How America's Post-9/11 War on Terror Led Back to the Taliban in Afghanistan
· World · Hindustan Times, Al Jazeera
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijackers crashed four commercial airliners into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response, the George W. Bush administration launched Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7, 2001, leading a multinational coalition that included the UK, Canada, France, and India to overthrow the Taliban regime and dismantle al-Qaeda. The US established military bases across Afghanistan and supported the creation of a US-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by 2004. However, the diversion of US attention and military resources toward the war in Iraq allowed the defeated Taliban to gradually regroup and reassert control.
Why it matters
The resurgence of the Taliban after two decades of international military intervention demonstrates the long-term limits of foreign counterterrorism campaigns in rebuilding stable governance. This outcome reshapes regional security across South Asia and alters global perceptions of American foreign policy commitments.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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