ABSTRACT
Terrorism has been the subject of countless speeches by political leaders and the impetus for numerous initiatives and conferences by foreign policy experts. The problems with using the term noncombatant are similarly rooted in a desire to prevent subjective use of the term terrorism. Terrorism, then, is an act composed of at least four crucial elements: it is an act of violence, it has a political motive or goal, it is perpetrated against civilian noncombatants. And it is staged to be played before an audience whose reaction of fear and terror is the desired result. In the wake of the events of September 2001, a global "war on terrorism" began to be waged, led by the United States and sanctioned by the United Nations. While the initial context of the "war" took place in Afghanistan, neither the toppling of the Taliban leadership nor the disruption of the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan sufficed to "win" this new war.
