ABSTRACT
What was missing from the 1990s was the serious engagement of a great power, especially the American superpower, with a major enemy. So superior was the United States to all other states on the standard indices of strategic power that the potential appearance of a ‘peer competitor’ was not anticipated officially for fifteen to twenty-five years. But on 11 September 2001 a worthy foe made its existence and intentions crystal clear, even though it bore no relation to standard notions of a ‘peer competitor’. With al Qaeda in the field as a self-declared enemy of the United States – in fact, an enemy of all ‘Zionists and Crusaders’, as Osama bin Laden’s fatwas labelled al Qaeda’s enemies – strategic history was back up and running with a master narrative. Violent Islamic fundamentalism would define the political and strategic contexts of the early twenty-first century. At least it would do so for the United States, for South Asia and for Europe, though to a lesser degree in the last case. Just how long this new ‘age of terror’ would last was a distinctly open question. It related intimately to the issue of whether future warfare would primarily be irregular. In common with death and taxes, terrorism will always be with us, just as it always has been. The strategic issue is how important will be its residual presence?
