After the US withdrew from Afghanistan
Biden takes the war on terror into a new chapter
An American soldier trains Afghan soldiers.
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After many civilians were injured in the drone strikes, Biden took steps aimed at placing a number of restrictions on the drone strikes.
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George Bush Jr.: "Our war on terror will not end until all terrorist groups with global capabilities are found and punished."
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US President Joe Biden ended the longest war waged by the United States after withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan, last August, and thus Biden has complied with the agreement signed by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, with the “Taliban”, which provides for the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. Afghanistan, and by doing so he has also fulfilled one of his basic foreign policy promises, which is to put an end to the "unending wars", where the American forces have immersed in what Biden sees as dangerous and unwinnable conflicts that drain resources and attention to other important issues, but the style of Biden's decision-making raises important questions about America's direction in the "war on terror."
On September 20, 2021, former President George Bush Jr. said: “Our war on terror began against (Al-Qaeda), but it does not end there until all terrorist groups that possess global capabilities are found, punished and defeated.” He said that this war should not It consists of one battle, but rather a long campaign unlike any we have seen before, and it uses all available mechanisms to target terrorist organizations, and the countries that provide shelters for these organizations.
The conflict in Afghanistan was the opening of this new war, when the United States demanded that the Taliban, which shelters al-Qaeda, dismantle terrorist training camps, and when it refused the American army to intervene quickly and expel the Taliban from power, and the United States remained in Afghanistan hunting terrorists. And Osama bin Laden later, and US forces, eventually, engaged in the process of re-establishing the state to support the transitional phase in Afghanistan towards a democratic system.
Bush successors avoided talking about the term “war on terror.” Former President Barack Obama called “Operation Emergency Out of the Country,” but other administrations have been involved in counterterrorism efforts, and the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan has become perhaps the most visible feature on the planet. This war effort, however, was not the only or the most important.
For example, the US government implemented counter-terrorism efforts in 85 countries between 2018 and 2020, and trained many armies and security services in about 80 countries to enhance their capabilities to combat terrorism, according to researchers from Brown University of America, and US Army soldiers participated in missions combat operations in eight countries, and they engaged in conventional war operations, in addition to carrying out special forces operations aimed at killing or arresting, and drones (Drones) were used against terrorists and militias in seven countries, and in four other countries, US Army soldiers planned and organized and directing tasks that were carried out by local armies, and such local armies, such as the Kurdish forces, were critical to the success of the United States in military missions.
The question that remains vigorously raised is whether Biden's decision to withdraw the US army from Afghanistan is an indication that significant changes in the US approach to counter-terrorism activities, which fall under the "war on terror", were the initial indications that this would not Happen or occur.
Biden ended the American presence in Afghanistan, and at the same time promised to avenge those responsible for the killing of 13 American soldiers in Kabul, during the evacuations from the airport.
Biden has taken steps aimed at placing a number of restrictions on drone strikes, but there is no indication that he plans to abandon drone strikes completely, and drone strikes are an essential component of his policy known as “behind the horizon,” and it appears that Biden is only seeking to control the program. By imposing a number of Obama-era measures that restrict the criteria for who will be targeted by drones, Biden will likely increase the number of approvals that must be obtained before a drone strike can be carried out.
The Biden administration has expressed its intentions to assess and possibly replace the judicial tools that have been used to justify many of the United States' efforts to combat foreign terrorism, and in 2001 Congress passed almost unanimously passing a law authorizing the use of military forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks. This law authorizes the President to use all necessary and appropriate force against states, organizations, or persons deemed responsible for planning, permitting, obligating, or providing assistance to those who carry out these attacks.
This law authorizing the president to use force was cited in 2001 as providing approval for military operations against several terrorist organizations, and was also used to secure approval for strikes against ISIS, which emerged a decade later. The use of military punishment against terrorists, and this is due to the fact that this law was interpreted as permitting the use of military force against any terrorist organization linked to “Al-Qaeda” or “Taliban”, and “ISIS” fell within this umbrella because it emerged from the mantle of “Al-Qaeda” in Iraq. .
It seems that Biden aims to define this law, and make it more specific in classifying the targets in a clear way, and it cannot be interpreted broadly (as it was previously interpreted), in order to allow military operations against organizations whose names are unknown, without resorting to obtaining Acceptance of Congress, which does not seek to end military efforts against foreign terrorism.
By withdrawing from Afghanistan, Biden removed the American soldiers from any potential damage, but it is unclear how this will affect the threat posed by terrorists to the United States, and time will reveal whether the Taliban will abide by the agreement not to allow terrorists to remain on its soil. They intend to carry out attacks against the United States or one of its allies.
ISIS-K sees the Taliban as agents of the United States, and there are fears that it will continue to escalate its attacks in Afghanistan, and it remains to be seen whether the Taliban is ready or able to contain ISIS in Khorasan. Biden is known to be "behind the horizon" for counter-terrorism efforts with air strikes through drones, because they reduce the presence of American soldiers on the ground to the lowest possible rate, and an appropriate time must pass before judging whether this strategy is able to adequately address the foreign and persistent terrorist threat .We must also wait to see the extent of the impact of the withdrawal of the American army on extremism in general in the region and in the United States, and the American withdrawal was portrayed as a significant and significant victory for the “Taliban.” The Americans left, the government supported by Washington collapsed in Kabul, and a government that governs under Religion instead, which would inspire extremists who share the same goals, and the US Department of the Interior said at the end of 2020 that external terrorism will pose little threat to the United States, but the greater threat remains from the growing terrorism within the United States, which is inspired by the ideologies of terrorist organizations. External terrorism, and Biden's approach to fighting terrorism requires more intensive efforts against these domestic threats.Accordingly, rather than ending the "war on terror," the Biden administration's efforts merely seek to move it into a new chapter, one that will retain many of the elements that have become a cornerstone of the counterterrorism effort.
David Webber is a professor at the Douglas Wilder College of Government and Public Relations
• Presidents who succeeded Bush avoided talking about the term “war on terror.” Former President Barack Obama called it “Operation Emergency Out of the Country,” but other administrations have been involved in efforts to combat terrorism.
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