The International War on Terror began in the immediate aftermath of the 1968 Mexico City Attacks, when the world awoke to the reality of internationally coordinated terrorism. The brutal, constantly televised spectacle of the Salafist terrorists, suspected but never confirmed to belong to the Moonlight Commandos, forced world leaders to confront the rise of The Caliphate of Sadati Arabia as the hub of global jihad. The United Nations (UN), now a hardened and more decisive body after the Black Sand War, spearheaded a multinational response, declaring non-state terrorism a threat to human civilization itself. A coalition of major powers, including the United States, the German Empire, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and other minor partners, launched sweeping counterterrorism operations across the Middle East, North Africa, and even deep within the West, where insurgent cells had embedded themselves among immigrant communities. Surveillance networks expanded, airport security became militarized, and intelligence agencies gained unprecedented authority, often blurring the line between counterterrorism and authoritarian control.
As child-poster of this effort was the United Nations Counter-Strike Force (UN COSFOR), an elite multinational special operations unit designed to intervene against terrorist threats anywhere in the world within 12 hours of an attack. Unlike national counterterrorism teams, COSFOR operated directly under UN command, allowing it to bypass political deadlock and jurisdictional disputes. Comprised of the best operators from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Moscow Pact (MTO), and from across the world in general, COSFOR became the sharp edge of the International War on Terror, executing precision raids, hostage rescues, and surgical assassinations against the leaders of terrorist networks. Going into the 1970s, the IWOT and COSFOR would see great success, thwarting terrorism wherever such a threat appeared imminent. However, as the war dragged on, and global powers began using counterterrorism as a pretext for proxy conflicts and political repression, many questioned whether the world had merely traded one form of terror for another.