The White House on Tuesday released a new counterterrorism strategy that significantly broadens the definition of threats facing the United States, placing drug cartels, transnational gangs and what it describes as “violent left-wing extremists” alongside Islamist militant organizations as top national security priorities.
The 16-page document, titled United States Counterterrorism Strategy 2026, presents an expansive “America First” doctrine that promises intensified military, intelligence and law enforcement operations against perceived threats both abroad and inside the US.
But despite Afghanistan’s central role in two decades of American counterterrorism policy — and the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 — the strategy contains almost no substantive discussion of Afghanistan itself beyond references to the Abbey Gate bombing during the US withdrawal from Kabul.
The omission reflects a broader shift in the Trump administration’s approach away from large-scale military engagement in Afghanistan and toward what officials describe as targeted, flexible operations against transnational threats.
In a foreword to the document, President Donald Trump described terrorism as one of the central threats facing the United States and pledged aggressive action against enemies of the country.
“We Will Find You and We Will Kill You,” the document quotes Trump as saying after an early counterterrorism operation during his second term.
The strategy repeatedly criticizes the Biden administration, accusing former officials of weakening border security, politicizing intelligence agencies and allowing extremist threats to flourish.
It identifies three principal categories of terrorist threats: “narcoterrorists and transnational gangs,” “legacy Islamist terrorists,” and “violent left-wing extremists, including anarchists and anti-fascists.”
The inclusion of domestic ideological movements within a national counterterrorism framework marks a significant expansion of US security policy and is likely to provoke criticism from civil liberties groups and constitutional scholars.
The document says intelligence and law enforcement agencies will prioritize identifying and “neutralizing” groups it describes as “radically pro-transgender” and anarchist.
At the same time, the strategy accuses previous administrations of using counterterrorism authorities against political opponents, claiming that federal agencies had been “weaponized” against conservatives, religious groups and supporters of Trump.
The document offers no evidence for several of its most politically charged assertions, including allegations involving intelligence agencies and left-wing extremist networks.
Migration and border security occupy a central role throughout the strategy, which portrays irregular migration as closely tied to terrorism, cartel violence and transnational crime.
The administration said it would continue military operations against cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations and intensify efforts to disrupt their financing, trafficking routes and logistical networks.
The strategy also places renewed emphasis on Islamist militant organizations, particularly the Islamic State and Al Qaeda affiliates capable of conducting attacks against the United States.
It specifically identifies ISIS-Khorasan, the Afghanistan-based branch of the Islamic State, and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as among the most dangerous external threats.
Still, beyond references to ISIS-K and the Abbey Gate bombing, Afghanistan itself is largely absent from the document — a notable contrast with previous US counterterrorism strategies that treated the country as a primary theater of operations.
The strategy references the arrest of the alleged planner of the Abbey Gate attack, which killed 13 American service members during the chaotic US withdrawal from Kabul in 2021.
The document does not directly address relations with the Taliban, nor does it outline any long-term policy toward Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Iran, by contrast, occupies a central place in the strategy, which describes Tehran as “the greatest threat” emerging from the Middle East because of its nuclear ambitions and support for proxy groups including Hezbollah.
The document praises previous US strikes against Iranian targets and says operations against Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure would continue if necessary. It also warns that the United States is prepared to respond militarily to threats against shipping routes in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz.
The strategy further expands the administration’s focus on Africa, where it says jihadist groups have regrouped after the collapse of ISIS’s territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Somalia, the Sahel, Sudan and Mozambique are identified as major areas of concern.
In Europe, the document criticizes “unfettered mass migration” and argues that weak border policies have enabled extremist networks to exploit the continent as a recruitment and logistical hub.
The White House also places renewed emphasis on weapons of mass destruction, warning about the risk of terrorist acquisition of chemical, biological or nuclear materials. In one of the strategy’s more controversial formulations, it describes fentanyl and precursor chemicals as a form of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” because of the scale of overdose deaths in the United States.
Throughout the document, the administration frames counterterrorism not only as a security mission but also as part of a broader ideological struggle centered on sovereignty, borders and what it calls “civilizational confidence.”
Supporters are likely to see the strategy as a continuation of Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration, national security and foreign policy. Critics, however, are expected to question its blending of domestic politics with counterterrorism doctrine, as well as the absence of detailed discussion about Afghanistan despite concerns about presence of militant groups in the country.
Keep Independent Journalism Alive
Your support helps us continue delivering accurate, impartial reporting and amplifying voices that are often overlooked.
