The world 9/11 didn’t make

This week commemorates the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. For many Americans, the event is either a fading memory or simply unknown, as roughly 40% of the US population was born after or too young to recall it. On that day, 19 terrorists commandeered four civilian aircraft, crashing two into New York's World Trade Center, hitting the Pentagon with a third, and crashing the fourth in a Pennsylvania field after passengers thwarted their intended target.

All 19 hijackers were Middle Eastern, 15 from Saudi Arabia, trained in Afghanistan and part of an operation orchestrated by al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden. By the evening, nearly 3,000 people perished, and over 6,000 were injured; most were American, but citizens from over a hundred countries also fell victim. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's description of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, calling it "a date which will live in infamy," aptly summarizes 9/11's significance.

However, it is worth questioning whether 9/11 marked a turning point or merely caused a day of tragedy without altering the course of history. The answer leans toward the latter. Fortunately, 9/11 did not usher in an era dominated by terrorism. Instead, subsequent attacks on a comparable scale did not follow, partly due to the US and other governments implementing measures that made it harder for potential terrorists to emerge and succeed.

Another reason 9/11 did not reshape history is that terrorists excel at destruction rather than creation, leaving no lasting legacy. This does not diminish the event's importance; it directly led to military intervention in Afghanistan, where US-led forces, with Afghan tribal support, ousted the Taliban that had provided sanctuary to the attackers.

This change, however, was followed by an effort to establish a new government, a task far more challenging than simply removing a regime. Twenty-five years later, after more than 800,000 US soldiers deployed, over $2 trillion spent, and more than 2,400 American lives lost in combat, Afghanistan remains under Taliban rule. In March 2003, less than two years after 9/11, the US launched a war against Iraq, a decision that might have been avoided without the attacks.

President George W. Bush and many of his advisers were driven to demonstrate the US's strength beyond victimhood. Some believed Saddam Hussein possessed or was developing nuclear weapons, fearing terrorists could acquire them. Others sought to spread democracy in Iraq, an outcome that would have made the region less prone to terrorism.

However, these beliefs proved incorrect. The costly war (resulting in over 4,000 US deaths and trillions of dollars spent) alienated many Americans from foreign involvement and eventually positioned Iran, which had no direct link to 9/11, as a significant Middle Eastern power. Iran played a role in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, killing over 800 civilians, but subsequent events, such as in Gaza, Lebanon, or Iran, were driven by policy decisions rather than terrorism.

Looking back at the past quarter-century, it is clear that 9/11 was not a transformative event. China's rise, Russia's aggression in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, the global failure to address climate change, the emergence of AI, and America's rejection of the postwar order it helped create have been more impactful. Nonetheless, this does not lessen the lesson we must learn: despite 9/11 not initiating an age of terrorism, we now live in an era where AI, accurate and affordable drones, and advancements in bioengineering have given terrorists more opportunities to cause widespread harm at minimal cost.

Our goal must be to prevent such occurrences and ensure terrorism remains a limited problem. Richard Haass, former president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and senior counselor at Centerview Partners, emphasizes these points.