Sep 4, 2026 · 28 min · 11 segments
This September marks 25 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans and launched the United States into the 20-year War on Terror. SIS professor and foreign policy expert…
Greg AftandilianGuest
Madi MingesHost
I think as we're thinking about this anniversary, obviously it's 25 years since 9-11, but there's also the subsequent beginning of the war on terror.
As a Middle East expert, with the perspective and some distance now, what would you say are some of the long-term successes and failures of the war on terror?
The successes were that the U.S. decimated the al-Qaeda network as much as it could.
And eventually, of course, under the Obama administration, you know, Osama bin Laden was killed in that raid and Al Qaeda was never able to mount another attack against the U.S. homeland.
Now, we know later ISIS emerged from Al Qaeda and then you had these lone wolf attacks in the United States by ISIS sympathizers.
But in terms of a big event, as a lot of people were predicting, that didn't come to pass.
And that was largely due to, I think, more resources going into the intelligence community and DOD.
But the failures were that the U.S. overreacted on a number of levels, and one of them, of course, was the Iraq War of 2003.
But in the Bush administration's narrative that they pushed on the American people, there was some type of connection.
And, you know, I was there on Capitol Hill when the Iraq War Resolution was put forward and passed in October 2002.
And a lot of senators who should have known better voted for that war resolution.
And I thought it was not only a failure of The Bush administration sort of concocting a war that was not necessary, but a failure of the legislative branch of our government not putting a check on the executive branch of our government.
Now, I understand that it was justifiable to go into Afghanistan to try to hunt down Al-Qaeda and try to overthrow the Taliban regime, which gave them protection.
But of course, as you know, we stayed in Afghanistan over 20 years and we tried to remake the country.
I think as we're thinking about this anniversary, obviously it's 25 years since 9-11, but there's also the subsequent beginning of the war on terror.
As a Middle East expert, with the perspective and some distance now, what would you say are some of the long-term successes and failures of the war on terror?
The successes were that the U.S. decimated the al-Qaeda network as much as it could.
And eventually, of course, under the Obama administration, you know, Osama bin Laden was killed in that raid and Al Qaeda was never able to mount another attack against the U.S. homeland.
Now, we know later ISIS emerged from Al Qaeda and then you had these lone wolf attacks in the United States by ISIS sympathizers.
But in terms of a big event, as a lot of people were predicting, that didn't come to pass.
And that was largely due to, I think, more resources going into the intelligence community and DOD.
But the failures were that the U.S. overreacted on a number of levels, and one of them, of course, was the Iraq War of 2003.
But in the Bush administration's narrative that they pushed on the American people, there was some type of connection.
And, you know, I was there on Capitol Hill when the Iraq War Resolution was put forward and passed in October 2002.
And a lot of senators who should have known better voted for that war resolution.
And I thought it was not only a failure of The Bush administration sort of concocting a war that was not necessary, but a failure of the legislative branch of our government not putting a check on the executive branch of our government.
Now, I understand that it was justifiable to go into Afghanistan to try to hunt down Al-Qaeda and try to overthrow the Taliban regime, which gave them protection.
But of course, as you know, we stayed in Afghanistan over 20 years and we tried to remake the country.
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