[230]
The continued presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia after the 1991 Gulf War was one of the stated motivations behind the September 11 attacks. In 2003, the U.S. withdrew most of its troops from Saudi Arabia.[231]

War on terror
Main article: War on terror
Countries with major military operations throughout the war on terror launched by Bush, including those launched after his presidency
After September 11, Bush announced a global war on terror. The Afghan Taliban regime was not forthcoming with Osama bin Laden, so Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime.[232] In his January 29, 2002 State of the Union Address, he asserted that an "axis of evil" consisting of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq was "arming to threaten the peace of the world" and "pose[d] a grave and growing danger".[233] The Bush Administration asserted both a right and the intention to wage preemptive war, or preventive war.[234] This became the basis for the Bush Doctrine which weakened the unprecedented levels of international and domestic support for the United States which had followed the September 11 attacks.