EDITORIAL - 9/11 25 years on

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the world’s most shocking terrorist attack, when operatives from the terrorist group Al Qaeda hijacked several planes then crashed them into different targets in the U.S., including the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

Everyone who was watching around the world as the twin towers burned then finally fell into a heap of rubble realized that that world was never going to be the same again.

Something good can always come out from something that’s bad. And one of the good things to come out of 9/11 was that it highlighted how terrorism had become a force the world could no longer ignore or endure.

The revenge of the U.S. was swift and decisive. It led a coalition that invaded Afghanistan and ejected the Taliban, the autocratic government that has hosted Al Qaeda for the longest time. Then they went after the terrorist group itself, fracturing into several splinter groups that would never unite again.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, has much changed for the better, or are things still the same?

The Taliban is back in power in Afghanistan, they allowed to practically just walk back into Kabul and take over. The very same coalition that ousted them from power 20 years earlier suddenly left, while the so-called Afghanistan government didn’t even put up a fight and quickly fled.

Dictatorships like Russia are still in power and allowed to attack Ukraine again and again without serious consequences.

Even the U.S. itself, the so-called bastion of freedom, is waging an unjustified war against Iran that isn’t ending anytime soon.

Terrorist groups like Hamas, which launched its most successful attack in October of 2022, are also still around.

It’s worth mentioning that terrorism has evolved. Terrorist groups no congregate in large numbers in desert camps where they can become easy targets for missile attacks. They now exist as small cells and are able to hide themselves as refugees and hold meetings online using the latest technology.

Their leaders no longer call for world-shaking events like 9/11, but occasional lone wolf attacks. Shocking enough to make an impact, but forgettable enough until the next.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, a lot has changed, but a lot has also remained the same.