1. This thread is probably for the post-9/11 generation. On September 11, 2001, the world changed. Four passenger planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda. Two crashed into the world trade centre in New York city indelibly imprinting itself into the consciousness of the world. 
2. 3rd crashed into the Pentagon in D.C. 4th crashed in Pennsylvania when the passengers thwarted the hijackers. There were just under 3000 casualties and 6000 injuries. The casualties belonged to 80 nations. Read Esquire story about the Falling Man - bit.ly/3nnI8BC
3. It was a terror attack, perhaps for the first time, played out in front of the whole world. It was mass murder on the world stage with such symbolic overtones that no one who lived through it could forget it.
4. Soon the CIA reeling from the attack began to build up a picture of the 9/11 attackers. Suspicion fell on al-Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden, a veteran of the anti-Soviet war and celebrated for using his wealth to help the Afghan Mujahideen fighting against the USSR.
5. War changed him. As time passed he became increasingly radicalised by it is said, Egyptian radicals like Ayman Zawahiri. The Egyptian state was unforgiving on Islamists & they fled to the region by late 80s -See below for their tr: bit.ly/3jZ5Wtp
6.But the break with the West and his country Saudi Arabia came following the Gulf War in 1991 resulting in US troops invading Saddam Hussein's Iraq and being stationed in Saudi Arabia.
7. Osama became resentful of non-Muslim armies stationed in the land of the Prophet. His once good relationship with the KSA soured and he became set on a more confrontational path with the US. Here is a CNN interview of Bin Laden and he explains why-
8. He left the Kingdom for exile in Sudan, where the Sudanese were increasingly pressurised by the US to expel Bin Laden, and so in 1996 he returned to Afghanistan just as the Taliban ascended power.
9. The Taliban, an austere movement led by the illusive Mullah Omar was born out of the civil war following the fall of Kabul in 1992. Below is archive of Taliban take over of Kabul in 1996- bit.ly/3z48MkW & Mullah Omar interviewed by Hamid Mir bit.ly/3hn4rUh
10. The Taliban gave Bin Laden sanctuary and treated him as an honoured guest. In return, Bin Laden supplied them with much needed treasure to the Taliban coffers and aid in fighting the wily commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who had retreated to Panjshir.
11.Bin Laden it seems, had an inflated image of himself. He had gained confidence after the battle of Jaji in April 1987 & believed that the Arabs should have their own highly trained battalion that could act as a Muslim foreign legion to oppressed Muslims internationally.
12. like a Muslim foreign legion. all over the world. He moved away from his mentor the famous Palestinian ideologue Abdullah Azzam’s Arab Services Bureau and set up his own organisation which became known as al-Qaeda. But it morphed into something else-
13. Bin Laden began to act outside of Taliban jurisdiction holding press conferences declaring war on Jews & Crusaders in 1998 & plotting terror. AQ were behind the failed WTC attack in 1993, US embassy bombings E. Africa in 1998 & USS Cole in Oct 2001. bit.ly/3lhKwa6
14. 9/11 was a continuation of that. Statements made by OBL after 9/11 & the CIA identifying the 19 hijackers as AQ associates from the passenger lists made their accusation compelling. Here is film released by Pentagon of Bin Laden talking about 9/11-bit.ly/3E9lmmY
15. Though 9/11 seem to come out of blue; a combination of human error & an inability to share information between the various US intelligence services meant that the warning signs had been overlooked. cc Steve Coll- Directorate S giving a talk on issue: bit.ly/3nsKiQx
16. Here is CIA analyst Nada Bakos talking about hunting terrorists and/or insurgents in Iraq and the issues and conflicts within the agency—
17. See also former CIA intelligence officer and chief of the Bin Laden unit or Alec Station, Michael Scheuer discussing Bin Laden:
18. Those warning signs incl. Ahmad Shah Massoud warning them in spring of that year, about AQ planning something spectacular. But the commander had been killed by OBL's suicide bombers 2 days before 9/11. Here is his brother, Ahmad Wali recollecting: bit.ly/3nk1Uhi
19. The aftermath was devastating for Afghans. The Taliban was unaware of what had passed. Some were devastated because they knew what the repercussion would be for their country. Despite pledges to Mullah Omar, OBL had betrayed Afghan notions of hospitality with 9/11 attack.
20. When M. Omar confronted OBL he denied involvement. This put leadership in a dillemma. Afghan hospitality meant that they could not hand over a guest without scrutinising the evidence. It also be would be difficult to justify handing over a Muslim guest to an infidel power.
21. Perhaps had the US understood Afghan notions of hospitality they could have managed to get OBL peacefully, but wounded super powers rarely think rationally. (Another picture of the illusive Mullah Omar, his son, Mullah Yaqoob, is now in the cabinet)
22. In any case, US diplomatic cables show that they had warned the Taliban through the famous fighting scholar Jalaluddin Haqqani that if OBL attacked the US again, they would retaliate. Haqqani had assured them that AQ were closely monitored. US could justify their actions:
23. Taliban refused to hand OBL over. President George W Bush declares his War on Terror. What exactly that meant was difficult to discern and had massive repercussions for the world. See Bush address to Joint Congress-
24.Did it mean as Deputy Secretary of Defence, Paul Wolfowitz, believed a broad campaign on Afghanistan & Iraq eliminating countries which the administration deemed to harbour terrorists?
25. Or did it mean just al-Qaeda? The Secretary of State, Colin Powell wanted a more cautious approach and though the objectives were initially limited to just denigrating al-Qaeda, the US invasion of Afghanistan still dropped 12000 bombs in one month.
26. Afghan loss of lives superseded those lives lost in 9/11 manifold. Soon US war objectives expanded to include expelling the Taliban forcing them into a closer union with AQ. It ensuring AQ's survival & the Taliban adopting their methods and ideas:
27. 9/11 not only led to the Afghan invasion but also into Iraq from which ISIS was born. Ironically in an attempt to end Terrorism it gave birth to more terror. It threw the West into a series of ethical dilemmas which it still to this day cannot extricate itself from.
28. Domestic policies were reconfigured, it also gave birth to black sites, drone strikes and an expanding security architecture which critics say eroded the very principles that the US said it stood for and supposedly fought for.
29. See the impact of a drone strike does to farming communities: bit.ly/2X6LjCv. New York Times investigation on the last drone strike is tragic:
30. See also Bureau of Investigations write up on CIA black sites: bit.ly/3E8jjzp and how the Countering Violent Extremism industry is flourishing after 9/11: newlinesmag.com/argument/under…
31. For Muslims in the West- 9/11 changed things forever. Terrorism became the 'N' word. Read Mohsin Ahmed’s Reluctant Fundamentalist for a flavour if you are short of time the film trailer starring Riz Ahmed is also brilliant:
32. Here is Abdullah Anas' @Abdullahanas58 account of the War on Terror and US policy in To The Mountains: My Life in Jihad from Algeria to Afghanistan published by @HurstPublishers
33. Do have a look at Bin Laden: The Road to 9/11 on Channel Four which I worked on. A lot of new archives- new on camera testimony too. channel4.com/programmes/bin…
34. If you want to read more about 9/11 see here: tamhussein.co.uk/2021/09/9-11-a…
35. For an Arabic explainer on 9/11 do have look here: bit.ly/2X6fBoY
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