A Quarter Century Since the September 11 Attacks: Legacy and Impact

As twenty-five years pass since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, victims' families, historians, and former officials are examining the deep domestic and foreign policy consequences of the tragedy, how it transformed American society, and how it affected global balances.

Memories of That Morning

Jenna Jacobs McPartland clearly remembers how everything changed on the morning of September 11. Learning at that moment that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was at a conference in the restaurant of the World Trade Center, McPartland lost her husband in the attack.

While Ariel Jacobs never got to see his son Gabriel, who would be born six days after the attacks, the remaining families and loved ones learned to live with this immense grief.

History's Greatest Terrorist Act

In the attacks carried out by nineteen al-Qaeda operatives hijacking four passenger planes, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and another into Pennsylvania.

This event, in which nearly three thousand people lost their lives, was recorded as the largest and most devastating terrorist attack in modern American history.

The Global War on Terror Era

Following the attacks, the US launched the twenty-year occupation of Afghanistan with the aim of destroying al-Qaeda and overthrowing the Taliban, and subsequently intervened in Iraq.

Military operations, intelligence activities, and detention processes carried out under the name of the global war on terror left deep marks around the world.

Strategic Evaluations

After twenty-five years, experts argue that the US's responses to September 11 may have been a strategic miscalculation and affected the country's global position.

While new generations examine these historical events as reflections of the past, the dark legacy left by the tragedy continues to be debated.