Trump’s Foreign Policy Vacuum Is Fuelling the Next Wave of Jihad

From Afghanistan to Africa, the fallout of transactional diplomacy and strategic neglect is empowering America’s enemies.

June 11, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that governing, for him, means rescinding or repudiating the policies of his predecessors. Few decisions reflected that instinct more clearly than his 2020 deal with the Taliban, which gave insurgents international legitimacy. Five years on, Afghanistan is once again a haven for Al Qaeda, and the shockwaves are global.

The Taliban’s return has galvanised jihadist networks from Gaza to Benghazi. It has shaken fragile neighbours like Pakistan, emboldened China, Russia and Iran, and steadily eroded what remains of American influence. Al Qaeda affiliates, who train their fighters in Afghanistan, are stealing a march across Africa almost unnoticed.

Trump may have kept his promise to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, but in doing so he laid the groundwork for the very “forever wars” that he pledged to end.