American foreign policy since 9/11

Nine days after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress and the nation. U.S. officials had identified al Qaeda, a terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden and based in Afghanistan, as responsible. Afghanistan was then ruled by the Taliban.

(1) And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. …

(2) Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. …

(3) Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

Nine days after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress and the nation. U.S. officials had identified al Qaeda, a terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden and based in Afghanistan, as responsible. Afghanistan was then ruled by the Taliban.

(1) And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. …

(2) Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. …

(3) Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

(1) On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists from the al Qaeda network hijacked four passenger airplanes. They crashed two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Department of Defense, near Washington, D.C. On the fourth plane, United Flight 93, passengers fought back, and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

(2) On September 14, Congress passed a joint resolution called the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which the president signed on September 18. It stated "that the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons …"

(3) In 2002, Congress and the president created an independent, bipartisan commission to study the attacks. Its 2004 report stated: "The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise." The commission concluded that the attacks "revealed four kinds of failures: in imagination, policy, capabilities, and management," and it recommended changes in how intelligence agencies share information.

In the year after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush described a new approach to national security. In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, after naming North Korea, Iran and Iraq, he said:

(1) States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. …

(2) I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. …

On June 1, 2002, speaking to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Bush said:

(3) Deterrence—the promise of massive retaliation against nations—means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. …

(4) If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long. …

(5) … our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives.

These ideas became known as the "Bush Doctrine." Supporters argued that waiting to be attacked was too dangerous in an age of terrorism and deadly weapons. Critics argued that striking first could be based on mistaken intelligence and could encourage other nations to do the same. The doctrine helped shape the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

(1) When Barack Obama became president in January 2009, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was growing stronger. In a speech at West Point on December 1, 2009, Obama said: "When I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan, compared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the war." He announced that he had "determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan." He added: "After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home."

(2) In June 2011, Obama announced that 10,000 troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of that year. On May 27, 2014, he said U.S. forces had been reduced "from a peak of 100,000 U.S. troops, to roughly 32,000 today," and that about 9,800 would remain at the beginning of 2015 to train Afghan forces and support counterterrorism operations. This gradual reduction of forces is called a drawdown.

(3) In 2016, Obama decided to keep about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017. In February 2020, the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban that set a timeline for withdrawing all U.S. forces. The last U.S. troops left Afghanistan on August 30, 2021.

(1) When Barack Obama became president in January 2009, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was growing stronger. In a speech at West Point on December 1, 2009, Obama said: "When I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan, compared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the war." He announced that he had "determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan." He added: "After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home."

(2) In June 2011, Obama announced that 10,000 troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of that year. On May 27, 2014, he said U.S. forces had been reduced "from a peak of 100,000 U.S. troops, to roughly 32,000 today," and that about 9,800 would remain at the beginning of 2015 to train Afghan forces and support counterterrorism operations. This gradual reduction of forces is called a drawdown.

(3) In 2016, Obama decided to keep about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017. In February 2020, the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban that set a timeline for withdrawing all U.S. forces. The last U.S. troops left Afghanistan on August 30, 2021.

(1) In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. One part of it, Section 215, allowed the government to obtain business records for terrorism investigations with an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a special federal court whose hearings are closed to the public.

(2) In June 2013, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) gave classified documents to journalists. They showed that, under Section 215, the NSA had been collecting records of millions of Americans' phone calls—the numbers dialed and the time and length of each call, but not the conversations themselves.

(3) In June 2015, Congress passed the USA FREEDOM Act. It ended the government's bulk collection of phone records. Phone companies now keep the records, and the government must get a court order to obtain records about specific targets.

Viewpoint A — a retired federal investigator, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(4) Investigators need to connect the dots quickly. Phone records can show who has been in contact with a known terrorist. The program did not listen to anyone's calls, and it was approved by a court. I believe giving up this tool would make the country less safe.

Viewpoint B — a civil-liberties lawyer, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(5) The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches. Collecting records about millions of people who are suspected of nothing turns that protection upside down. In my view, the government should have to show a judge a good reason before it gathers information about any American.

(1) In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. One part of it, Section 215, allowed the government to obtain business records for terrorism investigations with an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a special federal court whose hearings are closed to the public.

(2) In June 2013, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) gave classified documents to journalists. They showed that, under Section 215, the NSA had been collecting records of millions of Americans' phone calls—the numbers dialed and the time and length of each call, but not the conversations themselves.

(3) In June 2015, Congress passed the USA FREEDOM Act. It ended the government's bulk collection of phone records. Phone companies now keep the records, and the government must get a court order to obtain records about specific targets.

Viewpoint A — a retired federal investigator, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(4) Investigators need to connect the dots quickly. Phone records can show who has been in contact with a known terrorist. The program did not listen to anyone's calls, and it was approved by a court. I believe giving up this tool would make the country less safe.

Viewpoint B — a civil-liberties lawyer, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(5) The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches. Collecting records about millions of people who are suspected of nothing turns that protection upside down. In my view, the government should have to show a judge a good reason before it gathers information about any American.

(1) Under a 2008 agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011. In June 2014, a terrorist group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which had grown out of al Qaeda in Iraq, captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, along with large areas of Syria.

(2) In August 2014, the United States began airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, and in September it expanded them to Syria. The United States led an international coalition and sent military advisers to help Iraqi and Kurdish forces, rather than large numbers of U.S. ground combat troops. By March 2019, ISIS had lost the last territory it controlled. In October 2019, a U.S. special operations raid in Syria killed the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

(3) Diplomacy also played a role. In July 2015, the United States, five other world powers and Iran reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement that limited Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. In May 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, arguing that it did not do enough to stop Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Supporters of the agreement argued that it was working.

(4) In February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha, Qatar, that set a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

(1) Before 2001, the job of protecting the country from attack inside its borders was spread across dozens of federal agencies. After the September 11 attacks, the government reorganized.

(2) In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which expanded the government's power to conduct surveillance and made it easier for law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to share information. Supporters said these tools were needed to stop terrorist plots. Critics argued that some provisions threatened privacy and civil liberties. Congress has renewed and revised parts of the law several times since.

(3) In November 2001, Congress created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which took over the screening of passengers and baggage at U.S. airports.

(4) In November 2002, the Homeland Security Act created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), combining 22 federal agencies—including the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the TSA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—into one Cabinet department. The law states:

The primary mission of the Department is to— (A) prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; (B) reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism; (C) minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States …

(1) Afghanistan. In October 2001, after the Taliban refused to hand over al Qaeda's leaders, the United States and its allies began military operations in Afghanistan. By December 2001, the Taliban had been driven from power. U.S. and NATO forces stayed to support a new Afghan government and fight a renewed Taliban insurgency. On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama announced "that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda" at a compound in Pakistan. In 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement on withdrawing U.S. forces. The Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital, in mid-August 2021, and the last U.S. troops left on August 30. The next day, President Joe Biden said: "Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan—the longest war in American history."

(2) Iraq. In March 2003, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq. The Bush administration argued that Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein, possessed weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological or nuclear weapons) that threatened the United States and its allies. Saddam's government fell within weeks, and he was captured in December 2003. However, a U.S. survey team later reported that Iraq did not have stockpiles of such weapons at the time of the invasion. U.S. forces fought a long insurgency, sent additional troops in a 2007 "surge," and withdrew in December 2011.

In the year after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush described a new approach to national security. In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, after naming North Korea, Iran and Iraq, he said:

(1) States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. …

(2) I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. …

On June 1, 2002, speaking to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Bush said:

(3) Deterrence—the promise of massive retaliation against nations—means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. …

(4) If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long. …

(5) … our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives.

These ideas became known as the "Bush Doctrine." Supporters argued that waiting to be attacked was too dangerous in an age of terrorism and deadly weapons. Critics argued that striking first could be based on mistaken intelligence and could encourage other nations to do the same. The doctrine helped shape the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

In the year after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush described a new approach to national security. In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, after naming North Korea, Iran and Iraq, he said:

(1) States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. …

(2) I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. …

On June 1, 2002, speaking to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Bush said:

(3) Deterrence—the promise of massive retaliation against nations—means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. …

(4) If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long. …

(5) … our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives.

These ideas became known as the "Bush Doctrine." Supporters argued that waiting to be attacked was too dangerous in an age of terrorism and deadly weapons. Critics argued that striking first could be based on mistaken intelligence and could encourage other nations to do the same. The doctrine helped shape the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

(1) The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and makes the president commander in chief of the armed forces. Congress has not formally declared war since World War II. Instead, it has often passed resolutions that authorize the president to use military force.

(2) In October 2002, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, and President George W. Bush signed it on October 16. Section 3(a) states:

The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to— (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

(3) Administration officials argued that Iraq's government was hiding chemical and biological weapons and trying to build nuclear weapons, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions passed after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. A U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003.

(4) After the invasion, the Iraq Survey Group, a team led by U.S. intelligence officials, searched for the weapons. Its 2004 report concluded that Iraq did not have stockpiles of such weapons at the time of the invasion and had destroyed most of its banned weapons in 1991. The report also found that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, had hoped to restart weapons programs in the future.

(5) On August 31, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission. He said: "Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." The last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011.

(1) The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and makes the president commander in chief of the armed forces. Congress has not formally declared war since World War II. Instead, it has often passed resolutions that authorize the president to use military force.

(2) In October 2002, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, and President George W. Bush signed it on October 16. Section 3(a) states:

The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to— (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

(3) Administration officials argued that Iraq's government was hiding chemical and biological weapons and trying to build nuclear weapons, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions passed after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. A U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003.

(4) After the invasion, the Iraq Survey Group, a team led by U.S. intelligence officials, searched for the weapons. Its 2004 report concluded that Iraq did not have stockpiles of such weapons at the time of the invasion and had destroyed most of its banned weapons in 1991. The report also found that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, had hoped to restart weapons programs in the future.

(5) On August 31, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission. He said: "Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." The last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011.

(1) In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. One part of it, Section 215, allowed the government to obtain business records for terrorism investigations with an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a special federal court whose hearings are closed to the public.

(2) In June 2013, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) gave classified documents to journalists. They showed that, under Section 215, the NSA had been collecting records of millions of Americans' phone calls—the numbers dialed and the time and length of each call, but not the conversations themselves.

(3) In June 2015, Congress passed the USA FREEDOM Act. It ended the government's bulk collection of phone records. Phone companies now keep the records, and the government must get a court order to obtain records about specific targets.

Viewpoint A — a retired federal investigator, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(4) Investigators need to connect the dots quickly. Phone records can show who has been in contact with a known terrorist. The program did not listen to anyone's calls, and it was approved by a court. I believe giving up this tool would make the country less safe.

Viewpoint B — a civil-liberties lawyer, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(5) The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches. Collecting records about millions of people who are suspected of nothing turns that protection upside down. In my view, the government should have to show a judge a good reason before it gathers information about any American.

(1) Under a 2008 agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011. In June 2014, a terrorist group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which had grown out of al Qaeda in Iraq, captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, along with large areas of Syria.

(2) In August 2014, the United States began airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, and in September it expanded them to Syria. The United States led an international coalition and sent military advisers to help Iraqi and Kurdish forces, rather than large numbers of U.S. ground combat troops. By March 2019, ISIS had lost the last territory it controlled. In October 2019, a U.S. special operations raid in Syria killed the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

(3) Diplomacy also played a role. In July 2015, the United States, five other world powers and Iran reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement that limited Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. In May 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, arguing that it did not do enough to stop Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Supporters of the agreement argued that it was working.

(4) In February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha, Qatar, that set a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

(1) The United States and eleven other countries founded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, early in the Cold War. The heart of the treaty is Article 5:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all …

(2) NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history on September 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks on the United States. NATO allies later sent troops to Afghanistan.

(3) After the Cold War ended in 1991, many former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, along with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (former Soviet republics), applied to join NATO. After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and Sweden, which had long stayed out of military alliances, also joined.

(4) The United States has also built partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, such as AUKUS (2021), a security agreement with Australia and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, globalization—the growing connection of the world's economies through trade, investment, travel and technology—has tied American jobs and prices to events around the world.

(1) Afghanistan. In October 2001, after the Taliban refused to hand over al Qaeda's leaders, the United States and its allies began military operations in Afghanistan. By December 2001, the Taliban had been driven from power. U.S. and NATO forces stayed to support a new Afghan government and fight a renewed Taliban insurgency. On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama announced "that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda" at a compound in Pakistan. In 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement on withdrawing U.S. forces. The Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital, in mid-August 2021, and the last U.S. troops left on August 30. The next day, President Joe Biden said: "Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan—the longest war in American history."

(2) Iraq. In March 2003, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq. The Bush administration argued that Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein, possessed weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological or nuclear weapons) that threatened the United States and its allies. Saddam's government fell within weeks, and he was captured in December 2003. However, a U.S. survey team later reported that Iraq did not have stockpiles of such weapons at the time of the invasion. U.S. forces fought a long insurgency, sent additional troops in a 2007 "surge," and withdrew in December 2011.

(1) The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and makes the president commander in chief of the armed forces. Congress has not formally declared war since World War II. Instead, it has often passed resolutions that authorize the president to use military force.

(2) In October 2002, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, and President George W. Bush signed it on October 16. Section 3(a) states:

The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to— (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

(3) Administration officials argued that Iraq's government was hiding chemical and biological weapons and trying to build nuclear weapons, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions passed after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. A U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003.

(4) After the invasion, the Iraq Survey Group, a team led by U.S. intelligence officials, searched for the weapons. Its 2004 report concluded that Iraq did not have stockpiles of such weapons at the time of the invasion and had destroyed most of its banned weapons in 1991. The report also found that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, had hoped to restart weapons programs in the future.

(5) On August 31, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission. He said: "Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." The last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011.

(1) The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and makes the president commander in chief of the armed forces. Congress has not formally declared war since World War II. Instead, it has often passed resolutions that authorize the president to use military force.

(2) In October 2002, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, and President George W. Bush signed it on October 16. Section 3(a) states:

The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to— (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

(3) Administration officials argued that Iraq's government was hiding chemical and biological weapons and trying to build nuclear weapons, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions passed after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. A U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003.

(4) After the invasion, the Iraq Survey Group, a team led by U.S. intelligence officials, searched for the weapons. Its 2004 report concluded that Iraq did not have stockpiles of such weapons at the time of the invasion and had destroyed most of its banned weapons in 1991. The report also found that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, had hoped to restart weapons programs in the future.

(5) On August 31, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission. He said: "Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." The last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011.

(1) In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. One part of it, Section 215, allowed the government to obtain business records for terrorism investigations with an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a special federal court whose hearings are closed to the public.

(2) In June 2013, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) gave classified documents to journalists. They showed that, under Section 215, the NSA had been collecting records of millions of Americans' phone calls—the numbers dialed and the time and length of each call, but not the conversations themselves.

(3) In June 2015, Congress passed the USA FREEDOM Act. It ended the government's bulk collection of phone records. Phone companies now keep the records, and the government must get a court order to obtain records about specific targets.

Viewpoint A — a retired federal investigator, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(4) Investigators need to connect the dots quickly. Phone records can show who has been in contact with a known terrorist. The program did not listen to anyone's calls, and it was approved by a court. I believe giving up this tool would make the country less safe.

Viewpoint B — a civil-liberties lawyer, writing in 2014 (fictional)

(5) The Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable searches. Collecting records about millions of people who are suspected of nothing turns that protection upside down. In my view, the government should have to show a judge a good reason before it gathers information about any American.

(1) Under a 2008 agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011. In June 2014, a terrorist group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which had grown out of al Qaeda in Iraq, captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, along with large areas of Syria.

(2) In August 2014, the United States began airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, and in September it expanded them to Syria. The United States led an international coalition and sent military advisers to help Iraqi and Kurdish forces, rather than large numbers of U.S. ground combat troops. By March 2019, ISIS had lost the last territory it controlled. In October 2019, a U.S. special operations raid in Syria killed the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

(3) Diplomacy also played a role. In July 2015, the United States, five other world powers and Iran reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement that limited Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. In May 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, arguing that it did not do enough to stop Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Supporters of the agreement argued that it was working.

(4) In February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement in Doha, Qatar, that set a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

(1) The United States and eleven other countries founded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, early in the Cold War. The heart of the treaty is Article 5:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all …

(2) NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history on September 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks on the United States. NATO allies later sent troops to Afghanistan.

(3) After the Cold War ended in 1991, many former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, along with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (former Soviet republics), applied to join NATO. After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and Sweden, which had long stayed out of military alliances, also joined.

(4) The United States has also built partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, such as AUKUS (2021), a security agreement with Australia and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, globalization—the growing connection of the world's economies through trade, investment, travel and technology—has tied American jobs and prices to events around the world.

(1) When Barack Obama became president in January 2009, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was growing stronger. In a speech at West Point on December 1, 2009, Obama said: "When I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan, compared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the war." He announced that he had "determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan." He added: "After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home."

(2) In June 2011, Obama announced that 10,000 troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of that year. On May 27, 2014, he said U.S. forces had been reduced "from a peak of 100,000 U.S. troops, to roughly 32,000 today," and that about 9,800 would remain at the beginning of 2015 to train Afghan forces and support counterterrorism operations. This gradual reduction of forces is called a drawdown.

(3) In 2016, Obama decided to keep about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017. In February 2020, the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban that set a timeline for withdrawing all U.S. forces. The last U.S. troops left Afghanistan on August 30, 2021.