I was alerted to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, via a phone call from one of my sons. I witnessed the second airplane flying into another one of the twin towers on television. I remained at home all of that day, likely along with many of my countrymen and women, watching the news reports of this multi-pronged attack.

We didn’t know it until much later, but the attacks in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., which killed almost 3,000 people, and the attempted additional suicide attack, which was foiled by American hero passengers over Shenksville, was planned and carried out by the Islamic terrorist organization, al-Qaeda. Its leader was Osama bin Laden. The attack planes were taken over by hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudis. While the government of Saudi Arabia denied having anything to do with the plot, Saudi nationals here in the U.S. apparently provided assistance in securing housing and financial support to the hijackers, including for several the cost of flight training in the United States.

At that time, Afghanistan was governed by the Taliban, a Muslim extremist group. It was providing a safe haven for bin Laden and members of his organization. The U.S. responded to the 9-11 attacks by invading the country without much of a plan. The only goals then-President George W. Bush had were to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda and kill bin Laden. The U.S. was able to rout the Taliban and al-Qaeda in a few months, but did not get bin Laden. Our forces and some NATO forces continued to occupy Afghanistan, however.

It took 10 years to locate bin Laden and take him out. He had fled to Pakistan, a sometime U.S. ally. U.S. Navy SEALS killed the al-Qaeda leader in the early morning of May 2, 2011, during a raid of his Pakistan compound. Mission accomplished? Apparently not. U.S. forces continued to stay on in Afghanistan during the Obama and Trump administrations for another 10 years “nation building,” just like we tried in Iraq after invading it.

Several U.S. presidents have attempted in the past to rebuild and “democratize” countries and cultures we have conquered. We have had few successes, mostly after World War II in Europe and Japan under presidents Truman and Eisenhower. The sudden collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and armed forces proved that our attempt to build a democratic nation in that country was a huge failure. The lesson some of our leaders keep failing to learn is that there is no way countries with centuries of multiple tribal cultures, rampant government and military corruption, and a prevailing power which exercises dehumanizing religious beliefs and practices is likely to become an effective and enduring democracy.

The collapse of the Afghan government and armed forces was unexpected and rapid.

It occurred just as the recently completed evacuation of tens of thousands of U.S. citizens, military and Afghans was getting underway. President Joe Biden has been roundly criticized for the way it proceeded and for the loss of American lives and billions of dollars in military equipment and arms. The groundwork for failure was laid, in my opinion, by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

They “negotiated” a so-called peace agreement with the Taliban in February 2020. I believe that it was the major cause of the government collapse and evacuation disaster. Mr. Trump, eager to get credit during his re-election bid, for ending our involvement in Afghanistan, compromised his position in the talks from the start by announcing reductions in our armed forces without getting any concessions from the Taliban. He later agreed to pull out all of our troops by May 2021. He also supported the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, with whom Mr. Pompeo subsequently visited and posed for photographs. Mr. Trump’s national security advisor, H.R. McMaster called it “a surrender agreement.” It was one of the worst deals ever negotiated by a U.S. president. So much for “The Art of His Deals.”

When we remember “9-11,” let us remember the aftermath as well.

OSCAR W. KNADE

Montoursville

Submitted via Virtual Newsroom