What did 25 years of the “war on terror” leave behind?

AJLabs, the data and visual journalism unit associated with Al Jazeera, has published an interactive map tracing U.S. military actions tied to what is widely called the "war on terror." The project assembles a multi‑year record and presents it in a "By the Numbers" format intended to make the campaign's geographic and temporal footprint easier to see.

A central finding emphasized by the map is that U.S. forces have conducted bombing operations somewhere in the world every year since 2001. That continuity spans roughly 25 years and frames the campaign as a long‑running series of actions rather than a short, discrete conflict.

By converting disparate incidents and operations into a single visual timeline, the map aims to show both scale and persistence. Visualizations like this can reveal patterns — for example, the ongoing nature of air operations — that are harder to grasp when incidents are reported in isolation.

The AJLabs piece is presented as a data feature intended for readers who want a quantitative look at the so‑called "war on terror." The map invites users to explore where and when U.S. bombing has occurred across the 25‑year period, offering a way to assess the campaign’s reach without relying solely on narrative accounts.