Warmonger: Trump’s second term sees highest external attacks by the U.S. in a decade

U.S. interventions resulted in more than a thousand fatalities in 2025, the deadliest single year since 2011. In his inaugural speech last year, Mr Trump also said, “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” Mr Trump has only contradicted himself by getting the U.S. involved in Israel’s wars on Iran – hostilities whose ending even Mr Trump is unsure of.

When the U.S. President Donald Trump took office for his second term in January last year, he claimed that his proudest legacy would be that of a “peacemaker and unifier”. In the initial months after inauguration, Mr Trump also openly lobbied for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet, contrary to his words, the legacy of Mr Trump during his second tenure has seen an explosion in hostile actions, euphemistically termed “coercive diplomacy”, the “Donroe Doctrine” etc, besides military operations that have exacerbated conflicts across the world.

In fact, data maintained by the Armed Conflict Location and Events Data Project (ACLED) show that Mr Trump’s second tenure has seen the highest number of external interventions by the U.S. forces and resultant casualties in the last 15 years.

An analysis of external interventions by the U.S. shows that the first year of Mr Trump’s second term saw at least 663 military intervention events (air strikes, attacks, disruptions by weapons use) in other sovereign nations. In 2025 alone, the U.S.’s external attacks surged by almost 50% compared to 2024.

This is even higher than the number of such interventions recorded during his entire first presidential term between 2017 and 2021. While the final year of the Joe Biden administration also saw a high number of such interventions with 453 events, the numbers surged further under Mr Trump, in stark contrast to his promises of ending foreign wars.

Data show that between 2011 and 2014, the highest share of U.S. involvement was seen in South Asia, specifically in Pakistan. However, in the last five years, the U.S.’s involvement increased dramatically in West Asia and Eastern Africa, specifically in Yemen and Somalia. The chart below shows the region-wise number of the U.S.’s external attacks and fatalities.

Yemen accounted for almost 60% of the U.S.’s external attacks in the last ten years, resulting in more than 1,400 fatalities. While the U.S. began its attacks on Yemen in 2002, following the 9/11 attacks, the interventions increased after the collapse of the Yemeni government in early 2015.