War on Terror

War on terror
	; Photographs, clockwise from top left: Aftermath of the September 11 attacks; U.S. servicemen boarding an aircraft at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; a U.S. soldier and Afghan interpreter in Zabul Province, Afghanistan; explosion of an Iraqi car bomb in Baghdad.; Map: Countries with major military operations of the war on terror.
Date	Main phase: 14 September 2001 – 30 August 2021; (19 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location	Global
Status	Ongoing; major wars ended
Belligerents
Main countries: United States; United Kingdom; France; Canada; Australia; Germany; Italy; Spain; Poland; Turkey; Israel;	Main opponents: Al-Qaeda; Taliban; Islamic State; Iraq; (until 2003)
Commanders and leaders
George W. Bush; Barack Obama; Donald Trump; Joe Biden	Osama bin Laden X; Ayman al-Zawahiri X; Saddam Hussein ; Mullah Omar #; Hassan Dahir Aweys; Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi X
Casualties and losses
	4.5–4.6 million+ people killed; (937,000+ direct deaths, 3.6–3.7 million indirect deaths); At least 38 million people displaced

The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), or War on Terror, is a campaign that the United States and some of its allies started in September 2001 to remove terrorist groups and to punish the states that sponsor islamic terrorism. It replaced the later War in Afghanistan and Iraq War. United States President George W. Bush argued that the countries like North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya (also known as the Axis of Evil) were a direct threat to the United States and its allies. The term was typically used with a particular focus on Taliban, Islamic State, and al-Qaeda.

The Administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama used the term Overseas Contingency Operation.^[2]

War On Terror Media

Letter from Barack Obama indicating appropriation of congressional funds for "Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism"
Campaign streamer awarded to units who have participated in Operation Enduring Freedom
U.S. Army soldier of the 10th Mountain Division in Nuristan Province, June 2007
An American soldier in Afghanistan's Khost Province
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard B. Myers and joined by military representatives from 29 countries of the worldwide coalition on the war against terrorism, at The Pentagon, 11 March 2002
Map of countries contributing troops to ISAF as of 5 March 2010. Major contributors (over 1000 troops) in dark green, other contributors in light green, and former contributors in magenta.
U.S. Special Forces soldier and infantrymen of the Philippine Army
A map of the conflict in northern Mali
A British C-130J Hercules aircraft launches flare countermeasures before being the first coalition aircraft to land on the newly reopened military runway at Baghdad International Airport.
U.S. soldiers in Syria during Operation Inherent Resolve
Footage of leaked Apache gunship strike in Baghdad, July 2007