9/11: A day that changed the world

Two of the four passenger aircraft, hijacked allegedly by 19 Al Qaida terrorists, were crashed into the towers in a coordinated attack, killing nearly 3,000 people.

This day 14 years ago was one of some undesirable firsts. The morning of September 11, 2001, saw thousands killed as the North and South towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City were brought down by Al Qaida terrorists. This was the first time in recent history that the US mainland had been attacked. It was also possibly the first time that the most powerful nation in the world was crying out scared and in grief. The day seemed to have changed the world, its values, its humanity, its rights and its wrongs — forever.

Two of the four passenger aircraft, hijacked by 19 Al Qaida terrorists, were crashed into the towers in a coordinated attack, killing nearly 3,000 people. The third aircraft was crashed into the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defence, in Virginia, while the fourth — believed to be on way to the White House or the US Capitol — was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania by panicked hijackers as passengers barged into the cockpit.

Overnight after this unfortunate day, the dream country for millions changed into a nightmare. What followed were, among other things, alleged racist attacks on Muslims, Sikhs — mainly all religions where head-scarves and headgears are worn. The 9/11 investigations allegedly targeted Muslims, innocent or not — the tragedy changed the US, which in turn changed the world.

The response to the 9/11 attacks from an angry US was a so-called ‘War on terror’. Later, the country declared a war on the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, which is said to have harboured Al Qaida and its leader Osama Bin Laden. For the next 10 years, the major target under the US’ ‘War on Terror’ was Bin Laden, until he was shot dead at a private residence in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The 13-year war on Afghanistan became the longest in American history. Around 2,300 US military deaths had been recorded in the war as of June this year. Besides, over 91,000 Afghans, including civilians and militants, had died. Another 360,000 people had been killed due to indirect causes related to war, and nearly 100,000 more had been injured since 2001.

The world also saw several other wars in this period — those in Iraq and Libya, for instance.

The War on Iraq shook everyone — from the scare of weapons of mass destruction, to the dreaded war, the end of Iraqi leader and dictator Saddam Hussein, and finally the end of development the country was used to. After thousands of death of US military personnel — a total of 109,032 deaths between 2003 and 2009, including those of 66,000 civilian (according to Wikileaks) — the world discovered the rumoured weapons of mass destruction did not even exist. And what West Asia is going through at present could be an after-effect of the chaos and the end of the Saddam era.
 

Now, Al Qaida is just a name, while there are other bigger players. Among them is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has already taken control of a major part of Iraq, Syria and Libya.

Also, three countries have seen wars with the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Taliban still have a huge presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many young and educated from around the world are joining ISIS and other terrorist outfits.

As it stands today, terrorism might not have decreased. On the contrary, its presence has increased beyond imagination. But this is also true that the US has not seen any attack by an outsider since the 9/11 tragedy.

The ‘War on terror’, started in 2001, was called off by the US in 2013. US President Barack Obama had said: “We must define our effort not as a boundless ‘Global War on Terror’, but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America.”