| From by The South China Morning Post
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Where were you when you heard the news about the September 11 attacks? The question still comes up today, often alongside other events of global significance like the moon landing in 1969, or the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
These thoughts became even more timely earlier this month as the 20th anniversary of that fateful day made most of us think back to the startling sights and sounds that were broadcast across the world, while also pausing to remember the near 3,000 people who were killed and more than 6,000 people who were injured.
This week,
Robert Delaney, the Post’s North America bureau chief, looks at how the infamous date 20 years ago has shaped the world we live in today, with the 20th anniversary coming less than two weeks after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Best,
Andrew Mullen
Production Editor, Political Economy
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – The United States marked 20 years since the terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 Americans earlier this month, solemnly commemorating the anniversary at a time when a global pandemic, domestic ideological extremism and China’s assertive policies on the diplomatic and military fronts have made the threat from Islamic militants seem remote.
With China still a marginal player militarily and far down the list in terms of economic heft, the impact that the attacks had on US-China relations was barely noticed outside of Beijing.
US-China ties were fraying badly leading up to September 11. The inadvertent US bombing in 1999 of China’s embassy in Belgrade; George W. Bush’s depiction on the 2000 presidential campaign trail of China as a potential enemy and “strategic competitor”; and the collision of a US spy plane and a PLA fighter jet near Hainan island April 2001 all heightened tensions and mistrust.
Almost immediately after the World Trade Centre attack, the US priority was the war on terror, diverting attention from China. Washington needed Beijing’s support at the United Nations Security Council, and for most of the next two decades, China’s rapid economic integration with the US and the rest of the world contributed to surging growth. This helped to sow the seeds of discontent among US politicians concerned about the loss of US manufacturing jobs, which brought much of the pre-9/11 bilateral tensions back into play.
At the same time, 9/11 provided pretext for Beijing’s increasingly hard-line policies against its Uygur and other Muslim minorities, moves that have prompted the US and its allies to level sanctions against the Chinese government.
Another irony of the 9/11 anniversary is the extent to which Washington has built connections, if not formal diplomatic recognition, with the Taliban – the fundamentalist movement that sheltered some of the masterminds of the attacks, and also the group that former president George W. Bush said following the September 11 attacks was a sworn enemy for “aiding and abetting murder”.
The ripples of the 9/11 attacks reached beyond the US and the Middle East.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is among leaders in Africa who have warned that the Taliban’s victory over the US-installed government in Afghanistan may embolden terrorist groups in their countries, from Boko Haram in West Africa to al-Shabab in Somalia and a rising insurgency in Mozambique.
In Nigeria, for example, Boko Haram has claimed more than 36,000 lives and displaced more than 3 million people in a decade as it seeks to create a “pure” Islamic state ruled under sharia law. The group, an affiliate of Islamic State, has frequently kidnapped civilians, particularly women and children.
Elsewhere, though, US engagement initiatives aimed at countering extremism are generally regarded as successful, particularly in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Thailand, which at the time was dealing with an intensified insurgency in its largely Muslim southern region, was also rewarded for its support of the war on terror. In October 2003, Bush declared Thailand a major non-Nato ally – an elite status that gave it priority access to US military exports.
That development came months after Thai and US forces captured Hambali, the Indonesian mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings, in the Thai city of Ayutthaya.
Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, has been held in a US military prison in Guantanamo Bay since 2006 and his military trial for “war crimes” started in August, 18 years after his capture.
Which brings us full circle as US President Joe Biden has made the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, cited by human rights groups as a blight on America’s image, one of his administration’s priorities to close the book on the catastrophe of 20 years ago.