Despite promises to end United States involvement in costly and destructive foreign wars, President Donald Trump, along with Israel, has launched a massive military attack on Iran targeting its leadership and nuclear and missile infrastructure.
Like his predecessors, Trump has relied on military force to pursue US strategic interests, continuing a pattern that has defined US foreign policy for more than two decades.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the US capital, the US has been involved in three full-scale wars and has bombed at least 10 countries in operations ranging from drone strikes to invasions, often multiple times in a single year.
The graphic below shows all the countries the US has bombed since 2001.
These may not include all military strikes, especially covert or special operations.
The cost of decades of war
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush launched what President George W. Bush called the “War on Terror,” a global military campaign that reshaped U.S. foreign policy and triggered wars, invasions, and airstrikes in several countries.
According to an analysis by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs, US-led wars since 2001 have directly caused the deaths of nearly 940,000 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other conflict zones.
It does not include indirect deaths, namely deaths caused by loss of access to food, health care or war-related diseases.
The US has spent $5.8 trillion on more than two decades of conflict.
This includes $2.1 trillion spent by the Department of Defense (DOD), $1.1 trillion from Homeland Security, $884bn to increase the DOD base budget, $465bn for veterans’ medical care and $1 trillion in interest payments on loans taken out to fund wars.
In addition to the $5.8 trillion already spent, the US is expected to spend at least $2.2 trillion on veterans care over the next 30 years.
This brings the total estimated cost of US wars since 2001 to $8 trillion.
Afghanistan War (2001-2021)
The first and most direct response to 9/11 was the invasion of Afghanistan to dismantle al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban from power.
On October 7, 2001, the US launched Operation Enduring Freedom.
The initial offensive succeeded in toppling the Taliban regime within weeks. However, armed resistance groups mounted prolonged resistance against US and coalition forces.
The war became the longest conflict in US history, spanning four presidencies and lasting 20 years until the final withdrawal in 2021, after which the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.
According to an analysis by Brown University’s Costs of War project, an estimated 241,000 people died as a direct result of the war. Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly civilians, died from starvation, disease, and war-related injuries.
At least 3,586 soldiers of the US and its NATO allies were killed in the war, which cost the US $2.26 trillion, according to the Cost of War Project.
Iraq War (2003-2011)
On March 20, 2003, Bush launched a second war, this time in Iraq by claiming that President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction – a claim that proved false.
On May 1, 2003, Bush declared “mission accomplished” and the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
However, the following years were defined by violence from armed groups and a power vacuum fueled by the rise of ISIL (ISIS).
In 2008, Bush agreed to withdraw US combat forces, a process that was completed in 2011 under President Barack Obama.
Drone Wars: Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen
While not declaring wars, the US has expanded its air and drone operations.
In the mid-2000s, the CIA launched drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border, targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban figures believed to be operating there. These strikes marked the initial expansion of remote warfare.
Obama dramatically expanded drone strikes in Pakistan, especially in the early years of his presidency.
At the same time, the US conducted airstrikes against suspected al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia, then targeted fighters linked to al-Shabaab as that armed group grew in strength.
In Yemen, US forces conducted missile and drone strikes against al-Qaeda leaders.
Libya intervention
During the 2011 uprising against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the US joined the NATO-led intervention in Libya. US forces launched air and missile strikes to enforce the no-fly zone.
Gaddafi was deposed and killed, and Libya descended into prolonged instability and factional fighting.
Iraq and Syria
Since 2014, the US has intervened in the Syrian war with the aim of defeating ISIL. Building on its operations in Iraq, the US conducted sustained airstrikes in Syria while supporting local partner forces on the ground.
In Iraq, US forces advised the Iraqi army, fought ISIL remnants and sought to counter Iranian influence, highlighted by the Trump-ordered 2020 strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
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