War · 2001–2021
9/11 and the war in Afghanistan
World Trade Center, New York City
On 11 September 2001, 19 hijackers from the Islamist terrorist organisation al-Qaeda flew airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington; a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after its passengers fought back. The attacks killed 2,977 people.
When Afghanistan's Taliban government refused to hand over al-Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden, a US-led coalition invaded and toppled it, but the Taliban regrouped as an insurgency; after a US–Taliban deal in February 2020 and the withdrawal of US forces, the Taliban captured Kabul on 15 August 2021, and the last US military aircraft left on 30 August.
Why it mattered
The 20-year war, the longest in US history, killed an estimated 176,000 to 212,000 or more people, including over 46,000 Afghan civilians, and ended with the Taliban's Islamic Emirate restored.
Related
- The world in 2000: Into a New Millennium chapter
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 7 October 2001 – 30 August 2021
- The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda previous moment · April–July 1994
- The smartphone: the iPhone puts the Internet in every pocket next moment · 2007