Overview

Central Command (CENTCOM) has responsibility for the areas that have seen the most active conflict in the past two decades and is the operational headquarters for current efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since Sept. 11, 2001, CENTCOM operations have shifted towards counterintelligence (or COIN) strategies focused on minimizing the use of force and winning over populations in combat areas through projects like building clinics or schools. CENTCOM forces have also worked to train counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan to take over security work once the American military presence in those two countries scales down.

Established in 1983, CENTCOM stretches over the area between the European and Pacific Commands and includes Iran and Pakistan, along with Iraq and Afghanistan. It grew out of the Iranian hostage crisis and Soviet-era concerns over a Russian invasion of that country. In 1991, CENTCOM launched Operation Desert Storm, liberating Kuwait from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. CENTCOM also had part in aborted efforts in Somalia in the 1990s and it was in this area that al-Qaeda attacked the USS Cole in 2000.

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