Spotlight: Counter-terrorism a quagmire for U.S.

Fourteen years into its "war on terror" launched in the wake of the deadly 9/11 terror attacks, the United States government on Friday reassured its people again that the counter-terrorism campaign was making headway.

"After 14 years, and forever more, terrorists who threaten us will learn this simple yet unbending truth," said U.S. defense chief Ash Carter.

"No matter where they may hide, they will not escape the long arm of justice," Carter said.

As Carter was making the remarks here to commemorate the loss of lives during the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, the United States was confronted with an embarrassing and disturbing reality of a battered campaign that is supposed to keep the world safer.

There was indeed progress during the 14-year-old campaign, climaxing with the death of Osama bin Laden before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. At that time, Americans were thrilled with a feeling that the terrorists were finally on the run.

The hopes are now dashed.

While al Qaeda, the organization responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks, was dispersed to mountain camps in Pakistan after 9/11, with some budding militancy building their presence in the Arabian Peninsula, the influence of extremist groups have already spread globally.

Now from West and North Africa to South Asia, extremist groups line up to declare allegiance to either al Qaeda or its even more powerful previous branch the Islamic State (IS).

Moreover, hailing om about 50 countries, about one thousand foreign fighters join the IS on a monthly basis, 10 times the average monthly flow of foreign fighters to Iraq at the height of the Iraq war about a decade ago.

With the aid of modern information technology, the IS is also reaching out to its sympathizers across the world for "lone-wolf" attacks at home.

"This is sort of the new normal," said Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey earlier this year after ten people were arrested and charged in connection with plotting attacks inspired by the IS.

The resurgence of extremist groups seems puzzling to many, but the underlying reason is clear. While the goal of the war launched by the United States is to eliminate terrorism, the fear and hatred those foreign "meddlers" have fueled in the Middle East has created a breeding ground for extreme terrorism.

Unfortunately, Washington paid little attention to exploring the root causes of terrorism.

As the latest villain on its black list, the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, originated not in Iran or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the so-called "axis of evil" branded by Washington, but in Iraq, a state "freed" and "democratized" by the U.S. itself.

It is also thought-provoking that the IS militants drew much of their fighting experience from the West-involved war in Syria, where the Western bloc has supported rebels in their efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

It would be a never ending war on terror if Washington fails to eliminate the root causes of terrorism and extremism. Endit