Terrible 9/11

Terrible 9/11

THE 11th day of September, 2001 (9/11), started out as an ordinary day in bustling New York. As residents headed to work, the first plane struck one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre at 8.46 am. Minutes later, another plane hit the second one. A third plane hit the Pentagon building while a fourth was downed in Pennsylvania. This was a massive terrorist attack against what was then the world’s sole superpower. An ordinary day had turned into a watershed moment for global geopolitics. So much changed so rapidly. First, transnational terrorism emerged on top of the global priority list. Prompted by the US, the UN Security Council ado­p­ted on Sept 28, 2001, Resolution 1373, which bound all member states to prevent, suppress, and criminalise the financing of terrorism. A few years later, Resolution 1540 was adopted by the UNSC, obliging member states to prevent non-state actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Thus evolved a comprehensive global ecosystem against non-state actors carrying out terrorist attacks anywhere in the world. Second, the US and Nato countries launched a ferocious attack against Taliban-led Afghanistan, which had given refuge to Al Qaeda, the group the US held responsible for 9/11. This embroiled Washington in a war that became its longest since the end of World War II. With Pakistan’s help, the US was able to eliminate the Al Qaeda leadership, except for Osama bin Laden, who was killed later in 2011. However, the US war against the Taliban dragged on with no success. The US tried to blame Pakistan for its military defeat in Afghanistan because of the support that the Taliban had allegedly received. Pakistan’s view all along was that this issue should be resolved via political means. The US later took Pakistan’s advice and concluded a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020, but did not take the second piece of advice regarding a responsible withdrawal. Instead, it abruptly withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, creating a vacuum that was filled by the Taliban rather than an interim government comprising all Afghan factions. Further, the US left behind massive arms and ammunition, which have since been used for terrorism by entities like the TTP and BLA. Sadly, 25 years after 9/11, Afghanistan is once again a sanctuary for global terrorists. Third, barely two years after 9/11, the US decided to invade Iraq to destroy alleged weapons of mass destruction. This attack set a dangerous precedent of using force illegally (not sanctioned by the UNSC) and pre-emptively, ie, merely on suspicion. This precedent has since been followed by other powers against their adversaries, as seen in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 and India’s aggression against Pakistan in 2016, 2019, and 2025. Armed conflicts have now expanded to every corner of the world. According to the ICRC, there are 130 active armed conflicts worldwide. The events of 9/11 changed so much so rapidly. Fourth, Pakistan became the front-line state in the US-led global war against terrorism, mainly because America needed Pakistan’s help in fighting Al Qaeda based in neighbouring Afghanistan. Pakistan ended up not only having to deal with infiltrating terrorists and extremists from Afghanistan but also prosecuting extremist outfits that had taken root in the country ever since the days of the so-called Afghan jihad of the 1980s. Pakistan thus found itself “in the line of fire” — the title of Gen Musharraf’s book. Fifth, the events of 9/11 provided India a self-serving opportunity to team up with the West against so-called radical Islam and project itself as a victim of what New Delhi alleged was Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Indian-occupied Kashmir. India also used the occasion to cast the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self-determination as transnational terrorism. Sixth, the new concept ‘responsibility to protect’ was born, with powerful countries arguing that if a state’s leadership was unable or unwilling to protect its own people, then it became the responsibility of the international community to protect them. Using this concept, the West intervened in several Arab countries to bring about regime change. This was described as ‘Arab Spring’, but, as time showed, the events destabilised the entire Middle East and turned out to be an ‘Arab autumn’. The terrorist incidents of 9/11 profoundly changed global and regional geopolitics. The era of globalisation became the first casualty. The use of force emerged as the main arbiter of international disputes. The definition between freedom struggle and terrorism was blurred. Multilateralism was marginalised and international law violated with impunity. The world disorder that one sees today is rooted in what happened on 9/11 — that fateful September day. The writer is chairman Sanober Institute and former foreign secretary of Pakistan. Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026