It has been 20 years since the September 11th terrorist attacks.
In the past 20 years, it seems that the fire and smoke of the new york Twin Towers are still in sight, and the haze of terrorism still hangs over the world. In the past 20 years, the "anti-terrorism" process in the United States "changed the Afghan regime from the Taliban to the Taliban". This ironic "reincarnation" declared the failure of the so-called "war on terror" in the United States.
Why is "American anti-terrorism" more and more fearful? Why didn’t the United States, which calls itself a "teacher of justice", bring peace and security to the world? On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the "9.11" incident, this newspaper invited experts on international issues to have a dialogue on these issues.
Why did the "9.11" incident happen? What changes have taken place in American internal affairs and diplomacy in the past 20 years?
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, two passenger airliners hijacked by terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, USA. Another group of hijackers forced a third passenger airliner to crash into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, killing 2,977 civilians and 19 hijackers, resulting in a loss of US$ 200 billion. This is the most serious terrorist disaster that the United States has suffered. On October 7, 2001, the United States launched the war in Afghanistan in the name of "anti-terrorism".
Li Haidong: The "9.11" incident was caused by many factors: First, the United States did not properly handle its relations with Islamic countries. Over the years, the United States’ Middle East policy has generally been "one-sided" in favor of Israel, which has led to lasting tension between Israel and Islamic countries, and many religious extremists in the Middle East have even more hatred for the United States. Second, the United States has not handled its own problems well. Although the United States already has a well-developed intelligence system, its overall security intelligence and diplomatic resources were mainly used to plan how to carry out geopolitical confrontation with other big countries in the 1990s, but not enough attention was paid to extremists in the Islamic world, which posed a serious and direct threat to the national security of the United States. The American intelligence system misled the decision makers and caused them to make major policy mistakes. The "9.11" incident caught the United States off guard.
There is an ironic fact that Al Qaeda, which planned the "9.11" incident, was founded by the United States. In 1980s, in order to contain the Soviet Union, the United States strongly supported the anti-Soviet forces in the Islamic world in Afghanistan, including Al Qaeda. Due to the lack of long-term strategic planning and judgment, the United States eventually shot itself in the foot.
Li Wei: The "9.11" incident dealt a great blow to the United States and had a great impact on its national security concept. Prior to this, the United States believed that the opponents who threatened it were mainly state actors, but the "9.11" incident showed that al-Qaeda, as a non-state actor, could also cause almost fatal blows to the United States.
After a period of time, the overall domestic policy of the United States revolved around "anti-terrorism." For example, shortly after the "9.11" incident, the United States promulgated the Patriot Act in the name of "anti-terrorism". At the same time, the United States has implemented a large-scale government reorganization, including the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter-Terrorism Center, and revised a series of policies related to studying abroad and immigration in a certain period of time.
In the diplomatic field, the United States began to adopt a foreign policy of dividing enemies and friends from the standpoint of "anti-terrorism" during the Bush administration, that is, whoever supports the "anti-terrorism" of the United States is the friend of the United States, and vice versa.
After the "9.11" incident, the United States launched two so-called "anti-terrorism" wars — — The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sun Degang: In the 20 years since the "9.11" incident, the foreign strategy of the United States has undergone many major changes. During the 10 years from the incident to 2011, the United States successively launched the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its foreign strategic focus shifted from the game of great powers to "anti-terrorism". During the 10 years from 2011 to 2021, "anti-terrorism" and "big country game" were both in the important position of American foreign strategy. With the United States officially ending the 20-year war in Afghanistan, its foreign strategic focus has returned to the geopolitical big country game.
In the so-called "anti-terrorism", the United States mainly takes the following measures: first, it forms a "volunteer alliance" for the purpose of regime change, launches the war in Afghanistan, and gathers a group of "little brothers" to launch the war in Iraq; The second is to launch an "anti-transnational terrorism forum" and incorporate anti-American forces into the "anti-terrorism" action, and "label" North Korea, Iran, Syria and other countries and include them in the list of "countries supporting terrorism"; The third is to apply high technology to the "anti-terrorism" action, establish a number of drone bases in the Middle East, Central Asia and other regions, and carry out targeted removal of terrorists.
Why did the so-called "war on terror" come to a dismal end? What’s wrong with America’s "anti-terrorism" policy?
According to foreign media reports, the report released by the War Cost Project of Brown University in the United States shows that the budget cost and future debt of the "war on terror" in the United States after the "September 11" incident are "about 8 trillion US dollars in current dollars"; In addition, about 929,000 people were killed in the "war on terror" in the United States.
However, countless money and deaths did not bring the peace and tranquility that Americans expected. According to a recent poll released by the Pew Research Center in the United States, nearly 70% of Americans believe that the United States has failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan.
Li Wei: After the United States destroyed Al Qaeda’s training camp in Afghanistan, its "anti-terrorism" action in Afghanistan went astray. On the one hand, the United States "smuggled goods" in the name of "anti-terrorism". In 2003, just two years after launching the war in Afghanistan, the United States brazenly launched the war in Iraq in order to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, fabricated false information about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and its connection with Al Qaeda, and its fundamental purpose was to promote "American democracy" in the Middle East countries. In the end, it backfired, but it gave birth to another new international terrorist force in Iraq — — "Islamic State" extremist organization.
On the other hand, after the killing of bin Laden in 2011, the US military action in Afghanistan was only in the name of "anti-terrorism", but not in reality. In the next 10 years, America’s opponent was no longer a terrorist organization, but the Taliban armed forces in Afghanistan, with the aim of fostering a pro-American puppet regime in Afghanistan. And this regime is not in the overall national interest of Afghanistan.
The United States seems to hold high the banner of "anti-terrorism", but in essence it is constantly creating new terrorism, making the soil for the development and spread of terrorism more fertile and terrorist activities increasingly rampant.
Sun Degang: There are three main problems in the "anti-terrorism" policy of the United States. First, it is not clear that terrorism has multiple roots, such as ideological extremism at the ideological level, ethnic antagonism and separatism at the social level, and poverty at the economic level, which leads extremists to take risks. Instead, it simply adopts the way of fighting violence with violence and triggers new contradictions.
Second, they mistakenly believe that democracy is a cure for terrorism, and apply the democratic transformation of Japan and Germany after World War II to Islamic countries in an attempt to create "democratic samples" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other countries, and the result is "acclimatized". At the same time, the United States simply equates democratic governance with democratic elections, which leads these countries to draw lines and hold groups with tribes, sects and ethnic groups in the elections, the original national identity and internal balance are broken, and the opposition between ethnic groups is further intensified.
Third, it is too superstitious about high-tech "anti-terrorism" means. The "decapitation" of drones often causes civilian casualties due to intelligence errors, exacerbating anti-American sentiment in the Middle East and making the United States lose the hearts of the people.
Li Haidong: A series of "anti-terrorism" actions of the United States after the "9.11" incident are far from reaching their expected goals. Policy makers have repeatedly made mistakes, and policy failure has become a distinctive feature of American foreign policy in the past 20 years.
For example, the United States launched the war in Afghanistan on the grounds that the Taliban sheltered bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the masterminds behind the September 11th incident. After overthrowing the Taliban regime, based on new strategic considerations, it not only failed to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, but brought NATO forces into Afghanistan. During this period, the United States also blindly opened up the battlefield in Iraq and took subversion of Saddam Hussein’s regime as one of its "anti-terrorism" goals. Since then, the United States has also increased its intervention in the internal affairs of Libya, Syria and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, the United States has not really devoted its mind to counter-terrorism. Instead, it has devoted a lot of resources to subverting the political power of other countries, trying to carry out American-style transformation of relevant countries in the name of "anti-terrorism" and using the military presence of the United States in different regions to engage in geopolitical competition among great powers. However, the ability of the United States does not match the goal, resulting in repeated failures of its policies. It can be seen that after the "9.11" incident, American foreign policy made mistakes one after another, adding to the mistakes, which eventually led to its embarrassing defeat in Afghanistan.
What are the consequences of the United States in the Middle East? How many hidden dangers are left for the world?
A few days ago, Iranian state television quoted data from Save the Children, an international charity organization, as saying that nearly 33,000 children were killed or disabled during the 20 years when the United States invaded Afghanistan, and this figure did not include children who died of hunger, poverty and disease. In a statement issued on August 31st, UN Secretary-General Guterres said: "Today, 18 million people, that is, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, need humanitarian assistance to survive."
As the world can see, 20 years after the "September 11th" incident, the United States, which held high the "justice banner" of "anti-terrorism", left the Middle East and even the world with more sufferings and security risks.
Sun Degang: After the "9.11" incident, all countries in the world generally sympathized with the American people, and the international community also agreed that terrorism and anti-terrorism activities were a pair of major contradictions. However, the United States wrongly launched two so-called "wars on terror", which changed from victims to injurers and occupiers, causing large-scale innocent civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, leading to a change in the views of the international community, especially Islamic countries, on the United States.
Before the United States launched the war, Afghanistan and Iraq had strong national identity. However, the United States tried to "graft" western electoral politics, which led to the rise of ethnic conflicts in the two countries, and some former government officials and soldiers who lost resources and power turned to join extremist organizations. Another result of the so-called "war on terror" launched by the United States is the rise of regional nationalism, including ultra-nationalism, xenophobia and anti-Americanism, which provides the soil for new violence and terrorist activities.
In addition, the frequent "lone wolf" terrorist attacks in European and American countries in recent years are also derivatives of American "anti-terrorism" actions. Most of the "lone wolf" terrorists are influenced by the extreme ideology of "Islamic State".
Li Haidong: In the past 20 years, the harm of international terrorism has not diminished. The main reason is that American policy mistakes have led to profound chaos in many countries, relevant regions and the United States itself. The double standards and half-heartedness of the United States in "anti-terrorism" have also increased the difficulty of international anti-terrorism coordination and cooperation, and terrorism has never been completely eliminated.
For the world, the United States is becoming more and more dangerous. In the name of "anti-terrorism", it constantly subverts other countries’ regimes and repeatedly creates crises and turmoil in different regions. Instead of bringing security to itself and the world, it makes chaos everywhere it goes, and thus spawns more terrorists and makes the world more unsafe. It can be said that the United States has become the maker and disseminator of global chaos.
Through the so-called "anti-terrorism" action of the United States for 20 years, more and more people have seen clearly the nature of American foreign policy that harms others and harms themselves, and also the danger of American foreign action. Countries around the world are more alert and resistant to the United States.
Li Wei: In addition to spawning new terrorist organizations during the two wars, the United States also tried to use terrorist organizations to contain and contain other countries. For example, there is a lot of evidence that the United States secretly provided weapons for the activities of the "Islamic State" extremist organizations in Syria in order to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria; In 2020, former US Secretary of State Pompeo announced that east turkestan islamic movement, which posed a terrorist threat to China, was removed from the list of terrorist organizations in the United States. All kinds of behaviors show that the United States does not regard counter-terrorism as a real goal, but only regards it as a tool to maintain its hegemonic position. This practice has led to the intensification of terrorist activities and the self-attack of the United States. At present, both the United States and the international community are bearing the consequences of the US "anti-terrorism".
What are the new challenges facing international counter-terrorism at present? How should the United States play its due role?
On August 26th, two explosions occurred in Kabul International Airport, the capital of Afghanistan, which killed a large number of Afghan civilians and 13 American soldiers, making it the deadliest incident for American troops in Afghanistan in the past 10 years. The "Islamic State" extremist organization issued a statement claiming to have carried out the attack. The US media said that the United States and its allies spent 20 years trying to defeat terrorism in Afghanistan, but this attack shows that terrorism is still a threat.
At present, the threat of terrorism faced by the international community has not been fundamentally eliminated, and combating all forms of terrorism remains the common responsibility of the international community.
Li Haidong: Next, international counter-terrorism will face many new challenges. On the one hand, although the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan and announced the formation of a new government, the situation in Afghanistan remains uncertain. Some extremists who cannot survive and develop in other countries will take advantage of Afghanistan’s weak internal governance in the future and use it as a shelter or assembly place, thus aggravating the complexity of the global anti-terrorism situation. In addition, the so-called "war on terror" in the United States over the past 20 years has produced a large number of refugees, which has caused troubles to many countries. The refugee problem cannot be effectively solved, which also provides certain conditions for extremist organizations to fan the flames.
On the other hand, there are serious differences in the attitude towards counter-terrorism in the United States. Some political elites want to continue to implement the so-called "anti-terrorism" policy, while the American people want to spend more resources on domestic development, which means that the future "anti-terrorism" action in the United States will lack more domestic support, and the relevant investment will inevitably decrease accordingly. After creating more terrorist forces, the United States gradually reduces its own efforts and investment in the global anti-terrorism process, which will bring more difficulties to the international anti-terrorism cooperation process.
Li Wei: The U.S. government should abandon the double standards on anti-terrorism and the wrong practice of politicizing and instrumentalizing anti-terrorism, and really proceed from the interests of its own people and international interests, instead of just serving the big domestic capital groups, seeking self-interest in the name of "anti-terrorism" and encouraging the arrogance of terrorism.
The U.S. government must realize that terrorism under any banner is a common threat and harm to human society. It must not support or condone terrorist organizations that pose a threat to other countries for the so-called "great power competition" strategy, which will only harm the overall interests of the international community. Only by adhering to the idea of promoting stability through construction and promoting security through development, all countries in the world can jointly carry out effective anti-terrorism actions, reduce the activity space of terrorist organizations and eradicate the breeding ground of terrorism, which is the fundamental way to deal with the threat of terrorism.
Sun Degang: The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan shows that America’s so-called "war on terror" is a failure. The root of the failure lies in the fact that the United States always wears colored glasses and is unwilling to carry out real multilateral cooperation with other big countries in the field of counter-terrorism, but only establishes a "pseudo-multilateral" "anti-terrorism" alliance. On the one hand, the United States hopes to fight terrorism with the help of big countries such as China and Russia and Islamic countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. On the other hand, it points fingers at the internal affairs of these countries and opposes the anti-terrorism and depolarization actions of these countries under the banner of so-called "religious freedom" and "human rights of ethnic minorities", exposing the utilitarianism and double standards of the United States on the issue of counter-terrorism.
The U.S. government must change its course on the issue of counter-terrorism, keep pace with other countries’ counter-terrorism process, learn from other countries’ experience in counter-terrorism and depolarization, and push the international community to reach a consensus on the concept and definition of terrorism as soon as possible to avoid linking terrorism with specific nationalities and religions in the counter-terrorism process. At the same time, we should adhere to the United Nations as the center to carry out international anti-terrorism cooperation and form a joint force in combating terrorist financing and cyber terrorism.
More importantly, anti-terrorism should return to the root of governance. It is an urgent task for the international community to strengthen security governance and provide humanitarian assistance to countries in turmoil such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. In the context of the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the international community should lend a helping hand, especially the developed countries should shoulder more responsibilities, help these turbulent countries achieve stability and development, and promote anti-terrorism and depolarization in a multi-pronged manner. (Yan Yu)
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