ABSTRACT
The Bush Administration launched the Global War on Terror (GWoT) by bombing Afghanistan in order to target al-Qaeda (AQ) and its Taliban hosts. Therefore, even though 'body-count' tends to be the most commonly used method of demonstrating US progress in the GWoT, it has severe shortcomings. The deliberate coupling of two separate issues, that is, terrorism and WMD proliferation, is also underscored as a US success: The control of WMDs is also deliberately tethered to, at least, two additional indicators in the GWoT. Neutralizing rogue regimes and safeguarding the American homeland. The US progress was determined on the basis of how successfully it developed the indigenous capabilities of countries that were willing, but unable, to address the threat of terrorism. AQ was rendered even more dangerous in the metrics by the implicit recognition that it had evolved since the GWoT was first declared.
