America Under Attack: 9/11

Re-watching the news coverage of the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon twenty years ago reminded me of my shock at the scale of the horror and panic of that day. Knowing that thousands of ordinary people and rescue workers died or were injured that day, devastating their families and loved ones, frightens me. I feel afraid not only because the audacity of the 9/11 attacks exposed our vulnerability, but because we live in a time when the power of terrorism and our political enemies is growing, while our influence seems to be in decline.  

Of the many moving speeches given to commemorate 9/11, the words of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, seemed to me to capture a recurring theme in our predicament. At a ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, Milley said, “All of the values and principles embedded in our Constitution… are hated by our enemies: the fascists, the Nazis, the communists, al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, authoritarians, dictators, and tyrants of all kinds.”

Milley’s words struck me because of the recurring conflicts between the libertarian West and oppressive dictatorships in the East, and our inability to bring a lasting resolution to those conflicts. The US-led invasion of Afghanistan twenty years ago morphed from killing the al-Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden and removing the Taliban, who gave him safe-haven, into “nation building” under a new government. After 20 years at war, with a staggering cost to American taxpayers of $300 million per day, both the Republican and Democrat administrations decided to end the Afghan war. The consequent collapse of the government and speed of the Taliban take-over has led to the proclamation of a jihadist victory and calls for revenge on the West.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Secretary General of NATO, said, “When the United States withdraws, they will leave behind a vacuum, and that void will be filled by the bad guys. That’s exactly what we have seen demonstrated in Afghanistan.”

Since the formation of the United Nations and NATO after World War II, America’s financial and military leadership has helped to maintain peace in the West. In 2020, the US contributed disproportionately more than the other 29 members of NATO. President Biden remains committed to NATO but has declared an end to American policing of world order. How will American foreign policy adapt to deal with the new threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea?