Service Medal</a> was and is issued by the <a href="/facts/United_States_Armed_Forces/NHVsU9Id">U.S. Armed Forces</a>.
As of 2024, various global operations in the campaign are ongoing, including a <a href="/facts/American_military_intervention_in_Somalia_(2007%E2%80%93present)/KykomSCb">U.S. military intervention</a> in Somalia. Although the major wars in <a href="/facts/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001-2021)/vKbbttLN">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="/facts/Iraq_War/dlAgf8at">Iraq</a> have ended, <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a>'s <a href="/facts/Iran_and_state-sponsored_terrorism/I1EPxjtm">growing status as a state sponsor of terrorism</a> has led to renewed debate over whether a new phase of the war on terror has begun. According to the <a href="/facts/Watson_Institute_for_International_and_Public_Affairs/0NluapBW">Costs of War Project</a>, the <a href="/facts/Post-9/11/1BAcztNp">post-9/11 wars</a> of the campaign have displaced 38 million people, the second largest number of <a href="/facts/Forced_displacements/lKjCS4R2">forced displacements</a> of any conflict since 1900, and caused more than 4.5 million deaths (direct and indirect) in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, the Philippines, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. They also estimate that it has cost the <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_the_Treasury/lDmua740">US Treasury</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Patriot_Act/EuM6gPJ6">Patriot Act</a> as "<a href="/facts/Orwellian/drtoh6qp">Orwellian</a>" due to its substantial expansion of the federal government's surveillance powers. Controversial practices of <a href="/facts/US-led_coalition/ywqNDPnp">coalition forces</a> have been condemned, including <a href="/facts/Drone_warfare/pykRmVmc">drone warfare</a>, surveillance, torture, <a href="/facts/Extraordinary_rendition/j9hxo2bu">extraordinary rendition</a> and various war crimes. The participating governments have been criticized for implementing authoritarian measures, repressing minorities, fomenting <a href="/facts/Islamophobia/K78mwBd1">Islamophobia</a> 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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War on terror