The Sept. 11 attack was the most monumental event of my lifetime and still shapes the world to this day. I was based in Jerusalem on 9/11, and when the second plane slammed into the World Trade Center, I immediately suspected al-Qaida was responsible. I’d reported extensively from Afghanistan in the 1990s, including the rise of the Taliban and previous al-Qaida attacks, marked by simultaneous strikes.
Within days, I was in Pakistan and would soon drive the rutted roads deep into Afghanistan, all the way to Kabul, as the U.S. military and its partners ousted the Taliban and pursued al-Qaida.
Afghanistan was otherworldly, a land frozen centuries in the past, all of it clouded in dust and poverty. The country had already endured two decades of war and been abandoned by the world. Yet at that moment, Afghanistan seemed to have a ray of hope, with the U.S. and its allies promising at least a measure of stability and sustenance.
That hope faded over years of grinding conflict. And almost as shocking as 9/11 itself is the way events have unfolded over the past 25 years. What was unimaginable then is today’s bitter reality.
The Taliban are back in power, imposing their repressive rule on Afghans, women in particular. For most of the past quarter-century, the formidable U.S. military has fought three wars in three neighboring countries: Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran – all proving far more costly and complicated than expected. These countries have suffered terribly, while the U.S. still struggles to grasp why its overwhelming military might hasn’t generated the outcomes predicted with such confidence. Sept. 11 happened 25 years ago. The consequences are still playing out. | 
