How 9/11 turned a terrorist attack into a generation of war

Twenty-five years later, the wars, failed states, empowered autocrats, and fears unleashed after 9/11 continue to shape millions of lives On the morning of September 11, 2001, Americans watched in horror as hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

Less than a month later, the US went to war in Afghanistan.

Two years after that, it invaded Iraq.

What began as an attack by Al-Qaeda would come to reshape US foreign policy, the Middle East, and the way Islam was discussed around the world.

A quarter of a century later, September 11 still casts a long shadow over American public life.

Al-Qaeda’s responsibility for the attacks has long been established, but the edges of the story remain blurred.

Documents remained classified for years and only emerged piece by piece; lawsuits dragged on; questions lingered over who might have known more, who might have helped, and how far the web surrounding the hijackers actually extended.

In the gaps between what was proven, what remained secret, and what was merely suspected, conspiracy theories flourished – but so did genuine political and legal questions that America has never quite managed to put to rest.

Read more How September 11 accelerated the end of American hegemony Nowhere has that shadow fallen more heavily than on Saudi Arabia; 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens, and for decades, victims’ families, lawyers, and advocacy groups have pressed for greater disclosure about possible links between people associated with Saudi institutions and some of the attackers.

The result is a peculiar political afterlife of 9/11.

Even as Washington and Riyadh have remained strategic partners, questions surrounding the attacks have repeatedly resurfaced whenever the relationship with the kingdom comes under scrutiny.

Under former President Joe Biden, the issue returned to public attention when his administration ordered a new review and declassification of government records related to 9/11, following sustained pressure from victims’ families.

The Saudi question also became entangled with a broader political reassessment of Washington’s relationship with Riyadh following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.