7.2: Background - The History of Global Security

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Trace the historical development of global security
• Compare the efforts of the UN before and after the Cold War
• Understand the Global War on Terror and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

Introduction

Global security has its roots in the two World Wars. The League of Nations (League) and the United Nations (UN) were both created to help design global systems that promoted collective approaches to security, rather than state-centered approaches. However, both institutions struggled to accomplish the establishment of security at the global level. Formed in 1919, the League of Nations lacked the enforcement mechanisms that could collectively punish a country for military aggression. For example, when Japan invaded northeast China in 1931, the League voted against the aggression. In response, Japan simply withdrew from the League. The League could chastise and shake a finger at Japan, but there was no weight behind its words.

Global Security During the Cold War

While the United Nations has been more successful than the League in regards to addressing security-related global issues, it has also struggled to achieve its objectives. For the first 50 years, the UN was hampered by the superpower rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This is referred to as a bipolar order, where the world is organized based on two centers of power or influence. The UN incorporated a Security Council into its governing structure, where the five most powerful countries at the time, all allies during the Second World War, were given veto power over any UN resolution that could jeopardize its security. This veto power prevented the UN from achieving meaningful collective security measures, as both the U.S and Soviet Union had it. The Cold War rivalry became amplified with decolonization in the 1960s and 1970s, when newly independent countries were expected to align with either superpower, even though most refused to pick a side, preferring to join the Non-Aligned Movement.

Even though its activities were hampered in this way, the UN was still able to achieve a number of positive developments. One of the most important was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document negotiated under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Another success was the creation of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950. During the 1960s and 1970s, an expanded United Nations notably sharpened its focus on economic, social, and environmental concerns. It spearheaded significant international conferences on environmental issues in 1972, and the status of women in 1975.

The UN also endorsed conventions to combat racial discrimination in 1969 and to address gender-based intolerance and discrimination in 1979. Furthermore, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) played a pivotal role in facilitating the adoption of the Treaty on the Protection of the Ozone Layer, known as the Montreal Protocol, in 1987. Regarding health security, in a landmark achievement, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, with the last reported case dating back to 1977. Although the UN's effectiveness in handling international security matters, especially interstate and intrastate conflicts, was questioned during the Cold War, the organization actively tackled a myriad of other global challenges, particularly those its newer member states found relevant.

Global Security After the Cold War

The demise of the Soviet Bloc led to the end of the Cold War and ostensibly the end of the stalemate in the UN and efforts to promote global security. The U.S was left as the world’s remaining superpower and is described as a unipolar order, or a world with only one center of power and influence. For the better part of the 1990s, the UN, supported by the U.S., took the lead in a series of initiatives, including the 'Agenda for Peace' ratified in the summer of 1992 in which the United Nations pledged to employ preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, and peacekeeping as its means of influence in shaping the post-Cold War global landscape. Indeed, peacekeeping became one of the most important functions of the UN. For example, only thirteen operations were undertaken in the first four decades of organization. However, in the first five years in the post-Cold War era, 1989-1994, twenty new operations were authorized. Eventually, close to forty new missions were authorized in total and at present, slightly over 110,000 personnel, including military, police, and civilian staff, are actively engaged in 14 UN peacekeeping missions (United Nations, 2023).

The ability of the United Nations to promote its global security agenda virtually unopposed was not to last though. The UN has again become paralyzed, this time with a power conflict occurring between the U.S., Europe, and its allies on one side, and Russia, China, and its growing list of aligned countries on the other. This conflict is reminiscent of the confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union in the Cold War. For example, in the 2010s, Russia took on the role of the ‘loud dissenter’ during the U.S. bombardment of Libya. Similarly, Russia vetoed resolutions on the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the political situation in Venezuela and most recently on the War in Ukraine. Yet at the same time, this contemporary era is different. Russia is clearly not the superpower that it was as the Soviet Union. In addition, Russia’s relationship with China is at best regarded as an ‘alliance of convenience’, where both countries seek the development of a multipolar order, or a world with multiple centers of power or influence.

The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Global security took a hit with the September 11th, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks, with the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City and damage to the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The former served as the financial nerve center of the United States and the latter continues to serve as the headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes that targeted these important locations. Two planes were deliberately piloted into the upper floors of the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, leading to the eventual collapse of both towers due to the impact and ensuing fires. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Passengers on a fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, learned of the other attacks and bravely attempted to regain control of the aircraft. Their efforts resulted in the plane crashing into an empty field in western Pennsylvania, approximately 20 minutes by air from Washington, D.C., likely preventing another major target from being hit. The attacks claimed the lives of 2,977 people from 93 different nations: 2,753 were killed in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 aboard Flight 93 (National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 2023).

While most recent terrorist activity has been in the Middle East, it has a long history outside of this region. Indeed, one must be careful of always thinking that terrorism is a “Middle Eastern” phenomena. This is simply inaccurate. Terrorism has existed for decades and has come in many different iterations. Examples include terrorist groups associated with separatist movements, such as Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, Basque separatists in Spain, and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. They also include terrorist organizations within ideological movements as well, such as left-wing and anarchist groups in Europe in the 1970s, and more recently, right-wing extremists in the 2010s. Transnational terrorism is closely tied to globalization, where groups use modern transportation and communication networks to facilitate their activities. For example the more recent global terrorist organizations have used the Internet to deliver media content, both for messaging and for their recruitment efforts. They have also created their own transportation systems, with one group creating its own rogue aviation network.

The 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by a transnational terrorist network known as al-Qaeda, or the base in Arabic. al-Qaeda has its roots in the proxy wars fought between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. One the organization's leaders, Osama bin Laden, fought in a guerilla campaign in Afghanistan in the 1980s after the Soviets invaded that country in 1979. Part of a group that referred to themselves as Arab Afghans, they were a multinational group of fighters who strongly believed in protecting innocent Muslim Afghans from the 'godless' communists of the Soviet Union. This religious angle, where bin Laden and his associates believed that they were fighting in the defense of the larger Muslim community against social evils, led to a justification in the use of violence to accomplish their objectives. al-Qaeda found itself in a powerful position after it drove Soviet forces out of Afghanistan in 1989, ostensibly with U.S. help.

Afterwards the organization turned its attention to governments in Muslim majority nations they considered corrupt and unjust, most notably bin Laden's home country of Saudi Arabia. al-Qaeda's actions against the royal family-led government in Saudi Arabia led the group to be banished from the country, moving first to Sudan, and eventually landing in Afghanistan where the group's operatives found refuge under the Taliban. The Taliban are a political group that emerged from the Afghan Civil War in the early 1990s, whose roots are in the traditional Islamic schools of their country. Indeed, talib means student in Arabic. From their headquarters in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda launched a series of terrorist attacks, mostly targeting the U.S. These included the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer in the U.S. Navy that was docked in the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

The War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)

NATO forces, led by the U.S., invaded Afghanistan within weeks of the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban government, which controlled the country and sheltered al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, refused to turn him over to the U.S. By December 2001, the U.S., NATO allies and the Northern Alliance, a rebel group that had fought against the Taliban, quickly conquered the country, however bin Laden had escaped into Pakistan, where he remained in hiding until he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in May 2011. Coalition forces helped to install a transitional government and billions of dollars were spent on reconstructing the country. Elections were held in 2004 and Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected leader of Afghanistan. Women were granted civil and political rights and the government was accepted as legitimate by most countries. Still, the Taliban did not go away quietly. Switching to guerilla warfare, their fighters inflicted serious damage to coalition forces and their Afghan allies. Centered in the Pashto-speaking regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the increasing Taliban attacks prompted then U.S. President Barack Obama to announce a surge in the numbers of troops from 68 thousand to almost 100 thousand.

In 2013, the Afghan army assumed responsibility for security from NATO and coalition forces, which led U.S. President Obama to announce a timetable for the gradual removal of U.S. forces from the country. In the meantime, Afghanistan held its next democratic election and Ashraf Ghani was named the winner. The country experienced its first successful transition of power, with Ghani forming a unity government with the main opposition. The election of U.S. President Donald Trump potentially signaled both continuity and change. Campaigning on a platform to end the war in Afghanistan, President Trump was persuaded to keep troops in the country. His administration initiated peace talks with the Taliban directly, focusing on the United States' withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, contingent upon the Taliban's commitment to preventing international terrorist organizations from operating within the country. Finally in early 2020, envoys from the U.S. and the Taliban signed a peace deal, paving the way for a full troop withdrawal in May 2021. President Trump's loss in the 2020 U.S. presidential election left the decision to to the incoming Joseph Biden administration.

President Biden recommitted to a full U.S. troop withdrawal, with 11 September 2021 as the deadline. This decision severely weakened a Ghani administration that was already reeling from being left out of the U.S.-Taliban negotiations under the previous Trump administration. Biden declared, "It’s time to end America’s longest war,". The remaining 3,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan were pulled out, irrespective of any progress in intra-Afghan peace talks or a reduction in Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians. NATO forces in Afghanistan also withdrew concurrently. With little support from their NATO and U.S. allies, the Afghan military was unable to fight the advancing Taliban forces. Taliban fighters overran the capital of Kabul on 15 August and captured the presidential palace. Afghan President Ghani fled the country and security forces largely surrendered to the Taliban. In the ensuing chaos, thousands of Afghans attempted to flee the country, with many seeking refuge on U.S. military aircraft leaving the Kabul's main airport. An Islamic State in Khorasan terrorist attack killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians. While the U.S. successfully managed to evacuate 120 thousand people, the two week withdrawal was largely seen as disorderly and the Biden administration was largely faulted.

The Global War on Terror

After the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda launched an additional series of terrorist attacks, this time with a much broader range. These attacks include the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia; the 2004 Madrid train bombings in Spain; the 2005 UK bombings, consisting of four coordinated suicide attacks; and the 2008 Mumbai hotel and synagogue bombings in India. In addition, al-Qaeda related affiliates have actively engaged in terrorist attacks throughout the world. A good example is Boko Haram, a terrorist organization that mostly operates in Nigeria. The phrase Boko Haram is derived from the Hausa-language, and could be translated as 'western education is a sin'. This group is infamously known for its abductions of school age girls

The internationalization and coordination of terrorism has become a major security concern and efforts to prevent and combat terrorist organizations is a high priority. However, the world is not quite sure on how to respond to global terrorism. Some strategists suggested that countries adopt a defensive strategy, where states implement a program of containment, which is designed to limit or hinder an opponent's ability to exercise power. In this perspective the Global War on Terror is not “winnable” in a conventional sense. Proponents argue that terrorism will not last forever and that strengthening a country's defenses offer the best policy solution. Thus countries should secure their ports, tighten airport security, rebuild public health infrastructure, and improve intelligence. Others advocate for an offensive strategy, where it is considered better to fight the terrorists abroad than at home. These proponents argue that old notions of security no longer apply. As terrorists could not survive without the support of states, or through the space available in failed states, the best approach is to starve the terrorists of necessary resources.

International organizations are also involved in promoting multilateral approaches to combat terrorism. A good example is the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy. Adopted in 2006, UN Member States agreed on a unified strategic and operational approach to oppose terrorism. This global strategy consists of four measures, "(1) Measures to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; (2) Measures to prevent and combat terrorism; (3) Measures to build States’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in that regard; and (4) Measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism" (United Nations, 2024). Additional international organizations include the International Monetary Fund, which assists in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorist operations. Other examples include the Global Counterterrorism Forum, founded by the United States, the European Union and other countries, which gathers global policymakers and practitioners to exchange expertise and to create practical strategies for countering continuing terrorist threats.

The War in Iraq (2003-2011) and the Rise of the Islamic State

In 2002, with the U.S. still reeling from the 9/11 attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush characterized Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the “axis of evil”. President Bush and his Secretary of State, former U.S. Army General Colin Powell, provided evidence to indicate that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government had not complied with UN Security Council resolutions to disarm. In particular, the U.S. was concerned that Hussein's regime was developing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), which could then be shared with terrorist networks, such as al-Qaeda. Even though UN-led inspections stated that Iraq had largely abided by international requests to stop their weapons programs, the Bush administration believed otherwise. In March 2003, the U.S. and “the coalition of the willing” invaded Iraq and ousted Saddam Hussein from power, without UN approval.
Hussein was eventually captured later that year and was tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2006, and ultimately executed on 30 December 2006.

While the toppling of Hussein’s regime was attained quickly, the challenges of building democracy in Iraq, one of the evolving aims of the Bush administration, proved formidable. The U.S. abolished the few institutions that still functioned in Iraqi society - the military and the ruling Ba'ath party that Hussein controlled. This vacuum set the stage for an intense power struggle amongst Iraqi factions. A complex set of insurgencies and terrorist movements, including al-Qaeda, disaffected Sunni tribes, and Shi’a militias, wreaked havoc on Iraqi police and civilians, and on U.S. and coalition forces. The Iraq War had become hugely unpopular by the end of President Bush's second term, which set the stage for the election of Barack Obama in 2008. On 31 August 2010, President Obama officially declared the end of the U.S. combat presence in Iraq, fulfilling a campaign promise. The last U.S. soldiers left Iraq on 18 December 2011, ending a nearly nine-year war. The conflict came at a steep price: $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury, nearly 4,500 American lives lost, and well over 100,000 Iraqi casualties.

The withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops from Iraq had a destabilizing effect in the region. Newer militant groups emerged in the security vacuum, most notably the Islamic State. Born as an al-Qaeda affiliate in the War in Iraq, this terrorist network has used several names: the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), finally settling on the phrase Islamic State (IS). The organization used the concurrent civil war in Syria to take over the city of Raqqa, establishing it as their seat of power in 2013. IS forces then spread to Iraq, where they aligned themselves with disaffected Sunni tribes, defeating local security forces. The addition of Iraqi territory to the seized lands in Syria, led IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to formally declare a new state based on the traditional Islamic notion of a caliphate, a political-religious state where leaders held both temporal and spiritual power. Even though al-Baghdadi and his IS allies were not formally trained religious scholars, often referred to as ulema in Arabic, nor imams, recognized leaders of a masjid or mosque, they nevertheless sought to impose their strict interpretations of Islamic legal precepts on the people in areas under their control. This harsh enforcement of their version of shari'a, the term used to describe the large body of Islamic law that developed over the centuries, was far more extreme than even relatively conservative Sunni Iraqis could accept. Life under the Islamic State was characterized as brutal. Human Rights Watch has documented widespread and systematic abuses, where those who spoke out against the ruling forces and those from minority religions, such as the Yazidis, were imprisoned, tortured, faced sexual violence, and in many cases were killed.

The Islamic State did not limit their activities to the Middle East. The organization sponsored a series of terrorist attacks throughout the world. The most attention-grabbing were the 2015 attacks in France where IS affiliated militants bombed the Bataclan theater, opened gunfire at several Paris cafes, and detonated an explosive outside of France’s national stadium, where 80,000 spectators, along with then French President Francois Hollande, were watching a soccer game between the national teams of France and Germany. They were considered the deadliest peacetime attacks in French history, claiming 130 lives. IS also provided material support to armed groups throughout Africa, including the Sahel region, Mozambique and Somalia. At one point in 2016, IS forces had even taken control of the Libyan coastal town of Sirte. The Islamic State was territorially defeated in 2019, when a U.S.-led coalition, together with local partners in Syria, liberated the last cities held by the terrorist organization. However, IS still remains active with the most prominent offshoot located in the geopolitically unstable regions of Central Asia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Referring to themselves as Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), they have been responsible for a series of coordinated attacks on a number of countries, ranging from Russia to Iran and even targeting the restored Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The issue of transnational terrorism is not one that will go away anytime soon. As long as systems of inequity exist in which ideologues can find fertile recruiting grounds to fill their ranks, states will have to grapple with their violent activities. Only by addressing the root causes that drive membership into these organizations will global terrorism cease to be a security threat.