The acts of September 11, 2001, led to the United States’ longest conflict
The acts of September 11, 2001, led to the United States’ longest conflict. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States set in motion a chain of events that would see Washington launch the country’s longest war in less than a month.
Less than two weeks after completing a tumultuous departure from the now Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the US will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the assault
According to Brown University research, the 20-year battle killed roughly 69,000 Afghan security officers and at least 51,000 Afghan civilians. During the combat, approximately 2,500 members of the US military and 1,144 members of allied-NATO troops died.
Nineteen members of al-Qaeda, a group allowed refuge in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, hijack four commercial planes in the United States on September 11, 2001.
Two planes crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both towers to collapse.
One plane lands at the Pentagon in Virginia, the US Department of Defense’s headquarters.
After hearing about the other attacks, people on board the fourth jet storm the cockpit and crash into a field in Pennsylvania.
The attacks claimed the lives of 2,977 individuals .
President George W. Bush signs the Authorization for the Use of Military Force in 2001. (AUMF).
The resolution, which passed Congress with only one legislator objecting, allows the US president to use military force against a wide range of people or groups who “planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 or harbored such organizations or persons” without further congressional approval.