president, Trump, who spoke disdainfully of the NATO allies that in 2001 had rallied to America’s cause.Įven before Trump, Obama surprised allies and enemies alike when he stepped back abruptly from the U.S. The notion that 9/11 would create an enduring unity of interest to combat terrorism collided with rising nationalism and a U.S. allies struggling to understand Washington’s place in the world.
retreat has allowed Russia and China to gain influence in the regions, and left U.S. Costs, including tending the wars’ unusually high number of disabled vets, are expected to top $6 trillion.įor the U.S., the presidencies since Bush’s wars have been marked by an effort - not always consistent, not always successful - to pull back the military from the conflicts of the Middle East and Central Asia. The U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq killed more than 7,000 American military men and women, more than 1,000 from the allied forces, many tens of thousands of members of Afghan and Iraqi security forces, and many hundreds of thousands of civilians, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project. showed people in the Middle East that strongmen can be toppled, the insurgency demonstrated that what comes next may not be a season of renewal.Īuthoritarian regimes in the Middle East pointed to the post-Saddam era as an argument for their own survival. The overthrow of Saddam served both to inspire and limit public support for Arab Spring uprisings a few years later. The Bush administration, in its nation-building haste, failed to plan for keeping order, leaving Islamist extremists and rival militias to fight for dominance in the security vacuum.
objectives and partners.ĭeadly chaos soon followed in Iraq. Yet strategically, eliminating him did just what Arab leaders warned Bush it would do: It strengthened Saddam’s main rival, Iran, threatening U.S. The Iraq invasion rid that country and region of a murderous dictator in Saddam. Globally, U.S.-led forces weakened al-Qaida, which has failed to launch a major attack on the West since 2005. territory has remained safe from more international terrorism anywhere on the scale of 9/11. presidents scored important achievements in shoring up security, and so far U.S. Over the two decades, a succession of U.S. set up the Africa Command to counter terrorism and the rising influence of China and Russia on the continent, African countries did not want to host it. In June 2003, after the invasion had swiftly ousted Saddam and dismantled the Iraqi army and security forces, a Pew Research poll found a widening rift between Americans and Western Europeans and reported that “the bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world.” Most South Koreans, half of Brazilians and plenty more people outside the Islamic world agreed.Īnd this was when the war was going well, before the world saw cruel images from Abu Ghraib prison, learned all that it knows now about CIA black op sites, waterboarding, years of Guantanamo Bay detention without charges or trials - and before the rise of the brutal Islamic State.īy 2007, when the U.S. World opinion of the United States turned sharply negative. This time, millions worldwide marched in protest in the run-up to the invasion. and Britain were practically alone in prosecuting the Iraq war. Never before had NATO invoked Article 5 of its charter that an attack against one member was an attack against all.īut in 2003, the U.S. Russia acquiesced to NATO troops in Central Asia for the first time and provided logistical support. How rare is that?ĭozens of countries joined or endorsed the NATO coalition fighting in Afghanistan. No nation with global standing was cheering the stateless terrorists vowing to conquer capitalism and democracy. Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, a murderous dictator with a poetic streak, spoke of the “human duty” to be with Americans after “these horrifying and awesome events, which are bound to awaken human conscience.”įrom the first terrible moments, America’s longstanding allies were joined by longtime enemies in that singularly galvanizing instant. prepared to go to war in Russia’s region of influence. Vladimir Putin weighed in with substantive help as the U.S. In Iran, chants of “death to America” quickly gave way to candlelight vigils to mourn the American dead. World affairs reordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death. In the ghastly rubble of ground zero’s fallen towers 20 years ago, Hour Zero arrived, a chance to start anew.
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