In the media
September 08, 2026
Recently, Swiss outlet NZZ interviewed ICCT director Thomas Renard on the legacy of the global war on terror, which he called "a massive strategic failure," pointing not only to failed U.S. operations but also to France's setbacks against Islamist groups in the Sahel, and arguing that the war on terror may have cost the U.S. two decades of unchallenged global dominance while China rose. Renard also warned that Western countries are increasingly offloading counterterrorism efforts onto local governments with "very limited international support," even as troop withdrawals and prevention-program cuts leave many of these states ill-equipped to act alone. He further pointed to the rise of "fast-food terrorism," younger, faster-radicalising perpetrators drawn more to violence than ideology, fueled by mass-produced extremist content on social media.
Read the full article (in German) here:
