International Community in
Afghanistan continues....

The immediate cause of the collapse of the Taleban was the terrorist attacks on America’s WTC and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 and the consequent war on terror. Thousands of people were killed when three commercial airliners were hijacked and flown into targets representing US economic and military might. Often labelled as the ‘world’s most spectacular terrorist attack, marked by a series of coordinated attacks, two hijacked planes crashed into and levelled New York’s WTC and another aircraft wrecked part of Pentagon in Washington D.C.. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in Shanksville, when its passengers attempted to seize the plane from the hijackers. Some 3,000 persons died or were missing as a result of the most devastating terrorist act on the US soil in its history. Thousands of people, mainly civilians were killed in the gruesome attack.

US President George Bush declared the event as an ‘apparent terrorist attack’ and declared that terrorism against the US would not stand and promised to hunt down those responsible for the attacks. These events in USA were to have repercussions on Afghanistan leading to another round of war and bloodshed in the later country.

The terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, like the attack on Pearl Harbour, became prominent feature of American national consciousness. At one level, people were recalling the shock and fear that came with the sudden realization that their worlds had changed instantly forever.

Similarly, people were recalling the patriotism that the attack on Pearl Harbour had evoked and the subsequent determination of the American people to work together to defend the nation and its ideals, an effort that forged the “greatest generation.” Taken together, these national recollections are useful for helping citizens navigate these newly uncertain times.

To be continued...