Global War on Terror

After 9/11 George W Bush declared war on “Terror”, which is kind of an odd idea – to declare war on an idea. This is essentially giving the USA the right to intervene anywhere it wants to in the world “Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them” The USA has taken military action in Afghanistan Iraq Libya Syria Pakistan The phrase “war on terror” has come in for huge amounts of criticism – even the head of MI6 said that 9/11 was a crime and not an act of war – the Americans officially stopped using the term in 2007

Effectiveness of the War on Terror Afghanistan We are going to look at Military Social Economic Iraq We are going to miss out on Libya or Syria – but feel free to add them

Afghanistan Afghanistan was the first stage of the “war on terror” You are all familiar with the story of Afghanistan now The initial invasion of Afghanistan was supported by NATO and a coalition of the willing that included 48 countries – the operation was very much US led though.

According to a 2016 study from Brown University … Military According to a 2016 study from Brown University … In the war in Afghanistan (which has also crossed the border into Pakistan on many occasions) 173,000 have been killed and 183,000 have been seriously wounded, more than 31,000 of the dead have been civilians. The war has cost the USA $800 billion The Taliban are once again a significant terrorist force, responsible for the 2nd largest amounts of deaths due to terrorism, and significant numbers of deaths due to conflicts with other groups and the Afghan government forces.

Although the USA have talked of winding down military action and withdrawing troops, fighting in the country has intensified , in 2016 117,976 people were forced to flee their homes because of new fighting. The Afghan government controlled 70% of territory in April 2016, but that had reduced by 5% by July 2016.

Social Displaced People Afghanistan has received more than 100,000 Pakistanis fleeing a military operation in North Waziristan in June 2014. In June 2016 Afghanistan had 1.4 million refugees inside its borders, and nearly one million Afghans were internally displaced. An additional 2.6 million Afghans are currently refugees in more than 70 countries. The largest numbers of Afghan refugees are in Pakistan and Iran

Education in Afghanistan Social Education in Afghanistan In 2002, only an estimated 1 million children, mostly boys, attended school – women and girls were almost completely excluded from educational opportunities. Since the US invasion, the US government has increased the level of aid given to Afghanistan – this is in an effort to win the “hearts and minds” of the people of Afghanistan The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped to train primary teachers, and has produced and distributed textbooks, and provided some educational infrastructure Today 9.2 million children are enrolled in school, and 39% of them are girls However, with increased Taliban and ISIS activity, these girls are still taking a significant security risk by attending school, and many question whether the type of education they are receiving is too “Western”, ignoring their Peshawar culture

Political Elections ISAF helped pave the way for “democratic” elections to be held in 2004/5, 2009/10 (when Hamid Kharzai was elected), and in 2014 an election took place which saw the first ever peaceful hand over of power from one leader to another- this is sign of success for NATO. However there have been allegations of electoral fraud aimed at both candidates in the election – (Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani). Nonetheless, Ashraf Ghani eventually won the election, and Abdullah Abdullah eventually accepted defeat – although he did request recounts – which caused instability. The Taliban took advantage over the uncertainty of the election result (link back to causes of terrorism again), by carrying out a number of attacks in– there was a car bomb in Kabul on the 16th September 2014 that killed 3 ISAF troops

Global War on Terror IRAQ

The American invasion was made infamous for the behaviour of American troops in Fallujah and the prison Abu Ghraib Military The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not sanctioned by the UN and has been ruled illegal Nearly half a million people died as a result of war-related causes n Iraq between 2003 – 2011 according to a university study “Iraq Body Count” The US took over and trained the Iraqi Army – which was initially no match for ISIS, who overran them in Mosul in 2014 – the Iraqi army threw down their (American) weapons and fled. The Iraqi Army has since had more success and ISIS, lost control of their territory in Iraq in 2017 The Us invasion was directly responsible for the growth of ISIS

Social The invasion of Iraq caused massive sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims 3 million people have been displaced within Iraq, and 1.6 million are seeking refuge in camps outside Iraq The Yazidi people have faced genocide at the hands of ISIS, almost 10,000 were killed or kidnapped. Many were beheaded or burned to death, and many women have been forced into sex slavery

Political The US replaced the government of Saddam Hussein The US put in place “democratic” elections, but the power sharing arrangements benefited Shia Muslims more, and so caused further difficulties between Sunni and Shia The Americans finally forced Nouri Al Maliki to stand down as PM in 2014, after an election which he tried to win fraudulently There is still conflict in the North of the country where Kurdistan is demanding independence. The Prime Minster Haider Al Abadi has sent troops to push back the Kurdish forces (whom they had allied with to fight ISIS) There are now closer ties between Iraq and Iran