What is amazing is that at that moment, there was a moment before that we saw that plane, that second plane, and there was a moment after, and it’s like two different worlds, those two moments.”
-The New York Times
Audrey J.Marcus
The 11th of September 2001 was a devastating day for the US. The series of four coordinated attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania stupefied the Americans who were in shock and feared more terrorist attacks. Two of the planes had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the third plane hit the Pentagon and the last crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. People were horrified, shocked and full of disbelief. Furthermore, everyone was panicking in the US and even more in New York. Civilians lost their love centred ones that day. Little did they know that their whole world was turning upside down.
Less than 15 minutes after the attack, the horror in New York took a devastating turn when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a huge cloud of dust and smoke. Two and a half hours after the plane left Boston, the two towers together with their steel structure, built to withstand winds of 200 miles per hour, lay in ruins. It is a very sad moment in history for the Americans and everyone who was there that day. It was a horrible day and it will forever stay part of US history. Since that day the lives of the Americans have changed. Although they are well protected, they no longer feel safe and always fear the possibility of other terrorist attacks. About 2,996 people were killed during the September 11 attack.
The World Trade Center, WTC, was a complex of several buildings in the centre of New York. It opened in 1973 and was destroyed in 2001. The Twin Towers were a part of WTC. There were 110 floors in the building and the planes crashed between floors 77 and 85. There were about 3,000 working in the building at the time of the attack, resulting in deaths and injuries. After the attack, a memorial and a museum were built honouring those who were killed in the 2001 and 1993 attacks. The memorial is a great way of honouring everyone who died in the attack. It’s been twenty years since the attack and people still gather at the memorial to honour the victims.
Who caused the attack on one of the most powerful countries in the world? The 9/11 attack was planned by Osama Bin Laden, the chief of al-Qaeda. As stated by a former CIA analyst Micheal Scheuer the Al-Qaeda leader was influenced by a belief that US foreign policy has harmed Muslims in the middle east. The main cause of most terrorist attacks is to bring about a political objective. However, terrorism has been practised by political organizations, nationalists, religious groups and revolutionaries. The 9/11 attack was mainly for political reasons. 19 militants associated with an Islamic extremist group were behind the attacks. The Islamic extremist organization was referred to as al-Qaeda. They hijacked four planes and carried out suicidal attacks on the USA on the morning of Tuesday, 11 September 2001.
The Taliban are a movement of religious extremists who emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan (1990-2001) the country became a safe place for Al-Qaeda and its leader. Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group and the tenant is Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden was born in 1957, in Saudi Arabia and is the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack.
Afghanistan also served as a planning base for the 9/11 attack. After the attack, the US asked the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden and to close all Al-Qaeda training camps. The Taliban refused and the US military launched a campaign against the group on October 7th 2001. The US led a coalition to attack the Taliban who were controlling Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. The Taliban then came back to Afghanistan in 2021. When the US left Afghanistan the Taliban are oppressing the people of Afghanistan.
Americans will never forget the September 11 attack on the country. With the U.S currently outside of Afghanistan, the Americans do not control what happens in Afghanistan. After the attack, some Americans thought that Islam encourages violence amongst its followers, and it is not true at all. And these small problems can cause conflicts. However, now the US is better prepared and the Americans feel safer. A while after the attack the airports took a lot of security measures. To get on a plane people have to go through various security checkpoints and sometimes
The 9/11 attack was indeed dreadful and sorrowful. The Americans regained their strength and built a safer place. Many of the people of the Al-Qaeda group either died or were captured. However, some people believe that the attack has weakened the nation and made the Americans more afraid, less free and compromised. The 9/11 attack will never be forgotten as it was a milestone in US history.
