Clausewitzian's Great Trinity and War of Terror

Clausewitzian's Great Trinity and War of Terror

It is been 17 years since the citizens of the " city that never sleep" fell asleep forever. It has remained an unbelievable event for the people of America. the twin tower catastrophy led the leaders of the west to launch the war against terror which is globally known as "War on Terror". It started in 2001 and is still going on. This is the longest ever war of America on foreign soil without any decisive output. After dropping hundreds of thousands of bombs in Afghanistan along with the loss of 3,70,000 people and 5.6 trillion dollars, America, ultimately, has convinced itself to resolve this issue diplomatically. But the failure of America in this war floods the minds of the people of America and of the analysts with questions. One of the most important of them is "Why the biggest World Power could not win this war?" Clausewitzian's Great Trinity gives the answer to it.

The Great Trinity

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To go further, first try to understand about Clausewitzian's Great Trinity. Clausewitz said that war rests on triad factors (which are known as The Great Trinity), i.e Government, people, and military. Each plays a role in its own limitations. In the matters of war, the government tasks are to set clear objectives of the war, approve funding, set the duration of the war in which it must be accomplished, and publicize its agenda to know about the opinion of the people regarding war. Citizens have full right to approve or disapprove the government agenda as they pay tax and provide resources for war. And the military is tasked to fight. If the Government maintains balance in this Great Trinity, success becomes its destiny otherwise the War on Terror is a clear picture of imbalance in this triad. Prior to going for war, American policymakers did not set clear goals of war and its duration. This is the reason why America is losing this war despite spending a huge amount of money and time.

Hence, setting clear goals of war is necessary to win it easily. America did well in getting the approval of its people to fight this war and managed its military in an organized way. But lacking in concrete policymaking led it towards the diplomatic solution. And to solve this issue effectively, objectives of diplomatic discussions must be clear too!