The country was forever changed on this day 21 years ago.
Terrorists hijacked and crashed passenger planes into buildings in New York and just outside of Washington, D.C. One hijacked plane dove into an empty field, its hijackers’ plans foiled by a group of courageous passengers.
Nearly 3,000 victims’ lives were claimed by extremist group al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks. New York City lost more than 400 first responders who rushed to help at the burning World Trade Center. More than 83,000 first responders have enrolled in a Centers for Disease Control program that provides support for a number of medical conditions, like cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, that arose from being at the site of the attacks.
From the archives:As 9/11 attacks unfolded, no one knew if hijackers were on board
Sept. 11, 2001, set the stage for a new “global war on terror” launched by former U.S. President George W. Bush. The United States military and its allies set out to eliminate al-Qaida terrorist network harbored by the Taliban in Afghanistan in a costly war that ended last year with the United States withdrawing its troops and the Taliban taking control of the county.
American counterterrorism operations have eliminated minds behind the 9/11 attacks. A 2011 Navy SEAL operation killed the infamous al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, and a missile strike in July killed Ayman al-Zawahri, who the United States considered a co-planner of the 9/11 attacks.
Opinion:War on terror moved my family to a Muslim country. It was an adventure of a lifetime.
Here are some of most powerful images captured during and after the 9/11 attacks.
From the archives:‘Clear the skies’: Behind the unprecedented call to stop air travel on 9/11