As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attack arrived, The US President, Biden urged his country to be united and paid tribute to 2,997 people who lost their lives in the attack.
The president said, “We honour all those who risked and gave their lives in the minutes, hours, months and years afterwards,”
Joe Biden acknowledge the worsening situation of the muslims after the attack and said that the “darker forces of human nature – fear and anger, resentment and violence against Muslim Americans” but added that unity had remained the US’ “greatest strength”.
Queen Elizabeth has also sent a message to the US President saying that she remembers her visit to the World Trade Center in 2010 and that the thoughts of the English people including her remain with the victims and their families.
PM Boris Johnson said the attacks had failed “to shake our belief in freedom and democracy”.
The attacks saw four US Jets hijacked by suicide attackers – two of which were flown into the Twin Towers, another struck the Pentagon, just outside the US capital, Washington DC, and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The attack proved to be a Black Swan event for the world especially Afghanistan and nine days after the 9/11 attack, the then US President George W. Bush called on the US military to be ready. He also called on the Taliban to deliver the leader of Al Qaida. “The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate,” he said.
The US attacked Afghanistan as a response to the September 11 and the past 20 years, Afghanistan experienced a massive international presence which cost millions of lives.
According to AP, as of April 2021, 2,448 American service members were killed in Afghanistan and over 3,846 US contractors. The casualties of Afghan military and police reached 66,000, and other allied soldiers, including those of NATO countries, reached 1,144.
AP reported that during the last 20 years, 47,245 Afghan civilians have lost their lives (The civilians casualties were counted only from 2009), and 51,191 Taliban and other opposition fighters have been killed.
Now as the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches the US longest war has also been ended with the US and NATO ousted from Afghanistan and the former Taliban government retook control of Kabul on August 15.
