SEVENTEEN years have gone; still the 9/11 reminds everyone that the United States, so long protected by two vast oceans, remains vulnerable to attack by outsiders. The American nation comes together on Tuesday to mourn and remember the day that changed history – September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The entire world watched in horror as hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania that killed 2,996 people, making it the deadliest foreign attack ever on US soil. At least $10 billion in infrastructure and property were damaged.
Suspicion quickly fell on Al-Qaeda and the US responded by launching the War on Terror. Eventually, the Afghanistan War started a month after the 9/11 attacks, when Kabul had failed to comply with US demands to extradite Osama bin Laden and expel Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan.
The Afghan War killed nearly 3,000 Americans in the last 17 years. The United States launched an assault on the Taliban regime that offered haven to Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda plotters. The Taliban were driven from power in several occasions but the war has never stopped. US President Donald Trump decided a year ago to stay committed to Afghanistan, with about 15,000 US troops to support Afghan security forces. We see no outcome of this useless war.
There is nothing to hide that — the War on Terrorism ultimately turns into an international war led by US defined by military intervention, and efforts to reshape the politics of the Middle East. In the course of time, it has become clear that the American strategy has destabilized the Middle East while doing little to protect the United States and its Western allies from terrorism. Recent terror attacks in London, France, Belgium and other countries can be cited as examples.
The present US foreign policy initiated by Donald Trump is blatantly an anti-Muslim and pro-Israel strategy. We must say, the lessons from the War on Terror indicate that it is time for the US to take a different approach.
