The world has witnessed a war waged not only with weapons but with dangerous assumptions, a war that, for over two decades, promised to eradicate terror. Yet instead of delivering security and stability, it left behind shattered nations, broken societies, and a growing disillusionment with the very idea of peace. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia, the so-called “War on Terror” has spent trillions of dollars, toppled entire regimes, and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. But terrorism has not disappeared. It has mutated, adapted, and in many places, grown stronger. Why? Because the problem was fundamentally misdiagnosed and the treatment often made the disease worse.

Rather than confronting the root causes of extremism, deprivation, marginalization, poverty, political exclusion, foreign occupation, and ideological manipulation, the global response focused obsessively on military raids, airstrikes, and mass surveillance. But extremism is rarely a random eruption of violence. It is often the final symptom of deeper wounds: social despair, psychological trauma, and generational hopelessness. The war in Afghanistan was launched under the banner of fighting terrorism and bringing security. Yet tens of thousands of Afghan civilians lost their lives in U.S. and NATO airstrikes. Entire villages were reduced to rubble. Those killed were often hastily labeled as “militants,” a term that blurred the line between combatant and innocent. What was hailed as precision warfare often turned, in Afghan eyes, into a campaign of indiscriminate........

© The Frontier Post (Editorial)