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A group of men took control of four airplanes on September 11, 2001. They were from Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group. The men flew two of the planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Another plane was flown into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in an empty field. The attacks killed 2,977 people.

Osama bin Laden was the leader of Al-Qaeda. He planned the attacks. In 2001, he lived in the country of Afghanistan. Afghanistan was ruled by an Islamist group called the Taliban. U.S. President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban surrender Osama bin Laden. The Taliban refused. The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. US troops remain there today, in the spring of 2020.

The 9/11 attacks killed thousands. Following the attacks, new wars and laws reshaped American policy at home and abroad.

Why do they hate us?

After the attacks, millions of Americans wondered: Why do they hate us? Many Americans believed that the answer was in religious differences. Most Americans knew little about Islam. In a climate of fear, it was easy to blame all Muslims for the attacks.

The argument went like this: “Islam does not share Western values. They hate us because we’re a free society.” However, this was not an accurate response. Islam is a religion practiced by 1.5 billion people. Only a few people carried out the attacks.

Why do we hate them?

These ideas had deep roots in political culture. Political scientist Samuel Huntington wrote “The Clash of Civilizations.” Huntington divided the world into different civilizations. Two examples were “the West” and the Islamic world. Huntington believed that the civilizations would enter conflict. He said that the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union had kept tensions between civilizations under control. But, once the Cold War ended “the West” and the Islamic world would clash. Huntington’s book became very popular.

According to the FBI, hate crimes against Muslims increased after the 9/11 attacks. President Bush called Islam a religion of peace. Yet he also announced a global war on terror. Bush called it a “crusade.” This referenced medieval wars between Christians and Muslims.

New enemies and old conflicts

The causes behind the 9/11 attacks were complicated. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. A war lasted throughout most of the 1980s. The United States funded and armed the opposing forces. Many opposition fighters, including Osama bin Laden, would later join Al-Qaeda. Many people in the Middle East objected to U.S. and Soviet activity in the region.

The Soviet Union fell in 1991. Now the United States was the only world superpower. The U.S. military began the Gulf War. Many Middle Eastern countries joined the U.S. The war was against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Half a million troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is home to the holy city of Mecca. Osama Bin Laden believed that this was an insult to Islam. He began to hate the U.S. He also hated Muslim leaders who supported the U.S.

The war ended. Then, Al-Qaeda began terrorist attacks against Americans. These attacks were part of a larger strategy. Al-Qaeda believed that they could provoke the U.S. government into violent response. This would turn many people in the Middle East against Americans. Moderate governments would fall. Then, Osama bin Laden could create an extremist state.

Forever war

The American military and allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001. They quickly defeated the Taliban. Yet the larger conflict was only beginning. Bush said the world faced an “Axis of Evil.” The axis included Al-Qaeda and states like Hussein’s Iraq. Notably, Iraq had not been involved in the 9/11 attacks. The Americans and a small number of allies invaded Iraq in 2003. This invasion was based on a false claim that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations did not support the invasion.

American leaders wanted to overthrow Hussein. They planned to replace him with a democratic government. The war dragged on after Hussein’s death. Iraq fell into civil war. Extremist groups in the Middle East recruited more people.

American special forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. This did not end the war on terror. New threats arose in the Middle East. One example calls itself the Islamic State (ISIS). The Taliban still has influence in Afghanistan.

The cost

Two decades of war have changed the U.S. The war in Afghanistan is America’s longest conflict. Funding these wars has changed the American economy. In 2014, the U.S. government spent more money on their military than the next nine nations combined.

Almost 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks. Thousands of soldiers died in the wars that followed. We know that hundreds of thousands of civilians have also died. The wars have created hostility to Americans. This has harmed America’s influence around the world.