Military history of the United States

In the struggle for control of North America, the contest between Great Britain and France was the vital one, the conflict with Spain, a declining power, important but secondary. This latter conflict reached its height in the "War of Jenkins Ear," a prelude to the War of Austrian Succession, which began in 1739 and pitted the British and their American colonists against the Spanish.[6]

In the colonies the war involved a seesaw struggle between the Spanish in Florida and the West Indies and the English colonists in South Carolina and Georgia. Its most notable episode, however, was a British expedition mounted in Jamaica against Cartagena, the main port of the Spanish colony in Colombia. The mainland colonies furnished a regiment to participate in the assault as British Regulars under British command. The expedition ended in disaster, resulting from climate, disease, and the bungling of British commanders, and only about 600 of over 3,000 Americans who participated ever returned to their homes.[6]

Washington's surprise crossing of the Delaware River in December 1776 was a major comeback after the loss of New York City; his army defeated the British in two battles and recaptured New Jersey.

General George Washington (1732–1799) proved an excellent organizer and administrator, who worked successfully with the Continental Congress and the state governors, selecting and mentoring his senior officers, supporting and training his troops, and maintaining an idealistic Republican Army. His biggest challenge was logistics, since neither Congress nor the states had the funding to provide adequately for the equipment, munitions, clothing, paychecks, or even the food supply of the soldiers. As a battlefield tactician Washington was often outmaneuvered by his British counterparts. As a strategist, however, he had a better idea of how to win the war than they did. The British sent four invasion armies. Washington's strategy forced the first army out of Boston in 1776, and was responsible for the surrender of the second and third armies at Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). He limited the British control to New York and a few places while keeping Patriot control of the great majority of the population. The Loyalists, on whom the British had relied too heavily, comprised about 20% of the population but were never well organized. As the war ended, Washington watched proudly as the final British army quietly sailed out of New York City in November 1783, taking the Loyalist leadership with them. Washington astonished the world when, instead of seizing power, he retired quietly to his farm in Virginia.[8][9]

Patriots had a strong distrust of a permanent "standing army", so the Continental Army was quickly demobilized, with land grants to veterans. General Washington, who throughout the war deferred to elected officials, averted a potential coup d'état and resigned as commander-in-chief after the war, establishing a tradition of civil control of the U.S. military.[10]

Stephen Decatur boarding the Tripolitan gunboat, 3 August 1804, the First Barbary War

The Berbers along the Barbary Coast (modern day Libya) sent pirates to capture merchant ships and hold the crews for ransom. The U.S. paid protection money until 1801, when President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay and sent in the Navy to challenge the Barbary States, the First Barbary War followed. After the USS Philadelphia was captured in 1803, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid which successfully burned the captured ship, preventing Tripoli from using or selling it. In 1805, after William Eaton captured the city of Derna, Tripoli agreed to a peace treaty. The other Barbary states continued to raid U.S. shipping, until the Second Barbary War in 1815 ended the practice.[15]

American forces led by George Custer suffered a major defeat against the Sioux in the Battle of Little Bighorn

After the Civil War, population expansion, railroad construction, and the culling of the buffalo herds heightened military tensions on the Great Plains.[24] Specifically, according to Colville scholar Dina Gilio-Whitaker in her book As Long as Grass Grows, "While the railroads wreaked havoc on Indian lives in numerous ways, one of the most destructive and tragic outcomes of the United States' industrial expansion was the near extermination of the Plains buffalo herds, with the railroads as the strategic prerequisite to carry out the plan".[25] So extreme was the buffalo extermination that by the 1890s fewer than one thousand remained, scattered mostly on private ranches.[26] Several tribes, especially the Sioux and Comanche, fiercely resisted confinement to reservations. The main role of the Army was to keep indigenous peoples on reservations and to end their wars against settlers and each other, William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan were in charge. A famous victory for the Plains Nations was the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, when Col. George Armstrong Custer and two hundred plus members of the 7th Cavalry were killed by a force consisting of Native Americans from the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho nations. The last significant conflict came in 1891 and ended in the Wounded Knee Massacre.[27]

Charge by the Rough Riders during the Battle of San Juan Hill

The Spanish–American War was a short but decisive war marked by quick, overwhelming American victories at sea and on land against the Spanish Empire. The Navy was well-prepared and won laurels, even as politicians tried (and failed) to have it redeployed to defend East Coast cities against potential threats from the feeble Spanish Navy fleet.[28] The Army performed well in combat in Cuba. However, it was too oriented to small posts in the West and not as well-prepared for an overseas conflict.[29] It relied on volunteers and state militia units, which faced logistical, training and food problems in the staging areas in Florida.[30] The United States freed Cuba (after an occupation by the U.S. Army). By the peace treaty Spain ceded to the United States its colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.[31] The Navy set up coaling stations there and in Hawaii (which was forcibly overthrown in 1893, via a coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani and annexed later in 1898).[32][33] The U.S. Navy now had a major forward presence across the Pacific Ocean and (with the lease of Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba) a major base in the Caribbean guarding the approaches to the Gulf Coast and the Panama Canal.[34]

To win its first colonies, the U.S. had lost 385 KIA (369 Army, 10 Navy, 6 Marines); 1,662 WIA (1,594 Army, 47 Navy, 21 Marines); and 2,061 dead of disease in the combat zones (a total of 5,403 died of disease at all locations, including stateside posts). Total Spanish combat deaths in action against U.S. forces were about 900.[35]

American soldiers in Manila during the Philippine–American War.

The Philippine–American War (1899–1902) was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the American forces following the ceding of the Philippines to the United States after the defeat of Spanish forces in the Battle of Manila. The Army sent in 100,000 soldiers (mostly from the National Guard) under General Elwell Otis. Defeated in the field and losing its capital in March 1899, the poorly armed and poorly led rebels broke into armed bands. The insurgency collapsed in March 1901 when the leader Emilio Aguinaldo was captured by General Frederick Funston and his Macabebe allies. Casualties included 1,037 Americans killed in action and 3,340 who died from disease; 20,000 rebels were killed.[36] The war resulted in at least 200,000 Filipino civilian deaths, mostly due to famine and disease.[37] Some estimates for total civilian dead reach up to a million. Atrocities were committed by the U.S. during the conflict, including reprisals, scorched earth campaigns, and the forcible relocation of many civilians.[38][39][40][41]

The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom began on 16 January 1893, with a coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani on the island of O'ahu.[32][33] The coup d’état was predated by several events, such as the 1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, also referred to as the Bayonet Constitution which was prepared by pro-American residents to strip the Hawaiian monarchy of its power and consolidate power among the non-Native settlers in Hawai'i.[42] It became known as the Bayonet Constitution because of the armed militia used to intimidate King Kalākaua and force him to sign it or be removed.

The coup d'état was led by the Committee of Safety, a 13-member group made up of non-native Hawaiian's. The Committee of Safety initiated the overthrow by organizing a group armed non-native men to depose Queen Liliʻuokalani.[43] The United States Military forces involved in the coup d’état consisted of 1 cruiser, the USS Boston, and 162 U.S. Navy and USMC personnel.[43] This military presence was justified by the supposed threats to non-combatant American lives, property, and economic interests, largely of plantations.[33][44][45] The insurgency led to the house arrest of Queen Liliʻuokalani who stayed in ʻIolani Palace until her death in 1917. The ultimate goal of the coup d’état was eventual annexation into the United States. The insurgents formed the Republic of Hawai'i which instated Sanford B. Dole, as the republic's first President. It was backed by the sugar plantation owners in Hawai'i, such as Dole. Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898.[33][45][44] The United States military still has a prominent presence in Hawai'i, and they have been linked to several instances of environmental degradation and causes of pollution.[46]

Banditry and guerrilla resistance was endemic throughout the period of occupation. U.S. Marine losses in the Dominican Republic, 1916–1922, totaled 17 killed, 54 dead, 55 wounded (from a peak strength of 3,000). The Marines inflicted about 1,000 Dominican casualties.[54] The most serious insurgencies occurred in Haiti, where some 5,000 rough mountaineers of the north, called Cacos, rebelled in 1915–17, losing 200 killed, to Marine losses of 3 KIA, 18 WIA, of 2,029 deployed. In 1918, the Cacos, angered by the Marine-enforced practice of corvée (forced labor), followed the leadership of Charlemagne Peralte and Benoit Batraville into rebellion again, against the 1,500-man 1st Marine Brigade and the 2,700-man Haitian Gendarmerie. The rebellion lasted for more than 19 months, 17 October 1918 – 19 May 1920. Both Caco leaders were killed in battle, along with at least 2,004 of their men. The Marines lost 28 slain in action and the Gendarmerie lost 70 killed.

The National Security Act of 1947, meeting the need for a military reorganization to complement the U.S. superpower role, combined and replaced the former Department of the Navy and War Department with a single cabinet-level Department of Defense. The act also created the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Air Force.

American beachhead during the Battle of Inchon

The Korean War was a conflict between the United States and its United Nations allies and the communist powers under influence of the Soviet Union (also a UN member nation) and the People's Republic of China (which later also gained UN membership). The principal combatants were North and South Korea. Principal allies of South Korea included the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, although many other nations sent troops under the aegis of the United Nations Command. Allies of North Korea included the People's Republic of China, which supplied military forces, and the Soviet Union, which supplied combat advisors and aircraft pilots, as well as arms, for the Chinese and North Korean troops.[75]

The war started badly for the U.S. and UN. The Korean People's Army struck massively in the summer of 1950 and nearly drove the outnumbered U.S. and ROK defenders into the sea. However the United Nations intervened, naming Douglas MacArthur commander of its forces, and UN-U.S.-ROK forces held a perimeter around Pusan, gaining time for reinforcement. MacArthur, in a bold but risky move, ordered an amphibious invasion well behind the front lines at Inchon, cutting off and routing the North Koreans and quickly crossing the 38th Parallel into North Korea. As UN forces continued to advance toward the Yalu River on the border with Communist China, the Chinese crossed the Yalu River in October and launched a series of surprise attacks that sent the UN forces reeling back across the 38th Parallel. Truman originally wanted a Rollback strategy to unify Korea; after the Chinese successes he settled for a Containment policy to split the country.[76] MacArthur argued for rollback but was fired by President Harry Truman after disputes over the conduct of the war. Peace negotiations dragged on for two years until President Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened China with nuclear weapons; an armistice was quickly reached with the two Koreas remaining divided at the 38th parallel. North and South Korea are still de jure in a state of war, having never signed a peace treaty, and American forces remain stationed in South Korea as part of American foreign policy.[77]

Several hundred Marines were sent to Lebanon during the 1958 crisis to bolster the pro-Western government.

In the 1958 Lebanon crisis that threatened civil war, Operation Blue Bat deployed several hundred Marines to bolster the pro-Western Lebanese government from 15 July to 25 October 1958.

On 28 April 1965, 400 Marines were landed in Santo Domingo to evacuate the American Embassy and foreign nationals after dissident Dominican armed forces attempted to overthrow the ruling civilian junta. By mid-May, peak strength of 23,850 U.S. soldiers, Marines, and Airmen were in the Dominican Republic and some 38 naval ships were positioned offshore. They evacuated nearly 6,500 men, women, and children of 46 nations, and distributed more than 8 million tons of food.

The intervention cost the U.S. 27 KIA and 172 WIA. Another 20 Americans died from non-hostile causes; 111 were seriously injured. Ten of the KIA were Marines; 13 were from the 82nd Airborne. Among the 2,850 Dominican dead were 325 National Police officers and 500 members of the armed forces. An estimated 600 rebels were killed. Civilians accounted for the remainder.

Formation of Bell UH-1 Iroquois ca. 1966

The Vietnam War was a war fought between 1955 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos (see Secret War) and in the strategic bombing (see Operation Rolling Thunder) of North Vietnam. American advisors came in the late 1950s to help the RVN (Republic of Vietnam) combat Communist insurgents known as "Viet Cong." Major American military involvement began in 1964, after Congress provided President Lyndon B. Johnson with blanket approval for presidential use of force in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.[78]

Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces including the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam or the "RVN"), the United States, supplemented by South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The allies fought against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) as well as the National Liberation Front (NLF, also known as Viet communists Viet Cong), or "VC", a guerrilla force within South Vietnam. The NVA received substantial military and economic aid from the Soviet Union[79] and China,[80] turning Vietnam into a proxy war.[81]

The military history of the American side of the war involved different strategies over the years.[82][83] The bombing campaigns of the Air Force were tightly controlled by the White House for political reasons, and until 1972 avoided the main Northern cities of Hanoi and Haiphong and concentrated on bombing jungle supply trails, especially the Ho Chi Minh Trail.[84] The most controversial Army commander was William Westmoreland whose strategy involved systematic defeat of all enemy forces in the field, despite heavy American casualties that alienated public opinion back home.[85]

United States Embassy following the Tet Offensive

The U.S. framed the war as part of its policy of containment of Communism in Southeast Asia, but American forces were frustrated by an inability to engage the enemy in decisive battles, corruption and supposed incompetence in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and ever-increasing protests at home. The Tet Offensive in 1968, although a major military defeat for the NLF with nearly half their forces eliminated, marked the psychological turning point in the war. Furthermore, the revelation, in November 1969, of the 1968 My Lai massacre of 347 to 504 Vietnamese civilians by American soldiers further increased opposition to U.S. involvement in the war.[86] With President Richard M. Nixon opposed to containment and more interested in achieving détente with both the Soviet Union and China, American policy shifted to "Vietnamization," – providing very large supplies of arms and letting the Vietnamese fight it out themselves. After more than 58,000 dead and many more wounded, American forces withdrew in 1973 with no clear victory, and in 1975 South Vietnam was finally conquered by communist North Vietnam and unified.[87][88]

Memories and lessons from the war are still a major factor in American politics. One side views the war as a necessary part of the Containment policy, which allowed the enemy to choose the time and place of warfare. Others note the U.S. made major strategic gains as the Communists were defeated in Indonesia, and by 1972 both Moscow and Beijing were competing for American support, at the expense of their allies in Hanoi. Critics see the conflict as a "quagmire"—an endless waste of American blood and treasure in a conflict that did not concern U.S. interests. Fears of another quagmire have been major factors in foreign policy debates ever since.[89] The draft became extremely unpopular, and President Nixon ended it in 1973,[90] forcing the military (the Army especially) to rely entirely upon volunteers. That raised the issue of how well the professional military reflected overall American society and values; the soldiers typically took the position that their service represented the highest and best American values.[91]

Between 966,000 and 3,010,000 Vietnamese people died during the war, including between 405,000 and 627,000 civilians.[92][93] Additionally, the effects of Agent Orange and other chemicals used during Operation Ranch Hand, a military operation aimed at depriving the Vietcong of food and vegetation cover, continue to damage the environment and cause illness among Vietnamese people and their descendants.[94][95][96] The soil in Vietnam still tests positive for many of the chemicals used.[97] These chemicals are known to cause numerous health effects such as multiple cancers, peripheral neuropathy, and spina bifida in those exposed and their descendants[96][98]

In 1983, American forces, assisted by the Caribbean Peace Force, invaded the island nation of Grenada.

In October, 1983, a power struggle in Grenada, which had installed a communist-leaning government, led to increased tensions in the region. Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was deposed on 16 October by Hudson Austin, and executed on 19 October. Neighboring nations asked the U.S. to intervene. The invasion was a hurriedly devised grouping of paratroopers, Marines, Rangers, and special operations forces in Operation Urgent Fury. The invasion began on 25 October. Over a thousand Americans quickly seized the entire island, fighting both Grenadian and Cuban soldiers, and taking hundreds of military and civilian prisoners, especially Cubans, who were building a large military airstrip.[99][100]

In 1983 fighting between Palestinian refugees and Lebanese factions reignited that nation's long-running civil war. A UN agreement brought an international force of peacekeepers to occupy Beirut and guarantee security. U.S. Marines landed in August 1982 along with Italian and French forces. On 23 October 1983, a suicide bomber driving a truck filled with 6 tons of TNT crashed through a fence and destroyed the Marine barracks, killing 241 Marines; seconds later, a second bomber leveled a French barracks, killing 58. Subsequently, the U.S. Navy engaged in bombing of militia positions inside Lebanon. While U.S. President Ronald Reagan was initially defiant, political pressure at home eventually forced the withdrawal of the Marines in February 1984.[101]

In 1986, the USAF conducted air strikes against Libya, in retaliation for the West Berlin discotheque bombing.

Code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised the joint United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps air-strikes against Libya on 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out in response to the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing, and resulted in the killing of 45 officers and 15 civilians.

On 20 December 1989 the United States invaded Panama, mainly from U.S. bases within the then-Canal Zone, to oust dictator and international drug trafficker Manuel Noriega. American forces quickly overwhelmed the Panamanian Defense Forces, Noriega was captured on 3 January 1990 and imprisoned in the U.S. and a new government was installed.[102]

U.S. M1 Abrams main battle tanks and an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle advancing through Kuwait

The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. The lead up to the war began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 which was met with immediate economic sanctions by the United Nations against Iraq. The coalition commenced hostilities in January 1991, resulting in a decisive victory for the U.S. led coalition forces, which drove the Iraqi Armed Forces out of Kuwait with minimal coalition deaths. Despite the low death toll, over 180,000 U.S. veterans would later be classified as "permanently disabled" according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (see Gulf War Syndrome). The main battles were aerial and ground combat within Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. Land combat did not expand outside of the immediate Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi border region, although the coalition bombed cities and strategic targets across Iraq, and Iraq fired Scud missiles on Israeli and Saudi cities.[103]

Before the war, many observers believed the U.S. and its allies could win but might suffer substantial casualties (certainly more than any conflict since Vietnam), and that the tank battles across the harsh desert might rival those of North Africa during World War II. After nearly 50 years of proxy wars, and constant fears of another war in Europe between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, some thought the Persian Gulf War might finally answer the question of which military philosophy would have reigned supreme. Iraqi forces were battle-hardened after 8 years of war with Iran, and they were well equipped with late model Soviet tanks and jet fighters, but the antiaircraft weapons were crippled; in comparison, the U.S. had no large-scale combat experience since its withdrawal from Vietnam nearly 20 years earlier, and major changes in U.S. doctrine, equipment and technology since then had never been tested under fire.

USS Wisconsin fires on Iraqi positions in Kuwait

However, the battle was one-sided almost from the beginning. The reasons for this are the subject of continuing study by military strategists and academics. There is general agreement that U.S. technological superiority was a crucial factor but the speed and scale of the Iraqi collapse has also been attributed to poor strategic and tactical leadership and low morale among Iraqi troops, which resulted from a history of incompetent leadership. After devastating initial strikes against Iraqi air defenses and command and control facilities on 17 January 1991, coalition forces achieved total air superiority almost immediately. The Iraqi Air Force was destroyed within a few days, with some planes fleeing to Iran, where they were interned for the duration of the conflict. The overwhelming technological advantages of the U.S., such as stealth aircraft and infrared sights, quickly turned the air war into a "turkey shoot". The heat signature of any tank which started its engine made an easy target. Air defense radars were quickly destroyed by radar-seeking missiles fired from wild weasel aircraft. Grainy video clips, shot from the nose cameras of missiles as they aimed at impossibly small targets, were a staple of U.S. news coverage and revealed to the world a new kind of war, compared by some to a video game. Over 6 weeks of relentless pounding by planes and helicopters, the Iraqi Army was almost completely beaten but did not retreat, under orders from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and by the time the ground forces invaded on 24 February, many Iraqi troops quickly surrendered to forces much smaller than their own; in one instance, Iraqi forces attempted to surrender to a television camera crew that was advancing with coalition forces.

After just 100 hours of ground combat, and with all of Kuwait and much of southern Iraq under coalition control, U.S. President George H. W. Bush ordered a cease-fire and negotiations began resulting in an agreement for cessation of hostilities. Some U.S. politicians were disappointed by this move, believing Bush should have pressed on to Baghdad and removed Hussein from power; there is little doubt that coalition forces could have accomplished this if they had desired. Still, the political ramifications of removing Hussein would have broadened the scope of the conflict greatly, and many coalition nations refused to participate in such an action, believing it would create a power vacuum and destabilize the region.[104]

Following the Persian Gulf War, to protect minority populations, the U.S., Britain, and France declared and maintained no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, which the Iraqi military frequently tested. The no-fly zones persisted until the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although France withdrew from participation in patrolling the no-fly zones in 1996, citing a lack of humanitarian purpose for the operation.

American soldiers taking fire during the Battle of Mogadishu. The battle led to the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Somalia, and the end of American support for UNOSOM II.

U.S. troops participated in a UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia beginning in 1992. By 1993 the American troops were augmented with Rangers and special forces with the aim of capturing warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, whose forces had massacred peacekeepers from Pakistan. During a raid in downtown Mogadishu, U.S. troops became trapped overnight by a general uprising in the Battle of Mogadishu. Eighteen American soldiers were killed, and a U.S. television crew filmed graphic images of the body of one soldier being dragged through the streets by an angry mob. Somali guerrillas paid a staggering toll at an estimated 1,000–5,000 total casualties during the conflict. After much public disapproval, American forces were quickly withdrawn by President Bill Clinton. The incident profoundly affected American views on peacekeeping and intervention. The book Black Hawk Down was written about the battle, and was the basis for the later movie of the same name.[105]

Operation Uphold Democracy (19 September 1994 – 31 March 1995) was an intervention designed to reinstate the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was reported to have died in office during the bombing of the presidential palace. The operation was effectively authorized by the 31 July 1994 United Nations Security Council Resolution 940.[106]

During the Yugoslav Wars in the early 1990s, the U.S. operated in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the NATO-led multinational implementation force (IFOR) in Operation Joint Endeavour. The U.S. was one of the NATO member countries who bombed Yugoslavia between 24 March and 9 June 1999 during the Kosovo War and later contributed to the multinational force KFOR.[107]

U.S. Marines detonating an improvised explosive device during the Helmand province campaign

The intervention in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan) to depose that country's Taliban government and destroy training camps associated with al-Qaeda is understood to have been the opening, and in many ways defining, campaign of the broader War on Terrorism. The emphasis on Special Operations Forces (SOF), political negotiation with autonomous military units, and the use of proxy militaries marked a significant change from prior U.S. military approaches.[108]

On 29 February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed a conditional peace deal in Doha which required that U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months so long as the Taliban cooperated with the terms of the agreement not to "allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qaeda, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies".[109][110] The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was not a party to the deal and rejected its terms regarding release of prisoners.[111] After Joe Biden became president, he moved back the target withdrawal date to 31 August 2021 from April.[112]

The withdrawal coincided with the 2021 Taliban offensive. During the offensive, the U.S. carried out limited airstrikes in support of Afghan forces and to destroy captured equipment.[113][114] The Taliban defeated the Afghan Armed Forces culminating with the fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021. On the same day, the president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan and the Taliban declared victory and the war over. The U.S. military took control of Kabul's airport as part of Operation Allies Refuge to evacuate citizens and certain Afghans.[115][116]

In January 2002, the U.S. sent more than 1,200 troops (later raised to 2,000) to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines in combating terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda, such as Abu Sayyaf, under Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines. Operations have taken place mostly in the Sulu Archipelago, where terrorists and other groups are active. The majority of troops provide logistics. However, there are special forces troops that are training and assisting in combat operations against the terrorist groups.

A U.S. Army soldier on patrol next to a Humvee in Karrada, Baghdad

After the lengthy Iraq disarmament crisis culminated with an American demand that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein leave Iraq, which was refused, a coalition led by the United States and the United Kingdom fought the Iraqi Armed Forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Approximately 250,000 United States troops, with support from 45,000 British, 2,000 Australian and 200 Polish combat forces, entered Iraq primarily through their staging area in Kuwait. (Turkey had refused to permit its territory to be used for an invasion from the north.) Coalition forces also supported Iraqi Kurdish militia, estimated to number upwards of 50,000. After approximately three weeks of fighting, Hussein and the Ba'ath Party were forcibly removed, followed by 9 years of military presence by the United States and the coalition fighting alongside the newly elected Iraqi government against various insurgent groups.

As a result of the Libyan Civil War, the United Nations enacted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, and the protection of civilians from the forces of Muammar Gaddafi. The United States, along with Britain, France and several other nations, committed a coalition force against Gaddafi's forces. On 19 March 2011, the first U.S. action was taken when 114 Tomahawk missiles launched by American and British warships destroyed shoreline air defenses of the Gaddafi regime.[117] The U.S. continued to play a major role in Operation Unified Protector, the NATO-directed mission that eventually incorporated all of the military coalition's actions in the theater. Throughout the conflict however, the U.S. maintained it was playing a supporting role only and was following the UN mandate to protect civilians, while the real conflict was between Gaddafi loyalists and Libyan rebels fighting to depose him.[118] During the conflict, American drones were also deployed.[119]

A convoy of American MRAPs and Bradley Fighting Vehicles in eastern Syria during Operation Inherent Resolve

With the emergence of the Islamic State and its capture of large areas of Iraq and Syria, a number of crises resulted that sparked international attention. ISIL had perpetrated sectarian killings and war crimes in both Iraq and Syria. Gains made in the Iraq War were rolled back as Iraqi army units abandoned their posts. Cities were taken over by the terrorist group which enforced its brand of Sharia law. The kidnapping and decapitation of numerous Western journalists and aid-workers also garnered interest and outrage among Western powers. The U.S. intervened with airstrikes in Iraq over ISIL held territories and assets in August, and in September a coalition of U.S. and Middle Eastern powers initiated a bombing campaign in Syria aimed at degrading and destroying ISIL and Al-Nusra-held territory.[120] By December 2017, ISIL had no remaining territory in Iraq, following the 2017 Western Iraq campaign and lost all remaining territory in Syria in March 2019. Airstrikes by U.S. and Coalition forces have continued in Syria against the Assad government especially after the Douma chemical attack in 2018.