The international think tank Strategy International has published on its portal a paper by Prof. Duško Tomić, member of the EWB Advisory Board, and Prof. Eldar Saljić, an academic reflection on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. The authors examine how the security paradigm has shifted, where military power reaches its limits, how violent extremism has evolved, what new technology changes, and why security must become preventive and resilient.

The authors argue that 9/11 overturned the belief that only states can pose strategic threats. A small transnational network, with no territory and no conventional army, triggered consequences on the scale of a major geopolitical crisis. Afghanistan and Iraq then showed that tactical and operational superiority does not by itself deliver the intended political outcome: a war can be won while the peace is lost.

The paper rejects the “clash of civilizations” reading of these events. A more accurate lens is a contest between extremist and inclusive understandings of identity, a divide that runs through societies themselves. In the authors’ view, terrorism scores its greatest success when a society comes to see an entire religion, culture, or community as the enemy.

The authors also point to emerging challenges. Social media, artificial intelligence, and deepfakes mean future strategies must include information and cognitive security. Their answer is a model that combines prevention, protection, response, recovery, and resilience.

“Terrorism as a social and political phenomenon cannot be bombed out of existence.”

The paper’s conclusion is that the first 25 years taught us how to fight terrorists. The next 25 must teach us how to stop the conditions in which terrorism becomes an appealing political choice.

Full article: https://strategyinternational.org/2026/09/14/publication292/