America is still fighting the wrong war

UnHerd | Robert D. Kaplan

The September 11 attacks in 2001 caused a catastrophic strategic distraction that diverted United States foreign policy from emerging great power rivals. By launching the Global War on Terrorism, Washington committed massive military resources to long campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, ultimately failing to eliminate terrorism while severely depleting its national treasure.

This prolonged focus on Middle Eastern regime change happened during a critical decade when Beijing rapidly expanded its naval capabilities and Moscow consolidated military power under Vladimir Putin. Great power conflict returned. The 2003 invasion of Iraq destabilised the region and expanded the geopolitical footprint of clerical Iran. Today, the United States remains trapped in a generational military struggle against Tehran. This shows how persistent strategic obsessions jeopardise the global system's survival and leave the nation ill-equipped to handle peer-state competition in Europe and Asia.

Comment

As a result of the strategic compromise that characterised the period after 9/11, the Pentagon decided to limit the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer programme to only three ships. The money which had been allocated for building these ships was then redirected towards meeting the immediate operational needs of the land forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. This meant that the U.S. Navy missed out on ten years' worth of advanced surface combatant development while the People's Liberation Army Navy quickly expanded its fleet of Type 054A frigates.

The reason for this decline was the move to low-intensity littoral platforms such as the Freedom and Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships, which did not have vertical launching systems. When the U.S. Navy started the Constellation-class frigate programme, American shipyards had no capacity equal to that of China's Jiangnan Shipyard.

Strategic Question for Discussion

If the U.S. Navy prioritises the Constellation-class frigate programme to close the capacity gap with China's Jiangnan Shipyard, what are the operational risks of deploying these less-survivable platforms into environments dominated by modern anti-ship cruise missiles?

Relying on the Constellation-class design brings important survivability challenges in high-threat areas like the Taiwan Strait. These frigates help increase fleet numbers more quickly, but their smaller defensive magazines, compared to larger destroyers, limit their usefulness in long battles. As a result, focusing mainly on numbers could lead to ships that meet quantity goals but remain at risk during heavy missile attacks.

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